Abstract
Our research measures learning in a student managed investment fund. “Learning” is measured by change in the one-year risk adjusted rates of returns from stock purchases made in the first two months of the academic year versus the one-year risk adjusted rates of returns from stock purchases made during the last two months of the year. The investment performances of purchases of these two time frames are compared to identify improvement in stock selection performance by the student managers over the year. In our sample, which includes 13 years of the fund’s existence with 631 trades that fit the scan of being either in the first two or last two months of the academic year, all measures of risk adjusted returns were found to be substantially higher for stocks chosen by students in the last two months of the year relative to stocks chosen in the first two months.