Nobody can establish who first used the phrase 'evidence-based investing', and no regulator defines it. Robin Powell, who was given the name by Larry Swedroe in 2015 and is sometimes wrongly credited with coining it, sets out what it actually means: four tests of what counts as evidence, borrowed from a medical parallel that hit the same crisis twelve years ago. Including where he goes further than a global tracker, and why he holds that position less firmly than he used to.
When Cathie Wood declared index funds "a form of socialism", she joined decades of active managers attacking passive investing on ideological grounds. But proxy voting data reveals something awkward: ARK voted with management 99.2% of the time versus Vanguard's 98.5%. We examine the evidence on index fund governance, ARK's performance record, and why "passive investing destroys capitalism" rhetoric intensifies when active managers underperform.
Robin Powell
Oct 29, 202510 min read
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