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There is a lack of academic study showing the persistence of outperformance by mutual funds, or studies that would give the average investor the information they would need to choose actively managed mutual funds that would provide superior long term risk adjusted returns over their appropriate indexes.
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As Najdorf has mentioned before, Roger Ibbotson has clearly shown persistence in mutual funds in his research, particularly in following article.
Do Winners Repeat with Style
"Our data of domestic equity mutual funds indicates that winning funds do repeat good performance."
This is a recent paper (2002) by a definitive researcher (sold his financial information firm to Morningstar for tens of millions and is highly regarded by his peers and the industry).