Our regression models, however, can only explain a small amount of the variation in selection ability, suggesting that individual manager skill is likely an important driver of selection success. In contrast, while overall timing ability appears to be negligible or negative for the population of both public and private portfolio managers, portfolio characteristics can explain a larger portion of the variance in timing ability. Characteristic timing appears to be positively related to portfolio average property holding period for public portfolio managers, while it is negatively related to portfolio average property holding period for private portfolio managers. In contrast to the characteristic selectivity measures, our models for relating portfolio.
