Financial innovation and research in finance: the case of Exchange-Traded Funds.

Summary ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) have been a major innovation of the last thirty years, but they have been slow to become a subject of interest in finance research. This article examines the reasons for the time lag between the launch of the product and the scientific production on the subject. The analysis shows that the development of research and the evolution of the themes it has successively addressed are inseparable from the growth in the number of ETFs, the amount of their assets under management, and the appearance of the first episodes casting doubt on their operation, initially presented and perceived as simple.