Four essays on the delegation theory of portfolio management.

Summary The objective of this thesis is to propose a new approach to portfolio management delegation within the framework of the modern theory (the martingale approach) of financial asset pricing and portfolio selection. A typology of delegation is proposed, namely a distinction between active and passive delegation according to the investor's objectives. One of the contributions of the thesis, as far as the problematic is concerned, is the systematic use of a portfolio, the benchmark portfolio, controlled by the investor and specified ex ante to the manager. Without the active approach of delegation, it is the control variable of the investor that allows him to calibrate the management of the manager and thus to control it. In the passive approach, it constitutes the standard against which the manager will be judged.