The benefits of low-cost index tracking for most investors are by now well-rehearsed, yet a disproportionate amount of money remains in the well-remunerated grip of active funds. Maybe the idea of achieving higher returns by investing passively just seems too good to be true — meaning stock-pickers will remain alive and kicking even if their performance after fees continues to destroy value for customers.

That’s the conclusion of a research paper released this month by J.B. Heaton, who’s about to become the law and business fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, and Ginger Pennington, an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Department of Psychology.

We’re psychologically preprogrammed to believe the marketing hype behind active investing. “Despite clear evidence, it may simply be too difficult for a substantial number of investors to believe that superior returns are available by doing nothing but investing in an index fund rather than investing with active managers,” the paper says.

Read more at Bloomberg