Fund managers can only exhibit selectivity through purchasing (selling) stocks that appreciate (depreciate) more frequently than expected from random occurrence, if stocks are incorrectly priced. We develop a method that can statistically identify fund managers that exhibit net, buy, and sell...

Good market timing skills can be an important factor contributing to hedge funds' out-performance. In this paper we use a unique semi-parametric panel data model capable of providing consistent short period estimates of the return correlations with three market factors for a sample of Long/Short...

We develop a directional trading model and a crisis management model to measure fund manager skills more adequately. We test the robustness of both traditional market timing models and new management skill models to changes in their underlying investor utility function and excess return...

We study how mutual fund managers gain an edge in selecting stocks in an era of globalization. We use textual analysis to construct a new measure that captures a mutual fund's offshore exposure concentration through holding U.S. multinational firms. The proposed offshore concentration index...

We measure the ability of professional investment managers in timing cashflow vs. discount-rate news, the two components of market returns. We find that the average U.S. equity mutual fund exhibits cashflow-timing skills of 2.12/year, but discount-rate timing of -0.84/year; further,...

This study provides formal theoretical evidence that constructions of fund alpha that are implemented using robust specifications of asset pricing models generate alpha estimates that are well defined. Regardless, the formal theoretical model shows fund alphas that are constructed with the...

I collect a registry-based dataset on the personal portfolios of Swedish mutual fund managers. The managers who invest personal money in the very same funds they professionally manage outperform the managers who do not. The main results are consistent with a Berk and Green (2004) equilibrium in...

We apply methods designed to measure mutual fund skill to a cross-section of traded funds that should not exhibit managerial portfolio selection skill: index funds. Surprisingly, these tests imply index fund skill exists, is persistent, and is in similar proportion as in active funds. We use the...