We show that some mutual funds are created to exploit investor irrationality and prioritize raising short-term capital over value creation. We find that capital flows into new funds, which lack performance histories, are especially sensitive to portfolio compositions. Funds loading heavily on...

We exploit joint dynamics of lendable and lent shares in the equity lending market to measure recall activity by lenders. We find that high recall activity predicts poor stock performance and precedes the lowest returns by two months. This suggests that short sellers are forced out of otherwise...

We show that poor mutual fund performance can result from agency problems that drive fund inceptions. Funds created to exploit investor irrationality have different portfolio compositions at inception, loading heavily on past winner stocks. Investors reward these funds with abnormally high...