Using data from surveys as well as as real transactions we analyze which and why investors choose funds with performance fees even though these funds may be more expensive. According to agency theory, performance fees could incentivize managers to achieve better returns, but they could also...

Return-chasing investors almost exclusively consider top-performing funds for their investment decisions. When drawing conclusions about the managerial skill of these top performers, they tend to neglect fund volatility and the cross-sectional information contained in the number of funds and the...

Delegated stock market participation is fragile, especially during crises. Investors who had delegated all of their equity investments to fund managers before the financial crisis were almost twice as susceptible to exiting the stock market during the crisis than their peers who invested in...

We test the abilities of the Stiftung Warentest fund rating system to predict future fund performance among German registered funds for six equity categories: Germany, Euro-Zone, Europe, North-America, Pacific, and World. Stiftung Warentest is a consumer protection agency and a major provider...

Previous research indicates that a lack of financial sophistication might explain the past strong growth in active management. We construct an objective financial literacy score and analyze the relation between financial literacy and mutual fund investment behavior. We show that there is a...

A recent theory by Gennaioli, Shleifer, and Vishny (2015) proposes that trust is an important component for delegated investing. This paper tests the theory in a laboratory experiment. Participants first play a trust game. Participants then act as investors who have to make two separate,...