We investigate whether business ties with portfolio firms influence mutual funds' proxy voting using a comprehensive data set spanning 2003 to 2011. In contrast to prior literature, we find that business ties significantly influence pro-management voting at the level of individual pairs of fund...

We study the behavior of pension plan investors in Turkey regarding fund allocation and withdrawal with respect to return, risk and management fee. We find that investors avoid risk and there is a convex and positive relationship between risk-adjusted return and fund flows. Investors display...

The aim of this study is to analyze investor response to different measures of pension plan performance. To do this, we implement a fixed effects panel data methodology corrected by heteroskedasticity, serial correlation and cross-sectional dependence, as proposed by Vogelsang (2012). The...

This article calls attention to the Department of Labor's imposition of the “prudent investor rule” on financial advisers to retirement savers. The article also canvasses the customary role of an investment policy statement in promoting compliance with the prudent investor rule by...

We analyze the effect of means-tested benefits on annuitization decisions. Most industrialized countries provide a subsistence level consumption floor in old age, usually in the form of means-tested benefits. The availability of such means-tested payments creates an incentive to cash out...

We examine the role of the investor type in the fee structure of pension plans. Our examination uses a data set of employer-sponsored and individual private pension funds in Spain. We find different determinants of the fees between these two pension plans. We find evidence of market penetration...

This paper investigates whether mutual fund families acting as service providers in 401(k) plans display favoritism toward their own affiliated funds. Using a hand-collected dataset on the menu of investment options offered to plan participants, we show that fund deletions and additions are less...

We investigate inattention on the part of pension plan participants using a novel dataset covering savings in Sweden's Premium Pension System, data that permit direct comparison of the investment behaviors of pension and retail mutual fund investors. Unlike retail mutual fund investors, pension...

Two issues may have a tremendous impact on the adequacy of retirement income for today's workers: The growth of 401(k) pension plans and the possible privatization of Social Security. Workers are becoming increasingly responsible for the adequacy of their retirement income by determining how...