Since the 2008 financial crisis, in which the Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck," money market funds (MMFs) have been the subject of ongoing policy debate. Many commentators view MMFs as a key contributor to the crisis because widespread redemption demands during the days following the Lehman...

One of the most consequential yet unexamined developments in finance is the recent evolution of large financial technology platforms. In the first analysis of its kind, we scrutinize the world's $50 trillion investment and asset management industry to explore the function of these systems, to...

Short selling efficiency (SSE), measured each month by the slope coefficient of cross-sectionally regressing abnormal short interest on an overpricing score, significantly and negatively predicts stock market returns both in-sample and out-of-sample, suggesting that mispricing gets corrected...

Focusing on the 2016 US money market funds (MMFs) reform, this study assesses the impact of removing rating-based rules on the behavior of regulated investors and on market prices. Difference-in-differences fund-level and security-level analyses show a positive impact of the reform on the level...

The unique regulation of U.S. public pension funds links their liability discount rate to the expected return on assets, which gives them incentives to invest more in risky assets in order to report a better funding status. Comparing public and private pension funds in the United States, Canada,...

We examine the effects of a 2012 regulatory reform that mandated fee and performance disclosures for the investment options in 401(k) plans. We show that participants became significantly more attentive to expense ratios and short-term performance after the reform. The disclosure effects are...

Defined benefit pension funds invest in illiquid asset classes for return, diversification or liability hedging reasons. So far, little is known about factors influencing how much they invest in illiquid assets. We conjecture that liquidity and capital requirements are pivotal in this decision....

I analyze the effects of liquidity risk regulation in a model of investors, mutual funds, and the underlying asset market. Investor redemptions lead mutual funds to sell assets, which may result in fire sales if market liquidity, driven by the anticipation of fire sales, is scarce. Mutual funds...