We theoretically show that there is a fundamental disconnect between the disposition effect, i.e., investors’ tendency to sell winning assets too early and losing assets too late, and its common empirical measure, namely a positive difference between the proportion of gains and losses...

We examine the two approaches used by equity index funds to track their benchmark index. The first, full replication, mimics the index with exactness. The second, representative sampling, holds a subset of the index. We find that samplers trade 3-4 times more, have 30-50% higher expenses and...

We use a choice experiment on equity fund investments to estimate the preferences of young adults for sustainable investments relative to conventional investment funds. Our results suggest that the traditional trade-off between investment fund risk and return is still valid in the selection of...

We examine whether investor sentiment affects hedge fund companies' decision to start new funds. We find significantly more fund inceptions in hot markets than in cold markets. Moreover, funds opened in hot markets exhibit weaker subsequent performance, higher risk of fraud, and shorter...

Analyzing verbatim interviews, we show that mutual fund managers’ level of narcissism is highly relevant for money management. Supporting the notion that narcissists disregard agreements more often than others, we find that narcissistic fund managers are 34% more likely to deviate from the...

Partisan bias in fund portfolios is the effect of fund manager's political affiliation on portfolio allocation decisions. I study two potential channels of this bias: biased expectations where managers become optimistic (pessimistic) when their party comes in (goes out of) the government, and...

Using proprietary data from a major fund data provider, we analyze the screening activity of investment consultants (ICs) who advise institutional investors with trillions of dollars in assets. We find that ICs frequently shortlist funds using threshold screens clustered at round, base 5 or base...

Do politically diverse teams perform worse when political disagreement increases? No – despite greater political disagreement during Covid-19, politically diverse mutual fund teams outperform in terms of both fund returns and fund flows. Return outperformance is driven by pre-existing...

ETFs attract a larger proportion of institutional investors than do the underlying markets. The price of an ETF will deviate from the price of the underlying, if institutional investors are less prone to investor sentiment-driven mispricing, than are retail investors. We employ a unique...

Rational investors should account for risk factor exposure when allocating capital to mutual funds. Two recent influential studies use mutual fund flows to test whether investors distinguish between performance driven by managers' skill and systematic risk factors. Both studies found that...