The overall market for derivative securities is often estimated as more than ten times the World's GDP and many decry the complexity of derivatives as a main contributor to the subprime financial crisis. In this paper, we investigate whether and why complexity is used as a proxy for risk when...

Mutual funds hold 32% of the U.S. equity market and comprise 58% of retirement savings, yet retail investors consistently make poor choices when selecting funds. Theory suggests that poor choices are partially due to mutual fund managers creating unnecessarily complex disclosures and fee...

We investigate the relation between portfolio constraints (tests) that Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) have to pass monthly, CLO managers' loan trading choices and CLO equity returns. We find that stringent portfolio constraints are positively associated with the influence of CLO junior...

We examine the discretionary activities that CLO managers engage in to pass monthly overcollateralization (OC) tests. These tests require a CLO's loan portfolio value, scaled by the CLO notes' principal balance, to be above a certain threshold. Using CLOs' granular disclosures, we develop...

Private equity fund managers, pension fund managers, and investment advisers assert that private equity investments diversify investors' portfolios. We show that cost-based methods of accounting understate the systematic risk of private equity, creating an illusion of diversification. After...

The taxation of realized capital gains creates a lock-in effect, increasing an investor's expected holding period. We show that the unrealized capital gains of mutual funds are positively associated with the earnings quality of their portfolio firms. Consistent with tax-induced lock-in, the...

Investment funds that claim to focus on socially responsible stocks have proliferated in recent times. In this paper, we verify whether ESG mutual funds actually invest in firms that have stakeholder-friendly track records. Using a comprehensive sample of self-labelled ESG mutual funds in the US...

Exploiting the 2004 regulatory change that requires mutual funds to increase disclosure frequency from semiannual to quarterly, we investigate the effects of increased portfolio transparency on the manipulation activities of mutual funds and the capital allocation decisions of investors. A...

This paper examines whether portfolio disclosure requirements for actively managed investment funds affect the investment decisions of firms owned by the funds. We argue that mandatory portfolio disclosures reduce fund managers’ incentive to collect and trade on private information, which...

This study provides evidence for a positive association between mutual fund holdings’implied cost of capital (ICC) and future performance. Consistent with large transactioncosts of ICC-based investments impeding their exploitation and employing a ICC-basedstrategy reflecting skill,...