To explore the rationality and competitiveness of the mutual fund industry, we analyze the alpha of active and index mutual funds from a global sample of more than 60,000 equity and fixed income funds and test the null hypothesis that alphas to investors are zero. We distinguish between...

Using manager compensation disclosure and intra-family manager cooperation measures, we create indices of family-level competitive/cooperative incentives. Families that encourage cooperation among their managers are more likely to engage in coordinated behavior (e.g., cross-trading,...

Processing qualitative information about a firm's product market competition matters for fund performance. I find that fund managers with a better understanding of a firm's market power exhibit a superior risk-adjusted performance. Managers who overweight companies with the fewest competitors...

New ETF creation has surged in recent years, giving investors the option to choose from a wide range of similar ETFs within each group of competitors. We identify groups of ETFs that can be considered direct competitors and examine the impact of competition on their market quality. Results show...

Hedged mutual funds proliferated following the 2007-2009 financial crisis. They became particularly popular with financial advisors because of their alleged downside protection. Did these funds deliver what they promised? We examine the performance of these funds with a focus on the post-2009...

This paper provides a new look at the well-known trade-off between efficiency and equality with an agent-based model. By way of a computer program, our study simulates the interactions of agents producing and trading goods within different market structures and looks at the resulting production...

A mixed manna contains goods (that everyone likes), bads (that everyone dislikes), as well as items that are goods to some agents, but bads or satiated to others. If all items are goods and utility functions are homothetic, concave (and monotone), the Competitive Equilibrium with Equal Incomes...

The fast growing EU market for investment funds is still characterised by a continuing relevance of national borders. This papers assesses this market?s degree of integration, the potential benefits from more integration and the obstacles to cross-border sales of funds. The analysis shows that...

This paper explores the effects of competition on risk-taking behavior and firm performance within the financial services industry. It does so by exploiting a regulatory change that allowed new players to enter the British mutual fund industry. Exploiting this regulatory shock, we trace...

In industries where consumers prefer to make all their purchases from a single company (for example, a supermarket), companies tend to offer a greater variety of products. By using that strategy, they succeed in growing their market share in the industry and gaining market power. This behavior...