Using a sample of 164 smart beta exchange-traded funds (ETFs) during 2003–2014, I analyze whether these funds beat their benchmarks by tilting their portfolios to various factors. I also test if smart beta funds harvest factor premiums more efficiently than their traditional cap-weighted...

This paper measures the extent of uncertainty in mutual fund communication and its effects on fund flows. I test the hypothesis that mutual funds communicating more about uncertainty might avoid large outflows. Investors appear to react to this form of communication, as the use of uncertain...

This paper examines how the rise of passive investing affects active management. I develop a parsimonious model of passive and active investment in which greater passive investment accelerates investors' learning about active managers' skill. The model provides a rational explanation, namely the...

How much of a difference do smart trading strategies, stock choice, and lending securities to short sellers reduce the net expenses of Vanguard’s index ETFs below their reported expense ratios? Using Vanguard’s reported returns for their index ETFs and their benchmarks I discover the return...

We examine the relative weights hedge fund investors attach to past information in the fund selection process. The weighting scheme appears inconsistent with the one of econometric forecast models that predict fund returns, alphas or Sharpe ratios. In particular, investor flows are highly...

Short selling exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has become a common means of speculating or hedging in response to pessimistic expectations about a specific market or sector, as the short interest of ETFs is more than 10 times that of individual stocks, on average. We determine that sector-based ETFs...

We examine if Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating action reports contain new default-related information beyond credit rating actions such as rating changes, Credit Watch and Outlook. We find that the net linguistic tone (negative minus positive tone) in the reports is significantly and...

We examine the information content of managed fund ratings for Australian retail investors. Because fund ratings, premised on a quantitative-qualitative model, are highly transitory, we question whether investors formulate their investment decisions with respect to changes in ratings and whether...

We analyze the implications of linking the compensation of fund managers to the return of their portfolio relative to that of a benchmark - a common solution to the agency problem in delegated portfolio management. In the presence of such relative-performance-based objectives, investors have...

We demonstrate that time stamps reported in I/B/E/S for analysts' recommendations released during trading hours are systematically delayed. Using newswire-reported time stamps, we find 30-minute returns of 1.83% (-2.10%) for upgrades (downgrades), but for this subset of recommendations we find...