We explore how institutional and individual investors respond to analyst recommendations. Using a unique account-level trading dataset from the China, we find that 1) institutions are significantly net buyers (net sellers) on “strong buy” and “buy” (“hold” and “sell”)...

Do more active hedge fund managing strategies generate higher returns than the less active ones? We develop a novel approach to measuring activeness for hedge funds by estimating the dynamics of risk exposure of a large sample of live and dead equity long-short funds. We find that higher...

Do more active hedge fund managers generate higher returns than their less active peers? We attempt to answer this question. Using Kalman Filter techniques, we estimate the risk exposure dynamics of a large sample of live and dead equity long-short hedge funds. These estimates are then used to...

Exiting studies document that institutional herding has a stabilizing effect on stock prices, as stock returns over one- to three-quarter horizons are positively correlated with herding. The literature also shows that short-term institutions are better informed than long-term institutions....

The HODL ideology overgeneralizes the buy-and-hold strategy for risky assets, leading to potential harm in investor wealth accumulation and investor-advisor relations. It originates from misunderstandings of financial theories, empirical evidence, technical analysis, and market timing. I provide...

We have developed a structural model to explain defined benefit (DB) pension funds' investment behaviour. The model is calibrated to the aggregate UK DB pension fund and four different cohorts of funds. We use the model to estimate how pension funds can be expected to adjust their asset...

Participants in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans rarely adjust their portfolio allocations, suggesting that their investment choices and consequent money flows are sticky and not discerning. However, participants' inertia could be offset by DC plan sponsors, who adjust the plan's...

This paper uses unique and detailed transaction data to analyse herding behavior among pension funds. We distinguish between weak, semi strong and strong herding behaviour. Weak herding occurs if pension funds have similar rebalancing strategies. Semi strong herding arises when pension funds...

We find remarkable heterogeneity in the investment strategies of pension funds with similar objectives. We use bias-free data to measure their investment strategies through factor exposures within equity and fixed income portfolios. Consistent with our model we find that the funding ratio, risk...

This paper investigates the financial risk-taking behavior of pension funds since 2000. I assemble a new database containing portfolio holdings of more than 100 pension funds from 14 advanced economies. The study reveals three key findings. First, I show that pension fund portfolios have become...