In the recent years the alternative asset class of hedge funds is widely discussed in financial literature. On the one hand this is caused by an increasing demand on these unregulated investments and on the other hand it is caused by a lack of transparency concerning their investment strategies...

In this paper, we examine and compare the form of the flow-performance relationship for U.S. retail and institutional mutual funds. We provide evidence that the convex form of the flow-performance function documented by previous research characterizes mostly the relationship in the upper region...

Given the rapid growth of investment products focused on socially responsible investing (SRI), in March 2016 Morningstar began reporting standardized metrics to “grade” the Sustainability (i.e., SRI) level of thousands of mutual funds. While traditional financial theory suggests funds that...

Theoretical models imply fund size and performance should be negatively linked. However, empiricists have failed to uncover consistent support for this negative relation. Using a new econometric framework which includes fund-specific sensitivities to decreasing returns to scale, we find a both...

We study the out-of-sample predictability of the returns of pan-European harmonized mutual funds that apply hedge fund-like investment strategies (“Alternative UCITS”). Given these funds' higher liquidity, investors could exploit relevant information much easier than for hedge funds, and use...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of Greek equity mutual funds for the period 2012-2016, analyzing further selectivity and market timing ability, and short-term performance persistence for the period 2015-2016. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing a survivorship...

We document evidence that mutual funds, on average, are averse to investing in tax-avoiding firms, which seems anomalous given mutual fund managers' incentive structure. Our results remain unchanged when we address endogeneity concerns using several methods, including identification through...

We study the loosening of restrictions on the use of leverage, derivatives, and illiquid assets by mutual funds. In contrast to previous studies, we find that the allowance of these complex instruments is associated with poor performance and higher risk. The underperformance is most acute during...

This study examines the performance and asset allocation policy of 70 KiwiSaver funds labelled as Growth, Balanced or Conservative over the period October 2007- June 2016. On average, funds underperform their respective benchmarks, with the mean quarterly excess return (after management fees) of...

This study aims to analyze and investigates the factors influencing returns of Islamic and conventional mutual funds in Pakistan. More specifically this study aims to investigate whether macroeconomic and systematic factors affect Shariah compliant Equity, Income and assets allocation mutual...