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 paper introduces a new measure of liquidity for equity mutual funds. Our measure, called dynamic liquidity, is a combination of a fund's money flow and its volatility around money flow. We show that a fund's dynamic liquidity score (DLS) is an improved indicator of fund liquidity and can be...

This paper examines those mutual funds classified by Morningstar as “Multialternative” within their “Alternative” mutual fund classification. It follows an earlier paper, “Hedge Funds vs. Mutual Funds: An Examination of Equity Long/Short Funds,” which found that equity long/short...

This paper compares the performance of sector ETFs to their respective S&P industry GICS sector index and to their identified benchmark. We have defined sector risk exposure as the sector specific risk that cannot be eliminated via the portfolio's diversification across the given sector. We...

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are one of the fastest growing areas of investing and have significantly changed investor behavior, yet there is limited academic research on ETFs, with minimal on commodity based ETFs. This paper is the first to examine whether abnormal returns are available for...

The tournament hypothesis of Brown et al. (1996) posits that managers of poorly performing funds actively increase portfolio risk in the second half of the year. At the same time, it is a well-established stylized fact that stock returns and the subsequent return standard deviation are...

In this paper we examine the differences in aggregate ownership of stocks held by passive equity funds and active equity funds and in the characteristics of stocks held by these funds. We find that holdings of passive funds do not mirror the holdings of active funds. There are systematic...

We examine the rate of return earned by global funds on equity investment in emerging markets (EMs) particularly the role played by sovereign credit risk. Changes in sovereign credit ratings (upgrades/downgrades) influence excess (over risk free rate) returns earned by foreign investors: lower...

We evaluate the performance of the US bond mutual fund industry using a comprehensive sample of bond funds over a long time period from January 1998 to February 2017. In this one study, we examine bond fund selectivity, market timing and performance persistence. We evaluate bond funds relative...

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...