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...

In this paper we analyze market segmentation by firm size in the commercial real estate transaction process. Using novel micro-level data, we look at the probability distribution of investors acquiring a speci fic bundle of real estate characteristics, distinguishing between investors based on...

This paper reports the results of a survey of nine Dutch (AUM EUR 342 billion) and five Canadian (AUM CAD 203 billion) pension funds and fiduciary managers on the investment and management decisions regarding illiquid assets. The Dutch pension funds in our sample invest 15% of their portfolio in...

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...

I theoretically and empirically investigate how institutional investors with different holding horizons make investment decisions. Long-term and short-term institutions have persistent differences in their portfolio tilt with short-term institutions more willing to invest in low-return stocks....

We survey institutional investors to understand why they integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment management processes. Using a unique data set, we find that limited partners (LPs) are motivated to incorporate ESG because they believe that ESG usage is...

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...

Are portfolio managers skilled or do they trade too much? Using a marked-to-market based“fair-value” method for measuring fund manager skill, we find that institutional managers canpotentially earn +42 (+33) basis points benchmark-adjusted return before transaction costs aftera holding...

In this paper, we show that institutional investors, like pension funds, may outperform standard market portfolio benchmarks. These results agree with contemporary research on pension funds' performance. Yet, the current research does not explain why do pension funds are able to outperform the...

Valuation-based market timing demonstrates strong potential to improve risk-adjusted returns for conservative long-term investors. Such timing strategies based on the cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio provide comparable returns as a 100 percent stocks buy-and-hold strategy but with...