A low-interest rate environment induces higher demand for income-generating assets, such as high-dividend stocks and high-coupon bonds. In this paper, we explore the impact of this “reaching-for-income” phenomenon on fund flows of corporate bond mutual funds. We find that high...

Behavioral finance lacks direct evidence linking agents’ beliefs to their behaviors. Motivated by revealed preference theories, I provide such evidence using mutual fund stock holdings. Assuming that investors' expectations are consistent with their investment decisions, I relate fund...

We find that mutual funds whose managers are socially connected with firm auditors hold more shares of these firms and generate superior portfolio returns. Cross-sectional results reveal that the relation between social connections and mutual fund stockholdings is more pronounced: when the...

The proposition that a prudent investor should be diversified is widely accepted if not incontrovertible for ordinary investors – investors who have no reasonable expectation of influencing company management or business policy. Indeed, fiduciary duty requires that trustees and other...

Limited partners allocate capital into venture capital funds with the expectation of a risk-return profile matching the fund’s investment style in terms of startup investment stage, location, and industry. This paper draws a connection between style drifts in these three dimensions and the...

We find that mutual fund investors care about the uncertainty associated with the fund's skills, which is neglected by the existing literature. We propose a measure named Confidence in the Fund's Skills (CFS) to investigate this question empirically. CFS has a significantly positive impact on...

General Partners (GPs) in private equity face a trade-off between focusing their skills and effort on fewer investments to earn higher returns, or investing more broadly to reduce risk through diversification. Using a novel, deal-level dataset of 5,925 global investments from 1999 to 2016, we...

Purpose - This study aims to identify the factors that influence the willingness of Bangladeshi retail investors to invest in ṣukūk. Design/methodology/approach - The authors surveyed Bangladeshi retail investors using a structured questionnaire to understand their perspectives on potential...

Investment fund managers make asset allocation decisions on behalf of a significant segment of US households. To elucidate the incentives they operate under, as well as the income and career risks they face, we construct a unique and novel dataset, which encompasses detailed information on the...