IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/afr111/v1y2012i2p139.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Asset Liquidity and Mutual Fund Management Fees: Evidence from Closed-End Mutual Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Cullinan
  • Xiaochuan Zheng

Abstract

In this study, we assess whether the liquidity of a closed-end mutual fund’s investments (measured based on the fund’s fair value disclosures) is related to the management fee charged by the fund’s investment advisor. We posit that there will be incremental effort on the part of the advisor to identify and analyze less liquid investments, and that fund investors would be willing to pay for these incremental costs to access less-liquid segments of the market. Consistent with this expectation, we find a significantly positive relationship between the percentage of level 3 assets (the least liquid securities) and management fees. However, we do not find a significant relationship between level 2 securities (which are more liquid than level 3, but less liquid than level 1) and management fees. Overall, our results suggest that investments in the least liquid securities result in higher management fees.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Cullinan & Xiaochuan Zheng, 2012. "Asset Liquidity and Mutual Fund Management Fees: Evidence from Closed-End Mutual Funds," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 1(2), pages 139-139, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:jfr:afr111:v:1:y:2012:i:2:p:139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/download/1765/936
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/afr/article/view/1765
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. D. K. Malhotra & Robert W. McLeod, 1997. "An Empirical Analysis Of Mutual Fund Expenses," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 175-190, June.
    2. Ippolito, Richard A, 1992. "Consumer Reaction to Measures of Poor Quality: Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 45-70, April.
    3. Malhotra, D K & McLeod, Robert W, 1997. "An Empirical Analysis of Mutual Fund Expenses," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 175-190, Summer.
    4. Jay Wang, Z. & Nanda, Vikram, 2011. "Payout policies and closed-end fund discounts: Signaling, agency costs, and the role of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 589-619, October.
    5. Malkiel, Burton G, 1977. "The Valuation of Closed-End Investment-Company Shares," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(3), pages 847-859, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gil-Bazo, Javier & Ruiz-Verdú, Pablo, 2006. "Yet another puzzle? the relation between price and performance in the mutual fund industry," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb066519, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    2. Estelle James & Gary Ferrier & James H. Smalhout & Dimitri Vittas, 2000. "Mutual Funds and Institutional Investments: What Is the Most Efficient Way to Set Up Individual Accounts in a Social Security System?," NBER Chapters, in: Administrative Aspects of Investment-Based Social Security Reform, pages 77-136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. James,Estelle & Smalhout, James & Vittas, Dimitri, 2001. "Administrative costs and the organization of individual retirement account systems : a comparative perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2554, The World Bank.
    4. Isabel Toledo & Rocío Marco, 2010. "Costs associated with mutual funds in Spain," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(2), pages 165-179.
    5. Jacob Bikker & Jan de Dreu, 2006. "Pension fund efficiency: the impact of scale, governance and plan design," DNB Working Papers 109, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    6. Sharon Garyn-Tal, 2015. "Mutual fund fees and performance: new insights," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(3), pages 454-477, July.
    7. Tang, Ke & Wang, Wenjun & Xu, Rong, 2012. "Size and performance of Chinese mutual funds: The role of economy of scale and liquidity," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 228-246.
    8. Dachen Sheng & Heather A. Montgomery, 2024. "Assessing Mutual Fund Performance in China: A Sector Weight-Based Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    9. J.A. Bikker, 2013. "Is there an optimal pension fund size? A scale-economy analysis of administrative and investment costs," Working Papers 13-06, Utrecht School of Economics.
    10. Marco Navone & Giacomo Nocera, 2016. "Unbundling the Expense Ratio: Hidden Distribution Costs in European Mutual Fund Markets," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 22(4), pages 640-666, September.
    11. Teresa Corzo Santamaría & Carlos Martinez de Ibarreta & Juan Rodriguez Calvo, 2018. "Timid performance fees in mutual funds," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 64-77, January.
    12. Kim, Doseong & Kim, Yura & Song, Kyojik Roy, 2013. "Payout policies on U.S. closed-end funds," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 345-356.
    13. Jacob A. Bikker & Jeroen J. Meringa, 2022. "Have scale effects on cost margins of pension fund investment portfolios disappeared?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(39), pages 4501-4518, August.
    14. Paulo ALVES, 2015. "The Fees Of Mutual Funds And Real Estate Funds Their Determinants In A Small Market," Journal of Advanced Studies in Finance, ASERS Publishing, vol. 6(1), pages 20-28.
    15. Geranio, Manuela & Zanotti, Giovanna, 2005. "Can mutual funds characteristics explain fees?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(4-5), pages 354-376, October.
    16. Benjamin Langford & Robert Faff & Vijaya Marisetty, 2006. "On the Choice of Superannuation Funds in Australia," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 29(3), pages 255-279, June.
    17. Tulbure, Narcis & Catarama, Delia, 2009. "Institutional and Socio-Cultural Factors Explaining the Development of Mutual Funds. A Cross-Country Analysis," MPRA Paper 20341, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Sofi Mohd Fikri & M. H. Yahya, 2019. "The Fund Characteristics, Fees, and expenses structure between Conventional and Islamic Mutual Fund," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 15(1), pages 157-190.
    19. Todd Houge & Jay Wellman, 2007. "The Use and Abuse of Mutual Fund Expenses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 23-32, January.
    20. Asal, Maher, 2016. "Testing for the presence of skill in Swedish mutual fund performance: Evidence from a bootstrap analysis," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 22-35.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:afr111:v:1:y:2012:i:2:p:139. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sciedu Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.