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Smart Fund Managers? Stupid Money?

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Bernhardt

    (Department of Economics, University of Illionis)

  • Ryan Davies

    (ICMA Centre, University of Reading)

  • Harvey Westbrook Jr.

    (Securities and Exchange Commission, Washintgon DC)

Abstract

We develop a theoretical model of a mutual fund manager's investment decision that incorporates three well-known observations: (i) past fund performance influences subsequent net fund inflows; (ii) fund manager compensation rises with total assets under management; (iii) trading has short-run price impacts. These observations provide fund managers the incentive to distort investment of new cash inflows toward stocks in which the fund holds larger positions. We show that this leads to the empirically observed short-run persistence and long-run reversal in fund performance. It also explains why mutual funds tend to be relatively undiversified and appear to exhibit clairvoyant stock selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Bernhardt & Ryan Davies & Harvey Westbrook Jr., 2002. "Smart Fund Managers? Stupid Money?," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2002-19, Henley Business School, University of Reading, revised Jul 2003.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2002-19
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    File URL: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/pdf/discussion/DP2002-19.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bernhardt, Dan & Davies, Ryan J., 2005. "Painting the tape: Aggregate evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 306-311, December.
    2. Ying-Fen Fu, 2014. "Individual Fund Manager Sentiment, Fund Performance and Performance Persistence," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(4), pages 870-885.
    3. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    4. Li, Xiangwen & Wu, Wenfeng, 2019. "Portfolio pumping and fund performance ranking: A performance-based compensation contract perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 94-106.
    5. Duong, Truong X. & Meschke, Felix, 2020. "The rise and fall of portfolio pumping among U.S. mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Tsung-Yu Hsieh, 2015. "Information disclosure and price manipulation during the pre-closing session: evidence from an order-driven market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(43), pages 4670-4684, September.
    7. Tālis J. Putniņš, 2012. "Market Manipulation: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 952-967, December.
    8. Kadıoğlu, Eyüp & Frömmel, Michael, 2022. "Manipulation in the bond market and the role of investment funds: Evidence from an emerging market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Jie Gao & Yang Feng & Zeshui Xu & Qianlin Luo, 2023. "Analysis of strategic deviance decisions considering investors’ risk aversion and the industrial earnings forecast errors," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 379-402, March.
    10. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Putnins, Talis J., 2011. "Measuring closing price manipulation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 135-158, April.
    11. Carole Comerton-Forde & Tālis J. Putniņš, 2014. "Stock Price Manipulation: Prevalence and Determinants," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(1), pages 23-66.
    12. Chang, Rosita P. & Rhee, S. Ghon & Stone, Gregory R. & Tang, Ning, 2008. "How does the call market method affect price efficiency? Evidence from the Singapore Stock Market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 2205-2219, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    turn-of-quarter effect; painting the tape; mutual fund performance; investment distortion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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