Mutual Fund Advisory Contracts: An Empirical Investigation

We investigate marginal compensation rates in mutual fund advisory contracts and find the following. Equity and foreign fund advisors receive higher marginal compensation than debt and domestic fund advisors. Advisors of funds with greater turnover receive higher marginal compensation. Also, closed-end fund advisors receive higher marginal compensation than open-end fund advisors. Finally, we find that marginal compensation is lower for advisors of large funds and members of large fund families. We argue that these differences in marginal compensation reflect differences in advisor marginal product, differences in the difficulty of monitoring performance, differences in control environments, and scale economies.     

XBRL、代理成本与绩效水平——基于中国开放式基金市场的证据

从2010年开始,中国证监会强制要求所有基金公司采用XBRL在唯一指定的官方网站上披露年报等信息,同时提供在线XBRL阅读器以方便投资者查阅相关信息。基于此,本文考察XBRL的采用对于开放式基金代理成本及其相关经济后果的影响,研究发现,强制采用XBRL,降低了开放式基金的代理成本,同时提升了开放式基金的绩效水平。研究表明这一新的披露方式,减少了投资者的信息搜索成本以及投资者与基金经理之间的信息不对称,从而促进了投资者作为委托人对于代理人行为的有效监督。     

美国共同基金费率体系设计的趋势研究

本文在InvestmentCompanyInstitute(ICI)各年有关基金费率的报告基础上,从费率的基本结构、费率水平以及费率设计的创新趋势三方面总结了美国共同基金自1980年以来在费率方面的变化:由单一前端费用为主,转向灵活调整、适应投资者多样化需求的费率结构和费率水平体系。     

Mutual Fund Family Size and Mutual Fund Performance: The Role of Regulatory Changes

We examine whether the previously documented positive association between fund family size and fund performance is affected by significant regulatory changes (i.e., Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), the Global Settlement (GS), and increased scrutiny as a result of trading scandals) that have occurred in the last decade. Using Reg FD as a beginning point for these structural changes, we find that, while fund family size was positively associated with fund performance in the period prior to the regulatory changes, this advantage is significantly weaker in the period subsequent to the regulatory changes. Consistent with the weakened advantage of fund family size in fund performance, we find that the greater stock‐picking skill of larger fund families, measured using the earnings announcement returns of the stocks they trade, also weakened subsequent to the regulatory changes. Using narrower event windows around the regulatory changes, we find that the previously documented superior return of large fund families was partly attributable to selective disclosure. We also find that fund families implicated in the trading scandals experienced a decline in their performance during the scandal period. Finally, we examine the role of large investment banks in providing an advantage to large fund families. Family size was positively associated with the extent to which funds traded in the same direction as forecast revisions by analysts from large investment banks in the period prior to Reg FD and the GS and this association declined significantly after the two regulatory events.     

基金投资风格的持续性研究:原因与结果

本文以2006至2010年期间所有开放式股票型非指数型基金为样本,实证研究基金投资风格的持续性以及基金转变投资风格的原因和结果。研究发现:(1)基金的大盘/小盘风格具有一定的持续性,但是价值/成长风格不具有持续性;(2)基金总体上并没有表现出明显的风格择时能力,而过去的业绩是影响基金投资风格发现转变的一个重要原因;(3)适当地改变大盘/小盘风格、适当地保持价值/成长风格有利于提高未来的业绩。     

An Intertemporal CAPM Approach to Evaluate Mutual Fund Performance

Merton (1973) and Campbell (1993) have demonstrated that if an investor anticipates information shifts, he will adjust his portfolio choice today in an attempt to hedge these shifts. Exploiting these insights, we construct a new performance measure to evaluate fund managers' hedging ability. This new measure is different from two widely adopted performance evaluation measures: securities selectivity and market timing. Moreover, an econometric methodology is developed to simultaneously estimate the magnitudes of these three portfolio performance evaluation measures. The results show that mutual fund managers are on average with positive security selection and negative market timing ability. Furthermore, the mutual funds with investment style classified as Asset Allocation generally have positive hedging timing ability.     

证券投资基金费用与管理质量实证研究

通过对证券投资基金费用与基金绩效之间关系的检验,发现对于管理质量好的基金,基金费用和绩效负相关.与此相反,对于管理质量差的基金,基金费用与绩效正相关.此外,基金费用确实存在规模经济,这反映了当前证券投资基金业中的基金数量少,便于监管,费用设置较为合理.这些结论与以下观点一致,即保护股东利益的独立董事可能起到了应有的作用.     

Mutual Fund Performance: Measurement and Evidence1

The paper provides a critical review of empirical findings on the performance of mutual funds, mainly for the US and UK. Ex‐post, there are around 0‐5% of top performing UK and US equity mutual funds with truly positive‐alpha performance (after fees) and around 20% of funds that have truly poor alpha performance, with about 75% of active funds which are effectively zero‐alpha funds. Key drivers of relative performance are, load fees, expenses and turnover. There is little evidence of successful market timing. Evidence suggests past winner funds persist, when rebalancing is frequent (i.e., less than one year) and when using sophisticated sorting rules (e.g., Bayesian approaches) ‐ but transactions costs (load and advisory fees) imply that economic gains to investors from winner funds may be marginal. The US evidence clearly supports the view that past loser funds remain losers. Broadly speaking results for bond mutual funds are similar to those for equity funds. Sensible advice for most investors would be to hold low cost index funds and avoid holding past ‘active’ loser funds. Only sophisticated investors should pursue an active ex‐ante investment strategy of trying to pick winners ‐ and then with much caution.     

Outsourcing Mutual Fund Management: Firm Boundaries,Incentives, and Performance

We investigate the effects of managerial outsourcing on the performance and incentives of mutual funds. Fund families outsource the management of a large fraction of their funds to advisory firms. These funds underperform those run internally by about 52 basis points per year. After instrumenting for a fund's outsourcing status, the estimated underperformance is three times larger. We hypothesize that contractual externalities due to firm boundaries make it difficult to extract performance from an outsourced relationship. Consistent with this view, outsourced funds face higher powered incentives; they are more likely to be closed after poor performance and excessive risk‐taking.     

Equity Markets, Transactions Costs, and Capital Accumulation: An Illustration

Poorly developed equity markets inhibit the transfer of capitalownership. Moreover, the costs of transacting in equity marketsaffect not just the level of investment, but the kinds of investmentsthat are undertaken. Once equity markets allow the ownershipof capital to be transferred economically, reductions in coststend to favor the use of longer-maturity investments. When thereis a relationship between the maturity of an investment andits productivity, transactions cost reductions are conduciveto observing certain kinds of increases in productive efficiency.This article analyzes savings, investment, and consumption decisionsby using an overlapping generations model with two-period-livedagents. The analysis allows for several technologies for convertingcurrent output into future capital that vary by productivityand maturity, and it makes ownership of capital costly to transfer.A reduction in transactions costs will typically alter the compositionof savings and investment, and have potentially complicatedconsequences for capital accumulation and steady-state output.     

Changing Names with Style: Mutual Fund Name Changes and Their Effects on Fund Flows

We examine whether mutual funds change their names to take advantage of current hot investment styles, and what effects these name changes have on inflows to the funds, and to the funds' subsequent returns. We find that the year after a fund changes its name to reflect a current hot style, the fund experiences an average cumulative abnormal flow of 28%, with no improvement in performance. The increase in flows is similar across funds whose holdings match the style implied by their new name and those whose holdings do not, suggesting that investors are irrationally influenced by cosmetic effects.     

Mutual Fund Performance: Evidence from the UK

This paper uses a large sample containing the complete return histories of 2300 UK open-ended mutual funds over a 23-year period to measure fund performance. We find some evidence of underperformance on a risk-adjusted basis by the average fund manager, persistence of performance and the existence of a substantial survivor bias. Similar findings have been reported for US equity mutual funds. New findings not previously documented for other markets include evidence that mutual fund performance varies substantially across different asset categories, especially foreign asset categories. We also identify some new patterns in performance related to the funds' distance from their inception and termination dates: underperformance intensifies as the fund termination date approaches, while, in contrast, there is some evidence that funds (weakly) outperform during their first year of existence.     

Mutual Fund Performance: Evidence from the UK

This paper uses a large sample containing the complete returnhistories of 2300UK openended mutual funds over a 23-year periodto measure fund performance. We find some evidence of underperformanceon a risk-adjusted basis by the average fund manager, persistenceofperformance and the existence of a substantial survivor bias.Similar findings have been reported for US equity mutual funds.New findings not previously documented for other markets includeevidence that mutual fund performance varies substantially acrossdifferent asset categories, especially foreign asset categories.We also identify some new patterns in performance related tothe funds' distance from their inception and termination dates:underperformance intensifies as the fund termination date approaches,while, in contrast, there is some evidence that funds (weakly)outperform during their first year of existence.     

Performance Chasing,Fund Flows and Fund Size in Real Estate Mutual Funds

Real estate mutual funds have grown dramatically in number, size, scope and assets under management over the last 15 years, but little assessment is evident. The present study addresses this limitation. Better prior period performance is associated with greater shares of fund inflows for a period. Returns, however, are negatively associated with increased fund flows and fund size. Investors chase past performance limiting fund managers’ ability to optimize investments. Under normal market conditions, but departing from typical mutual fund performance, real estate mutual fund returns generally exceed relevant benchmarks on a before expenses basis and match benchmark returns after expenses. The ability to meet and exceed benchmark returns, however, does not hold during the financial crisis period. Overall, more established funds are shown to have higher returns while fund turnover is not a determinant of returns.     

Portfolio Manager Ownership and Mutual Fund Performance

This paper examines the association between a mutual fund manager's personal fund investment and mutual fund performance. From a data set of newly released managerial ownership disclosures, I find that fund ownership levels are diverse and, in many instances, quite large. Mutual fund returns are increasing in the level of managerial investment, consistent with personal ownership realigning decision-maker and shareholder interests. Also consistent with the reduction of agency costs, I find that managerial ownership is inversely related to fund turnover. However, there is no evidence of an association between managerial ownership and a mutual fund's tax burden.     

Truth in Mutual Fund Advertising: Evidence on Future Performance and Fund Flows

We examine a sample of 294 mutual funds that are advertised in Barron's or Money magazine. The preadvertisement performance of these funds is significantly higher than that of the benchmarks. We test whether the sponsors select funds to signal continued superior performance or they use the past superior performance to attract more money into the funds. Our analysis shows that there is no superior performance in the postadvertisement period. Thus, the results do not support the signaling hypothesis. On the other hand, we find that the advertised funds attract significantly more money in comparison with a group of control funds.     

Mandatory Portfolio Disclosure,Stock Liquidity,and Mutual Fund Performance

We examine the impact of mandatory portfolio disclosure by mutual funds on stock liquidity and fund performance. We develop a model of informed trading with disclosure and test its predictions using the May 2004 SEC regulation requiring more frequent disclosure. Stocks with higher fund ownership, especially those held by more informed funds or subject to greater information asymmetry, experience larger increases in liquidity after the regulation change. More informed funds, especially those holding stocks with greater information asymmetry, experience greater performance deterioration after the regulation change. Overall, mandatory disclosure improves stock liquidity but imposes costs on informed investors.     

基金流量与基金投资行为——基于动态面板数据模型的实证研究

本文通过引入基金流量变量,对中国证券投资基金是否稳定市场这一争议性命题进行解析,挖掘中国基金经理投资行为"异质性"背后的基金申赎行为因素,试图从基金流量引发基金经理资产配置动态调整的视角对中国证券投资基金"是否行为理性"这一重要命题进行重新诠释。在实证过程中,本文构建动态面板模型对2006～2010年股票型开放式基金季度数据进行估计,检验结果表明我国证券投资基金投资行为受到基金流量的显著影响,基金持有人行为对基金经理投资行为具有冲击效应,并直接影响到基金经理的策略选择和资产组合调整。结合研究结论,本文提出推进中国版"401K"计划,优化基金持有人结构,合理引导基金投资者行为,减小基金异常申赎行为对市场波动性的传递效应等政策建议。     

封闭式基金折价与管理绩效的实证研究

本文基于管理绩效理论,对我国封闭式基金折价现象进行实证研究。管理绩效理论认为,封闭式基金折价反映了投资者对于基金未来过低的管理能力的理性预期,未来管理绩效越差,折价越大。本文使用了多种基金绩效度量模型,分别采用引入时间哑变量和除去时间均值混合OLS回归方法以及Fama-Macbeth横截面回归方法,验证了折价率和未来管理绩效之间的关系。结果显示,封闭式基金折价和溢价反映了市场对于基金未来管理绩效的预期;当期折价率和未来管理绩效之间存在显著的正向关系,尤其在未来一个季度的时间内;这种关系不受非同步性交易效应和基金异质性的影响。本文同时发现,折价率对于未来管理绩效的解释能力强于过去的管理绩效对于未来管理绩效的解释能力。