Socially responsible mutual fund exit decisions

This paper studies, for the first time, socially responsible (SR) mutual fund exits. We analyse a sample of 534 U.S. SR equity mutual funds in the period 2003–2017, in which 182 exit events occurred (53 liquidations, 109 mergers within the same family, and 20 mergers across different families). The results obtained indicate that both liquidations and mergers are more likely among smaller funds that suffer net money outflows in the previous year to the event. At the family level, mergers are more frequent in outperforming families with a larger number of funds, whereas liquidations occur in families with a lower number of funds. When comparing mergers within the same family with mergers across different families, we observe that the former share more drivers with liquidations than the latter. In addition, we observe that religious and environmental funds are more likely to suffer exit events than other SR fund types. Finally, other interesting findings point out that mergers financially benefit investors in merged SR mutual funds and the financial outcomes of acquiring fund investors are not jeopardized.     

Stability of mutual fund systematic risk statistics

Empirical data for 85 mutual funds are used to test the intertemporal stability of their systematic risk statistics. Reasons why the portfolios may be nonstationary are suggested. A random coefficient model developed by Theil [37] is employed to test for the stability of each fund's beta. The data suggest that some funds do exhibit a beta that is best described as being a random coefficient. However, the percentage of funds exhibiting this characteristic was not statistically different from the percentage of randomly created portfolios that exhibited a random beta coefficient. The findings of this study support the statistical models employed in two other recent studies [18,21] to test for the stability of beta. Yet, for mutual funds that do exhibit a random beta coefficient, the partitioning of the total risk of the portfolio return into systematic and unsystematic risk is no longer valid for explaining the total risk.     

Information content of prior period mutual fund performance rankings

This paper examines the relationship between prior and subsequent period performance rankings for all domestic equity mutual funds followed by Morningstar over the period 1976–1992. Evidence of statistically significant persistence in relative performance was detected in the full sample during the period 1980–1992. However, further examination revealed that persistence in mutual fund performance was no longer evident when the full sample was partitioned by investment objective. In this context, prior period mutual fund performance provides minimal insight into subsequent period performance and, therefore, is of little value in the mutual fund selection process.     

Ability parity model for optimal fund allocation: Evidence from China's mutual fund markets

We propose in this article a novel ability parity model for optimal fund allocation. Compared with the traditional portfolio selection methods which directly work on asset returns and/or risk (volatility), the proposed ability parity method focuses mainly on the allocation between the stock selection ability and market timing ability of fund managers, which essentially determines fund performance (Fama, 1972). Using the data of China's mutual fund markets, we find strong and robust evidence that the proposed ability parity model delivers significantly higher return, skewness, and Sharpe ratio than traditional models and the benchmark index, while having volatilities comparable with traditional models.     

Salience theory and mutual fund flows: Empirical evidence from China

Using a sample of Chinese mutual funds during 2004–2020, we provide empirical evidence on the salience theory, which argues that individuals' decision weights on risky asset choices are distorted in favor of salient payoffs. Specifically, we document robust and casual impacts of funds' salience theory values on their future flows. The impacts are not explained by investors' attention-driven purchases, funds' lottery-like features, or the characteristics of funds' underlying stocks. Further tests show that the impacts are larger for funds with more shares held by individual investors and are more pronounced when investor sentiment is higher.     

Derivatives do affect mutual fund returns: Evidence from the financial crisis of 1998

Using a unique data set of detailed balance sheet information on mutual funds, we find that most mutual funds using derivatives do so to a very limited extent that has little discernable impact on returns. However, there exist two types of funds that make more extensive use of derivatives, global funds and specialized domestic equity funds. The risk and return characteristics of these two groups of funds are significantly different from funds employing derivatives sparingly or not at all. Fund managers time their use of derivatives in response to past returns. Evidence during the financial crisis of August 1998 supports the hypothesis that the effects of derivative use are most pronounced during the periods of extreme movement. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:629–658, 2011     

Information search in the mutual fund market in the U.S. A.

Sequential decision-making principles are introduced which can be applied to mutual fund investing. Specific attention is given to the nature of the mutual fund market and the expected pay-off from a low-cost information search. Empirical results are based on historical returns and information that is readily available in popular press sources. Substantial variation in historical performance was found and the pay-off from a market search was positive and substantial in many cases.     

Managers, investors, and crises: mutual fund strategies in emerging markets

We examine the trading strategies of mutual funds in emerging markets. We develop a method for disentangling the behavior of fund managers from that of underlying investors. For both managers and investors, we strongly reject the null hypothesis of no momentum trading: mutual funds systematically sell losers and buy winners. Selling current losers and buying current winners is stronger during crises, and equally strong for managers and investors. Selling past losers and buying past winners is stronger for managers. Managers and investors also practice contagion trading—they sell (buy) assets from one country when asset prices fall (rise) in another.     

Spanish mutual fund fees and less sophisticated investors: examination and ethical implications

Some mutual funds not only apply the usual asset management and custodial fees, but also front loads and redemption fees as a kind of 'toll charge' payable on entering and/or leaving the fund. The aim of this work is to examine the implications of the different loads and fees applied to mutual fund investors in the Spanish market. The results show that there is a relationship between the various charges and fees. The fact that load fund companies charge higher management and custody fees proves the potential of the fund companies to impose higher fees on a segment of the clientele. The investors in load funds, which tend to be large in number of shareholders and belonging to banks and savings banks, are small investors who show a low cost sensitivity. A lower level of financial sophistication may be the reason for the apparent lower price awareness. The problem is that the investors in load funds are not financially compensated for the extra cost represented by the front-load and redemption fees. The only beneficiary seems to be the financial institution itself. On this view, the survival of load funds seems to depend on the lack of financial sophistication of their clientele, combined with market inefficiencies. It is worth asking about the ethics of a situation of market segmentation that allows managing institutions to benefit from the segment of the least sophisticated investors.     

Organisational form and industry emergence: Nonprofit and mutual firms in the development of the US personal finance industry

Economic theories of commercial nonprofits and mutuals usually emphasise the advantages of such organisational forms in reducing agency and monitoring costs in markets that suffer from information asymmetries in exchanges between firms and their customers. This article examines the ability of such transaction cost theories to account for historical variations in the ownership and governance of firms in the US personal finance industry between the early nineteenth century and the Great Depression. It focuses, in particular, on mutual savings banks and their role in the development of the intermediated market for savings accounts. While I find some evidence in support of transaction cost theories of organisational form, I also find that entrepreneurial and socio-political factors played crucial roles in the choice of ownership and governance structures; mutual savings banks predominated in the early years of the industry because the form offered entrepreneurial advantages over investor-owned corporations and because in some states they benefitted from regulatory and political advantages that joint-stock companies lacked. Their relative decline by the early twentieth century was the result of increasing competition in the market for savings deposits, the loosening of regulatory barriers to entry, and changes in public policy that reduced the transaction, innovation and regulatory advantages that the mutual savings bank form had once held. The article draws out the theoretical implications for our understanding of the historical role of nonprofit and mutual firms.     

小议从事广告行业的心得

做广告难，难就难在广告公司在客户与媒体之间挣扎地生存着，甚至有的广告人觉得自己活得都特别卑微，为什么会这样呢，我觉得还在于自己的心态问题。首先，想做广告这行就得先把心态摆正了，麻烦的事谁都不愿意去做，但在不得不做的情况下你硬着头皮也得做。我们是得为客户提供建议和方案，     

关于战略性新兴产业的理论思考

金融危机的爆发使世界各国认识到发展战略性新兴产业的重要性,不仅有利于转变经济发展方式、促进产业结构调整,而且能够带动传统产业升级,使传统产业获得新的生机。我国发展战略性新兴产业具有重要意义。     

自然垄断行业管制理论评述

20世纪90年代以来,我国对电力和电信等传统上的自然垄断行业的管制制度发生了深刻的变化.本文试图分析和评价能够解释市场结构演变和制度变迁的理论框架和模型,为我国的改革实践提供启发和奠定进一步研究的基础.管制制度是市场结构的重要决定变量,是政府进行产业治理的主要手段.管制理论的发展呈现出把管制制度内生化的趋势,这种努力的结果产生了管制经济学.可竞争市场理论改变了人们对自然垄断行业管制政策的传统看法,政府管制中存在的信息约束和道德风险问题,更加增强了放松管制政策的吸引力,现在的思想倾向认为:竞争是管制的重要替代.对中国的改革而言,这意味着产业管制制度的变迁应该是一个不断减少政府干预的过程.     

论电子商务与物流的相互制约与促进

电子商务与现代物流业的关系是一种互为条件、互为动力、相互制约的关系.在对电子商务和物流做了正确认识分析基础上,探讨了电子商务与物流的相互制约与解决措施,以及电子商务与物流的相互促进,共同发展.     

试析我国文化产业的体制转型

我国文化产业的发展是伴随着改革开放的不断发展和市场经济体制改革的不断深化而兴起的.随着计划经济体制向市场经济体制的转变,从文化观念到文化生产也发生了转型性变化,这也使得我国文化产业的发展具有明显的阶段性特点.     

中俄边境互市贸易区海关管理问题初探

为了鼓励边境地区积极发展边境贸易与经济合作,我国政府近年来先后制定了一系列有关扶持、鼓励边境贸易和边境地区发展对外经济合作的政策措施.我国根据开展边境贸易的实际情况,参照国际通行规则,目前对我国边境贸易按边民互市贸易和边境小额贸易两种形式进行管理.     

试论我国行业管理法的地位与体系

行业管理法是经济法体系中的一项法律,但是从宏观和微观的分类上行业管理法既不属于宏观经济调控法,也不属于微观的市场规制法,从其功能上来说行业管理法属于调整中观管理的经济法,行业管理法体系包含行业管理基本法、行业管理部门规章以及行业协会的自治规范等内容,具有指导思想和制度规范的立法,行业管理法对于促进行业领域的正常运行具有重要的意义。行业管理法与产业政策法规具有密切的关系,两者之间相辅相成,在国家的产业发展中共同发挥着指引和规范作用,研究行业管理法的地位和体系离不开产业政策法的分析介绍。笔者在本文中对行业管理法的地位和重要作用进行了分析,对行业管理法的体系内容也进行了详细的阐述,旨在通过本文的研究让更多人的认识到行业管理法,从而促进行业管理法作用的有效发挥。     

The demand for regulation of financial disclosures: The case of the insurance industry

Policyholders and other claimants in insurance companies are interested in “solidity,” i.e., the ability of insurers to meet their claims obligations in both the short run and the long run. Insurance regulators exist in order to represent the interests of consumers. Great emphasis is placed by the regulators of the market on the mandatory and uniform disclosure of relevant financial and operating aspects of insurers. This paper employs simple gametheoretic techniques to address two aspects of the general issue of the desirability of establishing a regulator to assess the solidity of insurers. First, why would uniform information about insurers be desirable? Given that uniformity is desirable, it could be achieved by voluntary agreement of insurers or via regulation. The second issue is how that uniformity is to be achieved; that is, what is the value of a regulator in achieving uniformity? Insurance provides an interesting instance of the general problem. A key determinant is the structure of costs and benefits of securing voluntary agreements across firms.     

Divergent opinions on the common fund

UNCTAD’s Integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC) would come much closer to being realised, if the industrial and the developing countries could agree on creating the Common Fund. But the Fund remains in dispute. While the LCDs only want to discuss the details of its organisation, the industrialized western countries have still strong doubts on the benefits of commodity agreements. Can the negotiations within UNCTAD narrow the gap between the opposing views?