Past performance may be an illusion: performance, flows, and fees in mutual funds
Change log
Authors
Abstract
Mutual funds report performance in the form of a holding period return (HPR) over standardized horizons. Changes in HPRs are equally influenced by new and previously reported stale returns which enter and exit the horizon. Investors appear unable to differentiate between the joint determinants, reacting with equal strength to both signals. Stale performance chasing is amplified for funds which promote performance via advertising and is more pronounced during periods of uncertainty in financial markets. Fund managers exploit this behavior by preferentially timing fee increases to align with periods of heightened investor demand resulting from stale performance chasing.
Description
Keywords
limited attention, behavioral finance, investor psychology, capital markets, horizon effects, mutual fund fee-setting
Journal Title
Critical Finance Review
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
2164-5744
2164-5760
2164-5760
Volume Title
6
Publisher
Now Publishers
Publisher DOI
Sponsorship
Phillips gratefully acknowledges financial support from the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.