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Noise Trading, Costly Arbitrage, and Asset Prices: Evidence from Closed‐end Funds

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  • Gordon Gemmill
  • Dylan C. Thomas

Abstract

If arbitrage is costly and noise traders are active, asset prices may deviate from fundamental values for long periods of time. We use a sample of 158 closed‐end funds to show that noise‐trader sentiment, as proxied by retail‐investor flows, leads to fluctuations in the discount. Nevertheless, we reject the hypothesis that noise‐trader risk is the cause of the long‐run discount. Instead we find that funds which are more difficult to arbitrage have larger discounts, due to: (1) the censoring of the discount by the arbitrage bounds, and (2) the freedom of managers to increase charges when arbitrage is costly.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon Gemmill & Dylan C. Thomas, 2002. "Noise Trading, Costly Arbitrage, and Asset Prices: Evidence from Closed‐end Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2571-2594, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:57:y:2002:i:6:p:2571-2594
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-6261.00506
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