IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cuf/journl/y2021v22i1liaolijiangpeng.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying Diseconomies Of Scale For Mutual Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Liao

    (School of Statistics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics)

  • Cuixia Li

    (School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xuzhou University of Technology)

  • Lei Jiang

    (Department of Finance, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University)

  • Liang Peng

    (Department of Risk Management and Insurance, Georgia State University)

Abstract

The fund size is highly persistent and correlated with risk factor loadings. Hence, it is unrealistic to assume constant diseconomies of scale over a long time. The traditional two-step method underestimates the uncertainty of diseconomies of scale. We propose a one-step procedure with a random weighted bootstrap method to infer diseconomies of scale using rolling windows, which effectively solves the problems. Our empirical analysis using actively-managed U.S. equity mutual funds supports diseconomies of scale, and simulations show that our rigorous method outperforms the two-step one in terms of precise estimating uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Liao & Cuixia Li & Lei Jiang & Liang Peng, 2021. "Quantifying Diseconomies Of Scale For Mutual Funds," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(1), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:journl:y:2021:v:22:i:1:liaolijiangpeng
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/AefArticles/aef220101LiaoLiJiangPeng.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yan, Xuemin (Sterling), 2008. "Liquidity, Investment Style, and the Relation between Fund Size and Fund Performance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 741-767, September.
    2. Neal M. Stoughton & Youchang Wu & Josef Zechner, 2011. "Intermediated Investment Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 947-980, June.
    3. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 2008. "Heteroskedasticity-Robust Standard Errors for Fixed Effects Panel Data Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(1), pages 155-174, January.
    4. Joseph Chen & Harrison Hong & Ming Huang & Jeffrey D. Kubik, 2004. "Does Fund Size Erode Mutual Fund Performance? The Role of Liquidity and Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1276-1302, December.
    5. Jeffrey A. Busse & Qing Tong, 2012. "Mutual Fund Industry Selection and Persistence," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 245-274.
    6. Michael C. Jensen, 1968. "The Performance Of Mutual Funds In The Period 1945–1964," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 389-416, May.
    7. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    8. Yao Zheng & Qianqian Zhu & Guodong Li & Zhijie Xiao, 2018. "Hybrid quantile regression estimation for time series models with conditional heteroscedasticity," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 80(5), pages 975-993, November.
    9. Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan & Han, Chirok & Sul, Donggyu, 2012. "Asymptotic distribution of factor augmented estimators for panel regression," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 169(1), pages 48-53.
    10. Wayne Ferson & Jerchern Lin, 2014. "Alpha and Performance Measurement: The Effects of Investor Disagreement and Heterogeneity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1565-1596, August.
    11. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2008. "Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(6), pages 2379-2416, November.
    12. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2015. "Scale and skill in active management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 23-45.
    13. Ke Zhu, 2016. "Bootstrapping the portmanteau tests in weak auto-regressive moving average models," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 78(2), pages 463-485, March.
    14. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Christopher R. Blake, 2001. "A First Look at the Accuracy of the CRSP Mutual Fund Database and a Comparison of the CRSP and Morningstar Mutual Fund Databases," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2415-2430, December.
    15. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    16. Ľuboš Pástor & Robert F. Stambaugh, 2012. "On the Size of the Active Management Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(4), pages 740-781.
    17. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    18. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    19. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    20. Thomas Dangl & Youchang Wu & Josef Zechner, 2008. "Market Discipline and Internal Governance in the Mutual Fund Industry," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 2307-2343, September.
    21. Alexandros Kostakis & Tassos Magdalinos & Michalis P. Stamatogiannis, 2015. "Robust Econometric Inference for Stock Return Predictability," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(5), pages 1506-1553.
    22. Zhu, Min, 2018. "Informative fund size, managerial skill, and investor rationality," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 114-134.
    23. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    24. Gonçalves, Sílvia, 2011. "The Moving Blocks Bootstrap For Panel Linear Regression Models With Individual Fixed Effects," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(5), pages 1048-1082, October.
    25. Richard B. Evans, 2010. "Mutual Fund Incubation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1581-1611, August.
    26. Wei Chen & Paul Hribar & Samuel Melessa, 2018. "Incorrect Inferences When Using Residuals as Dependent Variables," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 751-796, June.
    27. Joshua M. Pollet & Mungo Wilson, 2008. "How Does Size Affect Mutual Fund Behavior?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2941-2969, December.
    28. David P. Brown & Youchang Wu, 2016. "Mutual Fund Flows and Cross-Fund Learning within Families," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 383-424, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeffrey A. Busse & Tarun Chordia & Lei Jiang & Yuehua Tang, 2021. "Transaction Costs, Portfolio Characteristics, and Mutual Fund Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1227-1248, February.
    2. Cuthbertson, Keith & Nitzsche, Dirk & O'Sullivan, Niall, 2016. "A review of behavioural and management effects in mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 162-176.
    3. Angelidis, Timotheos & Babalos, Vassilios & Fessas, Michalis, 2021. "The economic gain of being small in the mutual fund industry: U.S. and international evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Wolfgang Bessler & Thomas Conlon & Diego Víctor de Mingo‐López & Juan Carlos Matallín‐Sáez, 2022. "Mutual fund performance and changes in factor exposure," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 17-52, March.
    5. Christiansen, Charlotte & Grønborg, Niels S. & Nielsen, Ole L., 2020. "Mutual fund selection for realistically short samples," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 218-240.
    6. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2015. "Scale and skill in active management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 23-45.
    7. Cai, Biqing & Cheng, Tingting & Yan, Cheng, 2018. "Time-varying skills (versus luck) in U.S. active mutual funds and hedge funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 81-106.
    8. Viktoriya Lantushenko & Edward Nelling, 2020. "Active Management in Real Estate Mutual Funds," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 247-274, August.
    9. Bührle, Anna Theresa & Yen, Chia-Yi, 2023. "Too much "skin in the game" ruins the game: Evidence from managerial capital gains taxes," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, revised 2023.
    10. Jiang, George J. & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R. & Zhang, Huacheng, 2021. "Stock-selection timing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Jiang, Hao & Verardo, Michela, 2013. "Does herding behavior reveal skill? An analysis of mutual fund performance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119034, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Giuseppe Galloppo, 2021. "Size," Springer Books, in: Asset Allocation Strategies for Mutual Funds, chapter 0, pages 151-190, Springer.
    13. Ľuboš Pástor & Robert F. Stambaugh & Lucian A. Taylor, 2017. "Do Funds Make More When They Trade More?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1483-1528, August.
    14. Linlin Ma & Yuehua Tang, 2019. "Portfolio Manager Ownership and Mutual Fund Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5518-5534, December.
    15. Cai, Yu & Lau, Sie Ting, 2015. "Informed trading around earnings and mutual fund alphas," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 168-180.
    16. Elton, Edwin J. & Gruber, Martin J., 2013. "Mutual Funds," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1011-1061, Elsevier.
    17. Bai, John Jianqiu & Tang, Yuehua & Wan, Chi & Yüksel, H. Zafer, 2022. "Fund manager skill in an era of globalization: Offshore concentration and fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 18-40.
    18. Martin Rohleder & Hendrik Scholz & Marco Wilkens, 2018. "Success and failure on the corporate bond fund market," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(6), pages 429-443, October.
    19. Hao Jiang & Michela Verardo, "undated". "Does herding behavior reveal skill? An analysis of mutual fund performance," FMG Discussion Papers dp720, Financial Markets Group.
    20. Wayne Ferson & Junbo L Wang, 2021. "A Panel Regression Approach to Holdings-Based Fund Performance Measures [Multiperiod performance persistence analysis of hedge funds]," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 695-734.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Diseconomies of scale; Fixed effects panel regression; Mutual funds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cuf:journl:y:2021:v:22:i:1:liaolijiangpeng. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.