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Copycat Funds: Information Disclosure Regulation and the Returns to Active Management in the Mutual Fund Industry

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Author Info
Frank, Mary Margaret
Poterba, James M
Shackelford, Douglas A
Shoven, John B

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Abstract

Current regulations require mutual funds to disclose their portfolio holdings twice yearly. For actively managed funds, disclosure tells the public which assets the manager views as undervalued. If other investors can copy the actively managed funds' investments without affecting asset values, the return on the manager's research is diminished. If buying by "copycat" investors drives up the prices of assets held by the actively managed fund, however, then the disclosing fund may benefit. This paper provides empirical evidence on one of the costs of disclosure by estimating the returns of copycat mutual funds, which purchase the same assets as actively managed funds as soon as those asset holdings are disclosed. Our results for a limited sample of high-expense funds in the 1990s suggest that while these actively managed funds earned higher returns before expenses than their associated copycat funds, after expenses copycat funds earned statistically indistinguishable, and possibly higher, returns.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Law and Economics.

Volume (Year): 47 (2004)
Issue (Month): 2 (October)
Pages: 515-41
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:y:2004:v:47:i:2:p:515-41

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Lakonishok, Josef, et al, 1991. "Window Dressing by Pension Fund Managers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 227-31, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Lerner, Josh, 1995. "Patenting in the Shadow of Competitors," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 463-95, October.
  3. David K. Musto, 1999. "Investment Decisions Depend on Portfolio Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 935-952, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mark M. Carhart & Ron Kaniel & David K. Musto & Adam V. Reed, 2002. "Leaning for the Tape: Evidence of Gaming Behavior in Equity Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 661-693, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Foster, George, 1980. " Externalities and Financial Reporting," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(2), pages 521-33, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul, 2000. "Forcing Firms to Talk: Financial Disclosure Regulation and Externalities," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 479-519.
  7. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2005. "Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds," NBER Working Papers 11766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2004. "On the Industry Concentration of Actively Managed Equity Mutual Funds," NBER Working Papers 10770, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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