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Optimal Asset Allocation and Risk Shifting in Money Management

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Author Info
Basak, Suleyman
Pavlova, Anna
Shapiro, Alex
Abstract

Money managers are rewarded for increasing the value of assets under management, and predominantly so in the mutual fund industry. This gives the manager an implicit incentive to exploit the well-documented positive fund-flows to relative-performance relationship by manipulating her risk exposure. In a dynamic portfolio choice framework, we show that the ensuing convexities in the manager's objective give rise to a finite risk-shifting range over which she gambles to finish ahead of her benchmark. Such gambling entails either an increase or a decrease in the volatility of the manager's portfolio, depending on her risk tolerance. In the latter case, the manager reduces her holdings of the risky asset despite its positive risk premium. Our empirical analysis lends support to the novel predictions of the model. Under multiple sources of risk, with both systematic and idiosyncratic risks present, we show that optimal managerial risk shifting may not necessarily involve taking on any idiosyncratic risk. Costs of misaligned incentives to investors resulting from the manager's policy are demonstrated to be economically significant.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5524.

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Date of creation: Mar 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5524

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Related research
Keywords: fund flows; implicit incentives; portfolio choice; relative performance; risk management; risk taking;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General

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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.:
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  18. Basak, Suleyman & Pavlova, Anna & Shapiro, Alex, 2005. "Offsetting the Incentives: Risk Shifting and Benefits of Benchmarking in Money Management," CEPR Discussion Papers 5006, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Jackwerth, Jens Carsten & Hodder, James E., 2006. "Incentive Contracts and Hedge Fund Management," MPRA Paper 11632, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Jules H. van Binsbergen & Michael W. Brandt, 2007. "Optimal Asset Allocation in Asset Liability Management," NBER Working Papers 12970, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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