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Asset price effects of peer benchmarking : evidence from a natural experiment

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  • Acharya,Sushant
  • Pedraza Morales,Alvaro Enrique

Abstract

This paper estimates the effects of peer benchmarking by institutional investors on asset prices. To identify trades purely due to peer benchmarking as separate from those based on fundamentals or private information, the paper exploits a natural experiment involving a change in a government imposed underperformance penalty applicable to Colombian pension funds. This change in regulation is orthogonal to stock fundamentals and only affects incentives to track peer portfolios allowing the authors to identify the component of demand due to peer benchmarking. The authors find that peer effects among pension fund managers generate excess in stock return volatility, with stocks exhibiting short-term abnormal returns followed by returns reversal in the subsequent quarter. Additionally, peer benchmarking produces an excess in comovement across stock returns beyond the correlation implied by fundamentals.

Suggested Citation

  • Acharya,Sushant & Pedraza Morales,Alvaro Enrique, 2015. "Asset price effects of peer benchmarking : evidence from a natural experiment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7239, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7239
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    2. Afanador,Juan Pablo & Davis,Richard Mark & Pedraza Morales,Alvaro Enrique, 2021. "Estimating the Gains from International Diversification : The Case of Pension Funds," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9635, The World Bank.
    3. Semen Son-Turan & Erdem Kilic, 2018. "X-Capm Revisited: The Institutional Extrapolative Capital Asset Pricing Model (I-X-Capm)," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 6(3), pages 1-9.
    4. I. Koetsier & J.A. Bikker, 2018. "Herding behavior of Dutch pension funds in asset class investments," Working Papers 18-04, Utrecht School of Economics.
    5. Timmer, Yannick, 2018. "Cyclical investment behavior across financial institutions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(2), pages 268-286.
    6. Tanja Artiga Gonzalez & Iman van Lelyveld & Katarina Lucivjanska, 2018. "Pension fund equity performance: Patience, activity or both?," DNB Working Papers 606, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    7. Timmer, Yannick, 2016. "Cyclical investment behavior across financial institutions," Discussion Papers 08/2016, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    8. Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Sanjay Moorjani, 2021. "Strategic Connections in a Hierarchical Society: Wedge Between Observed and Fundamental Valuations," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 433-462, September.
    9. Timmer, Yannick, 2016. "Cyclical investment behavior across financial institutions," ESRB Working Paper Series 18, European Systemic Risk Board.
    10. I. Koetsier & J.A. Bikker, 2018. "Herding behavior of Dutch pension funds in asset class investments," Working Papers 18-04, Utrecht School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Theory&Research; Debt Markets; Markets and Market Access; Mutual Funds; Emerging Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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