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How to measure mutual fund performance: economic versus statistical relevance

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  • Rogér Otten
  • Dennis Bams

Abstract

In the present paper a comprehensive assessment of existing mutual fund performance models is presented. Using a survivor‐bias free database of all US mutual funds, we explore the added value of introducing extra variables such as size, book‐to‐market, momentum and a bond index. In addition to that we evaluate the use of introducing time‐variation in betas and alpha. The search for the most suitable model to measure mutual fund performance will be addressed along two lines. First, we are interested in the statistical significance of adding more factors to the single factor model. Second, we focus on the economic importance of more elaborate model specifications. The added value of the present study lies both in the step‐wise process of identifying relevant factors, and the use of a rich US mutual fund database that was recently released by the Center for Research in Security Prices.

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  • Rogér Otten & Dennis Bams, 2004. "How to measure mutual fund performance: economic versus statistical relevance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 44(2), pages 203-222, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:44:y:2004:i:2:p:203-222
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.2004.00105.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kevin C. H. Chiang & Xiyu (Thomas) Zhou, 2009. "Do aggressive funds reallocate their portfolios aggressively?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(3), pages 481-503, September.
    3. Bialkowski, Jedrzej & Otten, Roger, 2011. "Emerging market mutual fund performance: Evidence for Poland," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 118-130, August.
    4. S. M. Aamir Shah & Syed Tahir Hijazi, 2005. "Performance Evaluation of Mutual Funds in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 863-876.
    5. Pei-I Chou & Chia-Hao Lee, 2012. "Is Concentration a Good Idea? Evidence from Active Fund Management," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 19(1), pages 23-41, March.
    6. Ferruz Agudo, Luis & Vargas Magallón, María & Nievas López, J., 2008. "¿Utilizan los gestores españoles de fondos de inversión información privada en sus labores de gestión?," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 26, pages 257-278, Septiembr.
    7. Lai, Ming-Ming & Lau, Siok-Hwa, 2010. "Evaluating mutual fund performance in an emerging Asian economy: The Malaysian experience," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 378-390, August.
    8. Jacquelyn Humphrey & Darren Lee, 2011. "Australian Socially Responsible Funds: Performance, Risk and Screening Intensity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 519-535, September.
    9. Subrata Roy, 2016. "Another Look in Conditioning Alphas on Economic Information: Indian Evidence," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(1), pages 191-213, February.
    10. Gaurav Singh Chauhan, 2019. "Performance attribution of mutual funds in India: outperformance or mis‐representation?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(S1), pages 383-409, April.
    11. Martin Rohleder & Hendrik Scholz & Marco Wilkens, 2010. "Survivorship Bias and Mutual Fund Performance: Relevance, Significance, and Methodical Differences," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 15(2), pages 441-474.
    12. Francesco Lisi, 2011. "Dicing with the market: randomized procedures for evaluation of mutual funds," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 163-172.
    13. Omneya Abdelsalam & Meryem Duygun & Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2014. "Is Ethical Money Sensitive to Past Returns? The Case of Portfolio Constraints and Persistence of Islamic and Socially Responsible Funds," Working Papers 2014/19, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    14. Hooi Hooi Lean & Fabio Pizzutilo, 2021. "Performances and risk of socially responsible investments across regions during crisis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3556-3568, July.
    15. Teresa Corzo Santamaría & Carlos Martinez de Ibarreta & Juan Rodriguez Calvo, 2018. "Timid performance fees in mutual funds," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 64-77, January.
    16. Mehreen Mahmud & Nawazish Mirza, 2011. "An Evaluation of Mutual Fund Performance in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 16(Special E), pages 301-316, September.
    17. Hung-Cheng Lai & Kuan-Min Wang, 2016. "Does Survivorship Bias of Mutual Funds Differ Between Liquidations and Mergers?," Eastern European Business and Economics Journal, Eastern European Business and Economics Studies Centre, vol. 2(4), pages 299-314.
    18. Caporin, Massimiliano & Lisi, Francesco, 2013. "A Conditional Single Index model with Local Covariates for detecting and evaluating active portfolio management," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 236-249.
    19. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel & Xu, Bingrun, 2016. "Managerial attributes and equity mutual fund performance: evidence from china," MPRA Paper 76139, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Omneya Abdelsalam & Meryem Duygun & Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2017. "Is Ethical Money Sensitive to Past Returns? The Case of Portfolio Constraints and Persistence in Islamic Funds," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(3), pages 363-384, June.
    21. Luis Ferruz Agudo & Maria Vargas Magallon & Jose Sarto, 2006. "Evaluation of performance and conditional information: the case of Spanish mutual funds," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(11), pages 803-817.
    22. Michela Altieri & Giovanna Nicodano, 2020. "Survival and Pricing Puzzles," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 604, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    23. Sonal Babbar & Sanjay Sehgal, 2018. "Mutual Fund Characteristics and Investment Performance in India," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 43(1-2), pages 1-30, February.
    24. Paulo Armada Leite & Maria Ceu Cortez, 2009. "Conditioning information in mutual fund performance evaluation: Portuguese evidence," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5-6), pages 585-605.

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