IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jetheo/v183y2019icp907-951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capital immobility and the reach for yield

Author

Listed:
  • Moreira, Alan

Abstract

I build a model in which financial intermediation slows down capital flows. Investors optimally learn from intermediary performance to allocate capital toward profitable intermediaries. Intermediaries reach for yield—i.e., they invest in high-tail-risk assets—in an attempt to drive flows and reduce liquidation risk. Intermediaries with strong opportunities face a trade-off between choosing a portfolio that maximizes profitability, and choosing one that maximizes the speed at which capital flows. In equilibrium, reaching for yield is stronger among intermediaries with weak opportunities, resulting in a reduction in the informativeness of performance; investors thus take longer to learn, and capital flows become less responsive to performance. Capital becomes slow-moving because the reach for yield dampens learning. The model predicts capital immobility to be stronger when tail risk is high; when tail risk is under priced; and in asset classes with large cross-sectional variation in tail-risk exposures.

Suggested Citation

  • Moreira, Alan, 2019. "Capital immobility and the reach for yield," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 907-951.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:183:y:2019:i:c:p:907-951
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2019.07.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053119300766
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jet.2019.07.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dimitri Vayanos & Paul Woolley, 2013. "An Institutional Theory of Momentum and Reversal," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(5), pages 1087-1145.
    2. Zhiguo He & Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2013. "Intermediary Asset Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 732-770, April.
    3. repec:hal:journl:tel-01178107 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Brennan, Michael J., 1993. "Agency and Asset Pricing," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt53k014sd, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    5. Venky Venkateswaran & Laura Veldkamp & Julian Kozlowski, 2015. "The Tail that Wags the Economy: Belief-Driven Business Cycles and Persistent Stagnation," 2015 Meeting Papers 800, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Amil Dasgupta & Andrea Prat & Michela Verardo, 2011. "The Price Impact of Institutional Herding," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 892-925.
    7. Igor Makarov & Guillaume Plantin, 2015. "Rewarding Trading Skills without Inducing Gambling," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 925-962, June.
    8. 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.
    9. Bryan Kelly & Hao Jiang, 2014. "Editor's Choice Tail Risk and Asset Prices," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(10), pages 2841-2871.
    10. William N. Goetzmann & Jonathan E. Ingersoll & Stephen A. Ross, 2003. "High‐Water Marks and Hedge Fund Management Contracts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1685-1718, August.
    11. Steven N. Kaplan & Antoinette Schoar, 2005. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence, and Capital Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1791-1823, August.
    12. Chevalier, Judith & Ellison, Glenn, 1997. "Risk Taking by Mutual Funds as a Response to Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1167-1200, December.
    13. Suleyman Basak & Anna Pavlova & Alexander Shapiro, 2007. "Optimal Asset Allocation and Risk Shifting in Money Management," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1583-1621, 2007 21.
    14. Veronica Guerrieri & Peter Kondor, 2012. "Fund Managers, Career Concerns, and Asset Price Volatility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1986-2017, August.
    15. Suleyman Basak & Dmitry Makarov, 2014. "Strategic Asset Allocation in Money Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 179-217, February.
    16. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    17. Hendrik Bessembinder & Kathleen M. Kahle & William F. Maxwell & Danielle Xu, 2009. "Measuring Abnormal Bond Performance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 4219-4258, October.
    18. Lasse Heje Pedersen & Mark Mitchell & Todd Pulvino, 2007. "Slow Moving Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 215-220, May.
    19. Cuoco, Domenico & Kaniel, Ron, 2011. "Equilibrium prices in the presence of delegated portfolio management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 264-296, August.
    20. Viral Acharya & Marco Pagano & Paolo Volpin, 2016. "Seeking Alpha: Excess Risk Taking and Competition for Managerial Talent," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(10), pages 2565-2599.
    21. Ron Kaniel & Péter Kondor, 2013. "The Delegated Lucas Tree," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 929-984.
    22. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2005. "Has financial development made the world riskier?," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Aug, pages 313-369.
    23. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "The Limits of Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, March.
    24. Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1994. "A Theory of Debt Based on the Inalienability of Human Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 109(4), pages 841-879.
    25. Julian Kozlowski & Laura Veldkamp & Venky Venkateswaran, 2020. "The Tail That Wags the Economy: Beliefs and Persistent Stagnation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 2839-2879.
    26. Igor Makarov & Guillaume Plantin, 2015. "Rewarding Trading Skills Without Inducing Gambling," SciencePo Working papers hal-01178107, HAL.
    27. Berk, Jonathan B. & van Binsbergen, Jules H., 2015. "Measuring skill in the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 1-20.
    28. Linlin Ma & Yuehua Tang & Juan‐Pedro Gómez, 2019. "Portfolio Manager Compensation in the U.S. Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 587-638, April.
    29. 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.
    30. Suleyman Basak & Anna Pavlova, 2013. "Asset Prices and Institutional Investors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1728-1758, August.
    31. Vayanos, Dimitri, 2004. "Flight to quality, flight to liquidity, and the pricing of risk," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 456, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    32. Joshua D. Coval & Jakub W. Jurek & Erik Stafford, 2009. "Economic Catastrophe Bonds," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 628-666, June.
    33. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard Stanton, 2007. "Managerial Ability, Compensation, and the Closed‐End Fund Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 529-556, April.
    34. 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.
    35. Igor Makarov & Guillaume Plantin, 2015. "Rewarding Trading Skills Without Inducing Gambling," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01178107, HAL.
    36. Thomas Dangl & Youchang Wu & Josef Zechner, 2008. "Market Discipline and Internal Governance in the Mutual Fund Industry," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 2307-2343, September.
    37. Bengt Holmström, 1999. "Managerial Incentive Problems: A Dynamic Perspective," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 169-182.
    38. Dasgupta, Amil & Prat, Andrea, 2008. "Information aggregation in financial markets with career concerns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 83-113, November.
    39. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2lk3hracjf8vip44o7neiujmv7 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Darrell Duffie, 2010. "Presidential Address: Asset Price Dynamics with Slow‐Moving Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1237-1267, August.
    41. Bengt Holmstrom, 1999. "Managerial Incentive Problems: A Dynamic Perspective," NBER Working Papers 6875, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Malliaris, Steven & Malliaris, A.G., 2021. "Delegated asset management and performance when some investors are unsophisticated," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Makarov, Igor, 2020. "Outsized arbitrage," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118855, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Malliaris, Steven & Malliaris, A.G., 2022. "Reprint of: Delegated asset management and performance when some investors are unsophisticated," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).

    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. Buffa, Andrea M. & Hodor, Idan, 2023. "Institutional investors, heterogeneous benchmarks and the comovement of asset prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 352-381.
    2. Ron Kaniel & Stathis Tompaidis & Ti Zhou, 2019. "Impact of Managerial Commitment on Risk Taking with Dynamic Fund Flows," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3174-3195, July.
    3. Idan Hodor & Andrea Buffa, 2017. "Institutional Investors, Heterogeneous Benchmarks and the Comovement of Asset Prices," 2017 Meeting Papers 374, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Andrea M. Buffa & Dimitri Vayanos & Paul Woolley, 2022. "Asset Management Contracts and Equilibrium Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(12), pages 3146-3201.
    5. Huang, Shiyang & Qiu, Zhigang & Shang, Qi & Tang, Ke, 2013. "Asset pricing with heterogeneous beliefs and relative performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4107-4119.
    6. Dimitri Vayanos & Paul Woolley, 2013. "An Institutional Theory of Momentum and Reversal," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(5), pages 1087-1145.
    7. He, Zhiguo & Xiong, Wei, 2013. "Delegated asset management, investment mandates, and capital immobility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 239-258.
    8. Nicolae Gârleanu & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2018. "Efficiently Inefficient Markets for Assets and Asset Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1663-1712, August.
    9. Ron Kaniel & Péter Kondor, 2013. "The Delegated Lucas Tree," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 929-984.
    10. Veronica Guerrieri & Peter Kondor, 2012. "Fund Managers, Career Concerns, and Asset Price Volatility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 1986-2017, August.
    11. Sato, Yuki, 2016. "Delegated portfolio management, optimal fee contracts, and asset prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 360-389.
    12. Markus Ibert & Ron Kaniel & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Roine Vestman, 2018. "Are Mutual Fund Managers Paid for Investment Skill?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(2), pages 715-772.
    13. Servaes, Henri & Sigurdsson, Kari, 2022. "The Costs and Benefits of Performance Fees in Mutual Funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Igor Makarov & Guillaume Plantin, 2015. "Rewarding Trading Skills Without Inducing Gambling," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/2lk3hracjf8, Sciences Po.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2lk3hracjf8vip44o7neiujmv7 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Jakša Cvitanić & Julien Hugonnier, 2022. "Optimal fund menus," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 455-516, April.
    17. Yafeh, Yishay & Kandel, Eugene & Hamdani, Assaf & Mugerman, Yevgeny, 2015. "Incentive Fees and Competition in Pension Funds: Evidence from a Regulatory Experiment in Israel," CEPR Discussion Papers 10911, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2015. "Money Doctors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 91-114, February.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, "undated". "Money Doctors," Working Paper 69721, Harvard University OpenScholar.
      • Gennaioli, Nicola & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 2014. "Money Doctors," Scholarly Articles 12965657, Harvard University Department of Economics.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2012. "Money Doctors," Working Papers 464, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2012. "Money Doctors," NBER Working Papers 18174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, "undated". "Money Doctors," Working Paper 228501, Harvard University OpenScholar.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2012. "Money doctors," Economics Working Papers 1355, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    19. He, Zhiguo & Kelly, Bryan & Manela, Asaf, 2017. "Intermediary asset pricing: New evidence from many asset classes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 1-35.
    20. 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.
    21. Clemens Sialm & T. Mandy Tham, 2016. "Spillover Effects in Mutual Fund Companies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(5), pages 1472-1486, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Slow-moving capital; Limit-to-arbitrage; Financial intermediation; Reputation concerns;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • 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

    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:eee:jetheo:v:183:y:2019:i:c:p:907-951. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622869 .

    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.