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Marketing Mutual Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolai Roussanov
  • Hongxun Ruan
  • Yanhao Wei
  • Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh

Abstract

Marketing and distribution expenses are responsible for about one-third of the cost of active management in the mutual fund industry. Estimating a structural model with costly investor search and learning about fund skill, we find that marketing is nearly as important as performance and fees in determining fund size. Eliminating marketing substantially improves welfare: capital shifts toward cheaper funds and competition decreases fees; active funds shrink and capital allocation becomes more closely aligned with skill. Declining investor search costs imply a reduction in marketing expenses and management fees as well as a shift toward passive investing, as observed empirically.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolai Roussanov & Hongxun Ruan & Yanhao Wei & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Marketing Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(6), pages 3045-3094.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:34:y:2021:i:6:p:3045-3094.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhaa095
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Charlotte Christiansen & Ran Xing & Yue Xu, 2020. "Origins of Mutual Fund Skill: Market versus Accounting Based Asset Pricing Anomalies," CREATES Research Papers 2020-14, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    2. Abis, Simona & Lines, Anton, 2024. "Broken promises, competition, and capital allocation in the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Zhenling Jiang & Yanhao “Max” Wei & Tat Chan & Naser Hamdi, 2023. "Designing Dealer Compensation in the Auto-Loan Market: Implications from a Policy Change," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(5), pages 958-983, September.
    4. Mattia Landoni & Stephen P Zeldes, 2025. "Should the Government Be Paying Investment Fees on $3 Trillion of Tax-Deferred Retirement Assets?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 1014-1066.
    5. Ibert, Markus, 2023. "What do mutual fund managers’ private portfolios tell us about their skills?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    6. J Anthony Cookson & Emily Gallagher & Philip Mulder, 2025. "Coverage Neglect in Homeowner's Insurance," Working Papers 25-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    7. Zach Y. Brown & Mark L. Egan & Jihye Jeon & Chuqing Jin & Alex A. Wu, 2023. "Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market," NBER Working Papers 31778, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Kaniel, Ron & Lin, Zihan & Pelger, Markus & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn, 2023. "Machine-learning the skill of mutual fund managers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(1), pages 94-138.
    9. Cordes, Henning & Nolte, Sven & Schneider, Judith C., 2023. "Dynamics of stock market developments, financial behavior, and emotions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    10. DeMiguel, Victor & Gil-Bazo, Javier & Nogales, Francisco J. & Santos, André A.P., 2023. "Machine learning and fund characteristics help to select mutual funds with positive alpha," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(3).
    11. Dannhauser, Caitlin D. & Spilker, Harold D., 2023. "The Modern Mutual Fund Family," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(1), pages 1-20.
    12. Bjarne Florentsen & Ulf Nielsson & Peter Raahauge & Jesper Rangvid, 2022. "How Important is Affiliation Between Mutual Funds and Distributors for Fund Flows? [Is unbiased financial advice to retail investors sufficient? Answers from a large field study]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 971-1009.
    13. Victor DeMiguel & Javier Gil-Bazo & Francisco J. Nogales & André A. P. Santos, 2021. "Can machine learning help to select portfolios of mutual funds?," Economics Working Papers 1772, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    14. Coen, Patrick, 2021. "Information Loss over the Business Cycle," TSE Working Papers 21-1220, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Katarzyna Perez & £ukasz Szymczyk, 2022. "Actual rate of the management fee in mutual funds of different styles," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(4), pages 969-1014, December.
    16. Mark Egan & Shan Ge & Johnny Tang, 2022. "Conflicting Interests and the Effect of Fiduciary Duty: Evidence from Variable Annuities," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(12), pages 5334-5386.
    17. Jiang, Christine & Wang, Xianzhen, 2024. "Portfolio pumping and dumping among Chinese mutual fund companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    18. repec:bge:wpaper:1245 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. You, Yu & Yu, Zongdai & Zhang, Wenqiao & Lu, Lei, 2023. "FinTech platforms and mutual fund markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    20. Sumit Agarwal & John Grigsby & Ali Hortaçsu & Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru & Vincent Yao, 2024. "Searching for Approval," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(4), pages 1195-1231, July.
    21. Laurent Barras & Patrick Gagliardini & Olivier Scaillet, 2022. "Skill, Scale, and Value Creation in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 601-638, February.
    22. Fu, Jinlin & Lu, Xiaomeng & Xie, Yuxin & Wang, Binxu, 2025. "Are active mutual fund managers skilled in picking stock concepts?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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