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Skill, scale, and value creation in the mutual fund industry

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  • Barras, Laurent
  • Scaillet, Olivier
  • Gagliardini, Patrick

Abstract

We develop a flexible and bias-adjusted approach to jointly examine skill, scalability, and value added across individual funds. We find that skill and scalability (i) vary substantially across funds, and (ii) are strongly related as great investment ideas are difficult to scale up. The combination of skill and scalability produces a value added that (i) is positive for the majority of funds, and (ii) approaches its optimal level after an adjustment period possibly due to investors' learning. These results are consistent with theoretical models in which funds are skilled and able to extract economic rents from capital markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Barras, Laurent & Scaillet, Olivier & Gagliardini, Patrick, 2021. "Skill, scale, and value creation in the mutual fund industry," Working Papers unige:150822, University of Geneva, Geneva School of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:gnv:wpgsem:unige:150822
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    Cited by:

    1. Jérôme Dugast & Thierry Foucault, 2020. "Equilibrium Data Mining and Data Abundance," Post-Print hal-02933315, HAL.
    2. Xu, Wenhao & Chen, Taoqin, 2024. "Mutual fund value creation: Insights from the residual income model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    3. Ardia, David & Barras, Laurent & Gagliardini, Patrick & Scaillet, Olivier, 2024. "Is it alpha or beta? Decomposing hedge fund returns when models are misspecified," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    4. Guillaume Coqueret, 2023. "Forking paths in financial economics," Papers 2401.08606, arXiv.org.
    5. Caner, Mehmet & Medeiros, Marcelo & Vasconcelos, Gabriel F.R., 2023. "Sharpe Ratio analysis in high dimensions: Residual-based nodewise regression in factor models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 393-417.
    6. Ling, Yun & Satchell, Stephen & Yao, Juan, 2023. "Decreasing returns to scale and skill in hedge funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Dugast, Jerome & Foucault, Thierry, 2021. "Equilibrium Data Mining and Data Abundance," HEC Research Papers Series 1393, HEC Paris.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mutual funds; Skill; Scale; Value added; Nonparametric estimation; Large panel; Error-in-variable bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics

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