Paula A. Tkac

The Determinants of the Flow of Funds of Managed Portfolios: Mutual Funds vs. Pension Funds

This study compares the relations between asset flow and performance in the retail mutual fund and fiduciary pension fund segments of the money management industry, and relate empirical differences to fundamental differences in the clientele they serve. A striking difference is the shape of the flow-performance relation. In contrast to mutual fund investors, pension clients punish poorly performing managers by withdrawing assets under management and do not flock disproportionately to recent winners. We interpret these and other empirical differences in the context of the manager evaluation procedures typical in each segment. We conclude that pension managers have little incentive to engage in the risk-shifting behavior previously identified among mutual fund managers.

Star Power: The Effect of Monrningstar Ratings on Mutual Fund Flow

We apply an event-study methodology on over 10,000 Morningstar star rating changes and find that Morningstar has subsantial independent influence on the investment allocation decisions of retail mutual fund investors. It is the discrete change in the star rating itself and not the change in the underlying performance measures that drives frow. We document econnomically and statistically significant positive abnormal flow following rating upgrades, and negative abnormal flow following rating downgrades. In contrast to the cross-sectional flow performance literature, we find evidence of investor punishment of performance declines, some of which is evident immediately in the month of the rating change.

An Experimental Examination of Heuristic-Based Decision Making in a Financial Setting

This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to examine information acquisition and evaluation in a financial setting, predicting mutual fund performance. We compare behavior across four distinct subject pools to provide insight into how training, knowledge, and experience affect decision making. We manipulate the decision environment by first increasing the time constraint and then increasing the decision cost. Although we find differences in behavior across subject pools, subjects’ performance is similar. Outcomes are similar across the distinct subject pools, despite significant differences in financial education.

An experimental examination of fast and frugal mutual fund picking

This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to provide insight into how people use financial information. Investors are faced with an ominous task when trying to aggregate information about available investment opportunities. In the experiment, participants received a set of information cues about mutual funds. For pairs of funds they were asked to choose the fund that would have the highest return in the following year. Importantly, participants had the opportunity to learn about the usefulness of the information cues provided. The results suggest that participants relied heavily on the cue with highest predictive accuracy. This behaviour is consistent with the use of a take the best heuristic, a decision tool that simplifies decision-making by using a single, predictive cue.