Indexing and the performance-flow relation of actively managed mutual funds

We exploit the staggered introduction of index funds in different segments and countries to study how increased competition from indexing affects the performance-flow relation and incentives of actively managed equity mutual funds. An increase in the market shares of available country-level index funds in active fund benchmarks is associated with a significantly lower sensitivity of flows to past performance and with a shift from a convex performance-flow relation towards a more linear relation. The increased competition from index funds is also associated with a higher fund performance-liquidation sensitivity, suggesting real economic consequences for active fund managers and fund management companies.