Defined-contribution plans represent a major organizational form for investors´ retirement savings. Today more than one third of all workers are enrolled in 401K plans.(...)

This paper examines problems in the CRSP Survivor Bias Free U.S. Mutual Fund Database (CRSP, 1998) and compares returns contained in it to those in Morningstar. The CRSP database has an omission bias that has the same effects as survivorship bias. Although all mutual funds are listed in CRSP,...

The valuation of corporate debt is an important issue in asset pricing. While there has been an enormous amount of theoretical modeling of corporate bond prices, there has been relatively little empirical testing of these models 1.(...)

Defined contribution plans, predominantly 401(k)s, are the primary source of personal retirement savings for American workers, making the investment decisions within these accounts a salient policy concern. These decisions are a result of two separate actions: the mutual fund options selected by...

A number of papers have demonstrated that over historical periods, a specified set of factors have outperformed actively managed funds. However, in almost all cases, the factors employed or the procedures followed are not replicable by tradable passive investments. In addition, tradable passive...

This is a survey article. In it we review the modern literature on the characteristics and performance of mutual funds. Key articles on open end stock and bond funds, closed end funds and exchange traded funds are reviewed. Topics range from measuring and predicting performance to explaining...

Berk and Green (2004) have made a strong theoretical argument for why past performance should not predict future performance. There are two possible economic explanations that are consistent with their model: increasing expenses or increase in size following good performance along with...

This book contains the recent contributions of Edwin J Elton and Martin J Gruber to the field of investments. All of the articles in this book have been published in the leading finance and economic journals. Sixteen of the nineteen articles have been published in the last ten years. This book...

Research has shown that individual investors make poor asset allocation decisions in 401k plans. In response to this research, 72% of all 401k plans now offer Target Date Funds where asset allocation decisions are made for the investor and 43% of the assets of young 401(k) plan participants are...

There is a vast literature which shows that investors don't make rational decisions in allocating resources among both different types of investments and different individual investments. Target risk funds and target date funds are two types of mutual funds that make the asset allocation...