We use a new data set to study the determinants of the performance of open-end actively managed equity mutual funds in 27 countries. We find that mutual funds underperform the market overall. The results show important differences in the determinants of fund performance in the U.S. and elsewhere...

We use a new dataset to study how mutual fund flows depend on past performance across 28 countries. We find that flows are convex with past performance, creating an incentive for managers to take excessive risk. The flow-performance convexity is less pronounced in countries with higher levels of...

This paper studies the effect of Morningstar ratings on fund flows and fund performance predictability using a proprietary data set of equity funds from Norway. Controlling for a number of variables proxying for fund and firm visibility, we find that fund flows respond asymmetrically to changes...

In this paper we investigate what drives the decision of stock exchanges to demutualize and going public, using a sample of 109 stock exchanges. We find that stock exchanges that demutualize and go public are in countries that have a higher level of economic and political freedom, facing greater...

We study how culture influences mutual funds around the world. Uncertainty Avoidance (UA), which is related to ambiguity aversion, is negatively associated with flow-performance sensitivity, deviation from the fund benchmark, fund alpha, and the fraction of active management across the 25...

This paper studies the dynamics of stock market regimes in emerging markets. Using a mixture version of the standard regime-switching model, we find that the 18 analyzed emerging markets fit into three groups. Whereas each of these three groups is characterized by the same two regimes -- a bull...

This paper uses a simple model of mean-variance asset pricing with transactions costs to analyze one of the main empirical phenomena in stock market competition in the last years, the decrease of transaction costs. We endogenize transactions costs as variables strategically influenced by stock...

This research addresses whether geographic diversification provides benefits over industry diversification. In the absence of constraints, no empirical evidence is found to support the argument that country diversification is superior. With short-selling constraints, however, the geographic...