We investigate why spreads on corporate bonds are so much larger than expected losses from default. Systematic factors make very little contribution to spreads, even if higher moments or downside effects are taken into account. Instead we find that sizes of spreads are strongly related to...

In the extensive debate about investment professionals' ability to add value, there has been scant evidence on the role played by industry expertise. To shed light on this issue, we study own industry investing. Specifically, we analyse how well individual mutual funds as well as mutual fund...