We use the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks as a natural experiment to examine how exposure to extreme stress affects financial decision making, as measured by investors' stock trading activity and performance. We find that Mumbai investors trade less, perform worse, take longer time to react to...

We analyze a market-wide panel dataset on retail options trading from India, a market with an 80% share in option contracts traded worldwide. Retail traders both concentrated in and dominate index options trading. They exhibit short-term speculative behavior with significant day trading, short-...

We examine the determinants and consequences of changes in hedge fund fee structures.We show that fee changes are asymmetric with much greater incidence of fee increasescompared to fee decreases. We find that managers of younger and smaller funds are morelikely to increase fees after good...

This paper introduces two measures to investigate potential window-dressing behavior amongmutual fund managers. We show that unskilled managers that perform poorly are more likely towindow dress by strategically purchasing winner stocks and selling loser stocks near quarterends. Further, funds...

We provide evidence regarding mutual funds' motivation to hold lottery stocks. Funds with higher managerial ownership invest less in lottery stocks, suggesting that managers themselves do not prefer such stocks. The evidence instead supports that managers cater to fund investors' preference for...

Using micro-level panel data and a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we study the effect of political uncertainty on household stock market participation. We find that households significantly reduce their participation and reallocate funds to safer assets during periods of...

CAPM alpha explains hedge fund flows better than alphas from more sophisticated models. This suggests that investors pool together sophisticated model alpha with returns from exposures to traditional (except for the market) and exotic risks. We decompose performance into traditional and exotic...

CAPM alpha explains hedge fund flows better than alphas from more sophisticated models. This suggests that investors pool together sophisticated model alpha with returns from exposures to traditional (except for the market) and exotic risks. We decompose performance into traditional and exotic...

Using micro-level panel data and a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we study the effect of political uncertainty on household stock market participation. We find that households significantly reduce their participation and reallocate funds to safer assets during periods of...