We introduce a new holdings-based procedure to identify whether a mutual fund has a benchmark discrepancy, which we define as a benchmark other than the prospectus benchmark best matching a fund's investment strategy. We find that funds with a benchmark discrepancy tend to be riskier than their...

Mutual funds’ maximum drawdowns are persistent, indicative of manager skill, and predictive of subsequent performance. Among funds with relatively strong past performance, those with relatively low past maximum drawdowns, on average, have an out of sample alpha of 2.40% per year. That alpha is...