We derive dynamic optimal trading strategies that minimize the expected cost of trading a large block of equity over a fixed time horizon. Specifically, given a fixed block SM of shares to be executed within a fixed finite number of periods 1, and given a price-impact function that yields the execution price of an individual trade as a function of the shares traded and market conditions, we obt...

Many people delay joining a pension plan until well into their working lives. We use a stochastic simulation model to show the cost of this delay in terms of the higher pension contributions that must eventually be paid to ensure an adequate retirement income. We find the levels of contributions required for individuals who start saving late are so high it is questionable whether they are affor...

Fund families typically claim that closing a fund protects the fund’s superior performance by preventing it from growing too large to be managed efficiently. Even though funds with better performance and larger size are more likely to be closed, there is no evidence that closing a fund can indeed protect its performance. Instead, fund closing decisions are more likely to be motivated by spillov...

This paper analyzes hedge fund investors’ geographical preference and its implication for hedge fund performance. We document that funds of funds overweigh their investments in hedge funds located in the same cities by 6 to 15 percent. We also find that funds of funds with a stronger local bias exhibit superior performance. However, this local bias of funds of funds can adversely impact the hed...

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. The present paper reviews key issues in pension design and pe...

The German Retirement Saving Act instituted a new funded system of supplementary pensions coupled with a general reduction in the level of state pay-as-you-go old-age pensions. In order to qualify for tax relief, the providers of supplementary savings products must offer a guarantee of the nominal value at retirement of contributions paid into these saving accounts. This paper explores how this...

Safe and liquid assets, such as Treasury bonds, are money-like instruments that command a convenience yield. We analyze this in a search model of two assets that differ in liquidity and safety. In contrast to the reduced-form approach, which puts the safe and liquid asset in utility function, we explicitly model investors’ trading needs and the trading friction. One new insight from this approa...

Asset allocation is widely recognized as the most fundamental decision in the investment process. Surprisingly little work has been done on examining what drives the asset allocation recommendations of professional investment advisors. To address this issue, we propose a general framework to identify and estimate the parameters characterizing the preferences and beliefs of money managers. In a ...

Most studies of managed fund performance use measures that are susceptible to bias caused by common time variation in risks and risk premia. Ferson and Schadt (1996) propose a conditional performance measure that controls for the common variation. Their results suggest that incorporating lagged public information variables that have been shown to predict stock returns, such as interest rates an...

Abstract I find that approximately 30% of price fluctuations in the Fama-French size and value factors are nonfundamental pressures driven by correlated fund flows, which generate movements revert over time. Is this really demand-based pressure? show effects happen exclusively periods when mutual funds place trades, a fact is difficult to explain using traditional mechanisms such as unobserved ...