Testing for persistence in mutual fund performance and the ex post verification problem: Evidence from the Greek market

The present study examines a series of performance measures as an attempt to resolve the ex post verification problem. These measures are employed to test the performance persistence hypothesis of domestic equity funds in Greece, during the period 1998-2004. Correctly adjusting for risk factors and documented portfolio strategies explains a significant part of the reported persistence. The intercept of the augmented Carhart regression is proposed as the most appro- priate performance measure. Using this measure, weak evidence for persistence, only before 2001, is documented. The growth of the fund industry, the direction of flows to past winners and the integration in the international nancial system are suggested to be the reasons for the absence of performance persistence

Efficiency evaluation of Greek equity funds

This study assesses the relative performance of Greek equity funds employing a non-parametric method, namely Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Specifically, we evaluate the funds’ total productivity change using the DEA-based Malmquist Index. Our results reveal significant losses in funds’ productivity for the period of 2003–2009, which calls for the attention of domestic policy makers and market regulators. Significant implications for the investors’ fund selection process arise from our analysis since we are able to identify potential sources of operational inefficiencies. Employing a panel logit model we document a significant negative relationship between the probability of being efficient and funds’ size, a finding which may be related to the microstructure of the domestic stock market.Furthermore, we provide evidence against the notion of funds’ mean-variance efficiency

Gender, style diversity and their effect on fund performance

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).This paper examines the performance of 358 European diversified equity mutual funds controlling for gender diversity. Fund performance is evaluated against funds’ designated market indices and representative style portfolios. Consistently with previous studies, proper statistical tests point to the absence of significant differences in performance and risk between female and male managed funds. However, perverse market timing manifests itself mainly in female managed funds and in the left tail of the returns distribution. Interestingly, at fund level there is evidence of significant overperformance that survives even after accounting for funds’ exposure to known risk factors. Employing a quantile regression approach reveals that fund performance is highly dependent on the selection of the specific quantile of the returns distribution; also, style consistency for male and female managers manifests itself across different quantiles. These results have important implications for fund management companies and for retail investors’ asset allocation strategies

Fund Performance Evaluation in Greece Revisited: Evidence from the Impact of Operational Attributes

The present study, employing a survivorship-bias free dataset, assesses the performance of Greek domestic equity funds during the period June 2001-December 2009 controlling for the thin trading risk that is inherent in the Greek stock market. Augmenting Carhart’s multi benchmark model (1997) with a stock–level liquidity factor we document the absence of skills among domestic equity fund managers. However, at a fund level, we detect evidence of a statistically and economically significant outperformance that might be related to a conjectured incentive effect. In a second stage analysis, we examine the relationship between fund performance and a series of cost and operational attributes employing the robust quantile regression method. Cross sectional results demonstrate a significant inverse relationship between fund performance and expenses. Moreover, our findings show that the larger the fund the lower the performance

Equity Fund Flows and Stock Market Returns in the US before and after the Global Financial Crisis: A VAR-GARCH-in-mean Analysis

© The Author(s) 2019. The 2008–2009 global financial crisis has raised new questions about the relationship between equity fund flows and stock market returns. This paper provides new insights by using US monthly data over the period 2000:1–2015:8 and estimating a VAR-GARCH(1, 1)-in-mean model with a BEKK representation, which also includes a switch dummy for the global financial crisis. We find causality-in-mean from stock market returns to equity fund flows (consistently with the feedback-trading hypothesis) only in the post-September 2008 period. There are also volatility spillovers from stock market returns to equity fund flows both before and after the crisis; however, this relationship is not stable, becoming weaker in the crisis period. As a robustness check, we augment the model with a set of macroeconomic control variables. Their inclusion does not affect the main results

Mutual funds performance appraisal using stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis

Mutual fund investors are concerned with the selection of the best fund in terms of performance among the set of alternative funds. This paper proposes an innovative mutual funds performance evaluation measure in the context of multicriteria decision making. We implement a multicriteria methodology using stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis, on Greek domestic equity funds for the period 2000–2009. Combining a unique dataset of risk-adjusted returns such as Carhart’s alpha with funds’ cost variables,we obtain a multicriteria performance evaluation and ranking of the mutual funds, by means of an additive value function model. The main conclusion is that among employed variables, the sophisticated Carhart’s alpha plays the most important role in determining fund rankings. On the other hand, funds’ rankings are affected only marginally by operational attributes. We believe that our results could have serious implications either in terms of a fund rating system or for constructing optimal combinations of portfolios

A Micro-Econometric Approach to Deriving Use and Non-Use Values of in-situ Groundwater: The Vosvozis Case Study, Greece.

The present study attempts to estimate the shadow price of unextracted groundwater in the Vozvozi aquifer. In the context of this study, we model the production function of vertically integrated agricultural firms in terms of an input-oriented distance function with multiple inputs. Duality theory is employed in order to extract information regarding the in situ shadow price of groundwater. This shadow price is of vital importance to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and EU groundwater Directive, because it allows per farm estimation of the value of groundwater. It also allows the calculation of the level of cost recovery when resource’s environmental and resource costs are also considered. In this context, groundwater dependent ecosystems are of great relevance. In our case study, flow both from groundwater and from the Vosvozis river discharges into Ismarida Lake, an extremely important ecosystem protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Furthermore, in the coastal part of the study area a system of coastal lagoons is formed, where surface, groundwater and seawater interact. All the area of Ismarida lake and the coastal lagoons forms an extremely important ecosystem. Groundwater level decline induces recharge from Vosvozis River and Ismarida lake, diminishing thus an important source for the life of the wetland ecosystem. Another threat due to groundwater level decline is the intrusion of seawater in the wetland area, causing thus a serious alteration in the initial character of this protected ecosystem. This study, apart from the estimation of the level of resource’s cost recovery, will offer the opportunity to compare individual farmer’s valuation of the marginal unit of groundwater in the aquifer with the socially optimal shadow price of in situ ground-water reported in the relevant literature. Conclusions will aim to provide policy recommendations for a water pricing that provides adequate incentive for users to use groundwater resource efficiently considering groundwater dependent ecosystems

Efficiency evaluation of Greek equity funds

This study assesses the relative performance of Greek equity funds employing a non-parametric method, namely Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Specifically, we evaluate the funds’ total productivity change using the DEA-based Malmquist Index. Our results reveal significant losses in funds’ productivity for the period of 2003–2009, which calls for the attention of domestic policy makers and market regulators. Significant implications for the investors’ fund selection process arise from our analysis since we are able to identify potential sources of operational inefficiencies. Employing a panel logit model we document a significant negative relationship between the probability of being efficient and funds’ size, a finding which may be related to the microstructure of the domestic stock market.Furthermore, we provide evidence against the notion of funds’ mean-variance efficiency

Fund Performance Evaluation in Greece Revisited: Evidence from the Impact of Operational Attributes

The present study, employing a survivorship-bias free dataset, assesses the performance of Greek domestic equity funds during the period June 2001-December 2009 controlling for the thin trading risk that is inherent in the Greek stock market. Augmenting Carhart’s multi benchmark model (1997) with a stock–level liquidity factor we document the absence of skills among domestic equity fund managers. However, at a fund level, we detect evidence of a statistically and economically significant outperformance that might be related to a conjectured incentive effect. In a second stage analysis, we examine the relationship between fund performance and a series of cost and operational attributes employing the robust quantile regression method. Cross sectional results demonstrate a significant inverse relationship between fund performance and expenses. Moreover, our findings show that the larger the fund the lower the performance