Scholion.ai

The Impact of Shrouded Fees: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the Indian Mutual Funds Market

Santosh Anagol, Hugh Hoikwang Kim

American Economic Review · 2012 · Volume 102 · Issue 1

DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.1.576

Abstract

We study a natural experiment in the Indian mutual funds sector that created a 22-month period in which closed-end funds were allowed to charge an arguably shrouded fee, whereas open-end funds were forced to charge entry loads. Forty-five new closed-end funds were started during this period, collecting $7.6 billion US, whereas only two closed-end funds were started in the 66 months prior to this period, collecting $42 billion US, and no closed-end funds were started in the 20 months after this period. We estimate that investors lost and fund firms gained approximately $350 million US due to this shrouding. (JEL D14, G23, G28, O16)

Keywords

Personal Finance, Pension Funds, Other Private Financial Institutions, Institutional Investors, Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation, Economic Development: Financial Markets, Saving and Capital Investment, Corporate Finance and Governance

Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.