Internet search, fund flows, and fund performance

Hong-Yi Chen, Hsuan-Chi Chen and Christine W. Lai

Journal of Banking & Finance, 2021, vol. 129, issue C

Abstract: This study uses the Google search volume index as a direct measure of investor attention to explore the connection between attention-grabbing information and fund flows, future performance, and the survivorship of newly issued funds. We find that investors often engage in attention-driven purchases of new funds that have captured their attention online. However, fund investors who conduct internet searches and make attention-driven purchases are less sophisticated and fail to allocate their capital for earning abnormal returns. We also find that attention-induced inflows can help sustain new funds in competitive fund markets via potential mitigation of mergers and liquidations. Our robustness checks show similar results for old funds, but attention-driven fund flows do not enhance the survival of old funds.

Keywords: Internet search; Fund flows; Fund performance; Google Trends; Search volume index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426621001254
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:129:y:2021:i:c:s0378426621001254

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2021.106166

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Banking & Finance is currently edited by Ike Mathur

More articles in Journal of Banking & Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().