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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 147 No. 2 2023

Institutional investors, heterogeneous benchmarks and the comovement of asset prices

Andrea M. Buffa1,2; Idan Hodor3

1 University of Colorado Boulder · 2 University of Colorado System · 3 Monash University

Abstract

We study the equilibrium implications of a multi-asset economy in which asset managers performance is tied to different benchmarks, reflecting heterogeneity in their investment mandates. Fluctuations in the capital asset managers invest for benchmarking purposes, scaled by the size of the economy, induce price pressure that results in negative spillovers across assets. We characterize a rich structure of asset price comovement within and across benchmarks by analyzing shock elasticities and cross-elasticities of price-dividend ratios. Evidence on the heterogeneity of mutual fund mandates and the benchmarking-induced return comovement across cap-style and industry-sector portfolios corroborates the model assumptions and predictions.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2022.11.002
Volume
147
Issue
2
Pages
352-381
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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