Suchergebnisse

This paper investigates politically connected firms in Germany. With the introduction of a new transparency law in 2007, information on additional income sources for all members of the German parliament became publicly available. We find that members of the conservative party (CDU/CSU) and the liberal party (FDP) are more likely to work for firms than members of left-wing parties (SPD and The Left) or the green party (Alliance 90/The Greens). Politically connected firms are larger, less risky, and have lower market valuations than unconnected firms. They also have fewer growth opportunities, but slightly better accounting performance. On the stock market, connected firms significantly outperform unconnected firms in 2006, i.e. prior to the publication of the data on political connections. Differences in stock market performance are much smaller in 2007.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden erstmals die Determinanten der Zuflüsse deutscher Aktienfonds empirisch untersucht. Für den Untersuchungszeitraum von 1991 bis 2003 finden wir einige interessante Unterschiede zum US-Markt. Zunächst bestätigen wir die in der Literatur dokumentierte positiv konvexe Beziehung zwischen vergangener Performance eines Fonds und seinen Netto-Zuflüssen, die aber in Deutschland weniger stark ausgeprägt ist als in den USA. Wir zeigen außerdem, dass die Eigenschaften der Fondsgesellschaft, zu der ein Fonds gehört, einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf dessen Zuflüsse haben. Insbesondere zeigen wir erstmals, dass es einen Kannibalisierungseffekt innerhalb von Fondsfamilien gibt, der besonders zwischen Fonds zu beobachten ist, die im gleichen Marktsegment angeboten werden. Unsere Ergebnisse haben wichtige Implikationen für das Risikoverhalten von Fondsmanagern sowie die Produktpolitik von Fondsgesellschaften. ; The determinants of German mutual fund flows have not been considered in the literature on Mutual Funds so far. In this paper we document some interesting differences between the German and the US mutual fund market. In our study, which covers the time period from 1991 to 2003, we confirm the positive and convex performance-flow-relationship, which is well documented for the US Mutual fund market. However, in Germany it is not as pronounced as in the US. Additionally we show that net inflows in German mutual funds depend vitally on the characteristics of the fund company the fund belongs to. Particularly, we are able to provide evidence of funds offered by the same family acting as rivals, which applies especially for funds belonging to the same market segment. Our results have important implications for the risk taking behaviour of fund managers and the product policy of fund families.