The Japanese Open-End Fund Puzzle

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence has suggested that the Japanese mutual fund industry has under-performed dramatically over the past two decades. Conjectured reasons for underperformance range from tax-dilution effects to high fees, high turnover and poor asset management. In this paper, we show that this underperformance is largely due to tax-dilution effects, and not necessarily to poor management. Using a broad database of funds which includes investment trusts closed to new investment, we show that once an instrument for the time-varying tax dilution exposure is included in a factor model, there is little evidence of poor risk-adjusted performance. A style analysis of the industry demonstrates that managers appear to pursue tax-driven dynamic strategies.