Recession Managers and Mutual Fund Performance

Seminar abstract

We find that fund managers who began their careers during recessions (i.e. recession managers) produce superior returns. However, the excess performance is time varying, as while they exhibit better market timing in recessions than their non-recession counterpart, they do not show better stock picking in booms.

We explore in detail how managers time the market and find that recession managers hold more cash and tilt their investments towards defensive, rather than cyclical, industries in recession periods.

We also find that finds managed by recession managers increase portfolio holdings of defensive stocks before the economic downturn starts.

Overall, the findings support the argument that the economic conditions under which an individual initially entered the labour market have a long term impact on the career outcomes and decision making. 

Booking

This is a free event, no need to book. Please feel free to bring your friends, colleauges and classmates along.

Speaker bio

Dr Wei Song is an Associate Professor in Finance at Southampton Business School.

He has previous worked as a Lecturer in finance at Swansea University and a Teaching Fellow at Durham University. Dr Song was also a Strategic Investment Manager at SinoChem in China.

His main research interests include;

• empirical corporate finance and corporate governance
• including banks
• mergers and acquisitions
• executive compensation 
• board composition 
• corporate payout policy 
• corporate social responsibility

Dr Wei Song also has interests in mutual fund management and stock market price behaviour in emerging markets.

His work has been published and featured in the following journals;

• Journal of Corporate Finance
• Journal of Banking and Finance
• Journal of Empirical Finance
• Harvard Business Review

just to name a few.