Article ID: | iaor201528862 |
Volume: | 38 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 283 |
End Page Number: | 303 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2015 |
Journal: | Journal of Financial Research |
Authors: | Livingston Miles, Zhou Lei |
Keywords: | cost analysis, mutual funds |
In this article we analyze fund‐level data on brokerage commissions paid by diversified U.S. equity mutual funds from 2001 to 2011. We find that brokerage commission per dollar traded has a positive and significant impact on mutual fund performance, indicating that funds paying premium brokerage commissions were able to improve performance net of all expenses. The positive impact of premium brokerage services (better execution quality, timely research reports, etc.) purchased through higher commissions is more pronounced during volatile market times.