Cutthroats or Comrades: Information Sharing Among Competing Fund Managers

Abstract

Recent evidence of correlated trading among networked fund managers provides an indication that professional investors strategically exchange investment ideas. To examine how and why such information sharing arises, we design a laboratory experiment in which managers share ideas until one of them chooses to terminate the exchange for a competitive advantage or fails to generate a new idea. We find that managers' sharing increases in rivals' ability or subjective expectation that rivals will share in return (i.e., intention). Furthermore, expectations about rivals' intentions matter more than rivals' ability, and rivals' ability matters more than a manager's own ability.

This seminar is part of the Department of Economics Seminar Series 2016-17. The seminars are open to all - no registration necessary.