Top publication by Bjerksund, Døskeland, Sjuve and Ørpetveit
The article "Forced to be Active: Evidence from a Regulation Intervention" has been published in Management Science.
Management Science is included on the NHH Bonus list and on the Financial Times Research Rank List, and it is also on level 4* in the ABS Academic Journal Guide.
Bjerksund, Petter, Trond M. Døskeland, André Wattø Sjuve, and Andreas Ørpetveit: Forced to be Active: Evidence from a Regulation Intervention, Management Science, Online 09.09.2025.
Abstract
Mutual funds known as closet indexers are marketed as active but actually operate as low-activity funds. Investors end up paying for full service but receiving only a part of it. Supervisory authorities around the world are considering ways to regulate these funds. In this context, we examine the impact of regulatory interventions by Scandinavian regulators. We compare the scrutinized Scandinavian funds with similar unaffected European funds.
The findings suggest that the regulated Scandinavian funds preferred increased activity over fee reduction. Consequently, fund managers adopted more active management strategies, resulting in a significant 2% decrease in annual alpha. Therefore, the regulatory interventions resulted in unfavorable outcomes for investors.