Are Asset Managers Vulnerable to Fire Sales?

Cetorelli, Nicola; Duarte, Fernando M.; Eisenbach, Thomas M.

Discussion Paper

Are Asset Managers Vulnerable to Fire Sales?

Abstract: According to conventional wisdom, an open-ended investment fund that has a floating net asset value (NAV) and no leverage will never experience a run and hence never have to fire-sell assets. In that view, a decline in the value of the fund’s assets will just lead to a commensurate and automatic decline in the fund’s equity—end of story. In this post, we argue that the conventional wisdom is incomplete and then explore some of the systemic risk consequences of investment funds’ vulnerabilities to fire-sale spillovers.

Keywords: Systemic Risk; Mutual Fund; asset managers; Fire-Sales;

JEL Classification: G2; G3;