The Effect of Monetary Policies on the Relationship between Advertising and Mutual Fund Flows

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of monetary policies, mainly proxied by interest rate changes, on the relationship between advertising and subsequent net cash flows for Taiwan's mutual fund industry. Based on a comprehensive mutual fund dataset and allowing for a precise estimation of fund inflows and outflows, we find that there is a positive advertising–cash flow relation under different macroeconomic conditions. Taking into account a change in the interest rate, we document that the positive relationship between the two only exists when the interest rate is at a relatively low level regardless of restrictive and expansionary periods. Our empirical findings shed new light on marketing strategies whereby mutual fund advertising works well during relatively low interest rate environments, which are generally interpreted as exhibiting low cost of capital and a good signal of future economic conditions.