The role of fund size and returns to scale in the performance of mutual funds

Abstract

In this contribution we investigate the effects of the size of mutual funds on their performance by using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. We discuss the role of fund size in the performance evaluation and wonder whether it is appropriate to include size information among the input/output variables of the DEA models. Moreover, we analyze the nature of returns to scale in mutual fund performance and investigate whether returns to scale are constant, increasing or decreasing in a set of European mutual funds.