Capital gains lock-in and governance choices

Differences in accrued gains and investors’ tax-sensitivity induce variation in a capital gains lock-in effect across mutual funds even for the same stock at the same time. Exploiting this variation, we show this effect influences funds’ governance decisions: higher capital gains decrease the likeli...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dimmock, Stephen Geoffrey, Gerken, William C., Ivković, Zoran, Weisbenner, Scott J.
Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105243
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/50312
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Differences in accrued gains and investors’ tax-sensitivity induce variation in a capital gains lock-in effect across mutual funds even for the same stock at the same time. Exploiting this variation, we show this effect influences funds’ governance decisions: higher capital gains decrease the likelihood a fund exits prior to contentious votes and increase the likelihood a fund votes against management. Consistent with tax motivation, these findings are concentrated among funds with tax-sensitive investors. Further, high aggregate capital gains across funds holding a stock predict a higher likelihood management loses a vote and a lower likelihood a contentious vote is proposed.