Talk A Good Game

Interesting snip from the abstract of this piece –

We show that investors base their decisions on perceptions of the responsible investment manager shaped by manager-written texts. Relying on a novel dataset of a European social trading platform including self-descriptions from portfolio managers, we show that a positive emotional tone of these descriptions lowers portfolio inflows. We find no significant differences in performance and risk taking of managers. By testing the underlying mechanism in an experiment, our results reveal that the use of positive tone leads to lower portfolio inflows because managers are perceived as less competent. Our results thus provide evidence of taste based discrimination with investors misattributing less competence to managers.

It seems at least in Europe that if a money manager talks positively about their performance then they experience lower capital inflows compared to those who opt for more toned down or negative approach. The more positive you are the less money you get to manage. My initial thoughts are I wonder if this is a distinctly cultural phenomena – that is a reflection of a more conservative European mindset and perhaps not universal. Alternatively it could be a function of the human desire to buy something that it is not doing well or which they perceive to be a bargain. To investors negative self  descriptions may reflect a chance of a turnaround. In some ways akin to the Australian notion of a crap football team being due for a win and therefore worthy of a punt.