This paper investigates whether female portfolio managers are systematically allocated to mutual funds with lower profit-generating value. A unique, hand-collected dataset on the individual characteristics of over 2,100 U.S. equity fund managers shows that, despite similar education and experience profiles across genders, women oversee funds that are older, have lower performance, and collect inferior fee revenues. A comparative matched-pair framework reveals that female fund managers suffer a significant within-firm net-of-style return penalty attributable to allocation practices. Exogenous social and regulatory shocks have divergent impacts on the phenomenon, suggesting that systematic allocation is primarily driven by firm-level strategic placement, with limited indications of managerial self-selection. Furthermore, the paper documents a shielding effect, as female-managed investment vehicles exhibit a lower flow-performance sensitivity, alongside an overrepresentation of female managers leading ESG mutual funds.

41st Workshop of the Austrian Working Group on Banking and Finance (2026); Academy of Sustainable Finance, Accounting, Accountability and Governance 6th Annual Conference (2026); The Finance Symposium (2026); Vienna Graduate School of Finance PhD Research Seminar (2026)

We investigate whether mutual fund families favor their ESG funds at the expense of their non-ESG siblings. We find that the net-of-style return spread of ESG compared to non-ESG funds within the fund family is significantly greater than the gap with non-ESG matches outside the family. The difference is around 2% per year, indicating sizable cross-fund subsidization that is mainly used to avoid underperformance of ESG funds and optimize fee income. We link this performance difference to fund and family characteristics, measures of environmental awareness, and fund flows. Additionally, we investigate potential mechanisms of implementing ESG favoritism.

American Finance Association Annual Meeting, Poster Session (2026); 65th Annual Meeting of the Southern Finance Association (2025); 31st Annual Meeting of the German Finance Association (2025)*; 37th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference (2024); Massey Sustainable Finance Conference (2024)*; C.r.e.d.i.t. Conference (2024); 39th Workshop of the Austrian Working Group on Banking and Finance (2024); Adam Smith Sustainability Conference (2024)*

* presented by coauthor

We investigate the impact of manager characteristics, particularly gender, on mutual fund performance. We find that controlling for only such attributes suggests the underperformance of female managers. However, accounting also for fund-specific variables reveals no statistically significant difference in mutual fund excess returns across genders. Our analysis shows that having a graduate degree from an Ivy League university and possessing an MBA both imply enhanced mutual fund performance. Furthermore, we provide evidence on how the performance of female fund managers compares to their male counterparts during the four recent recession periods and amid various market conditions, as well as an analysis of their risk-taking behavior and investment styles.

16th Annual Financial Markets and Liquidity Conference (2025); European Financial Management Association Annual Meeting (2025); XXVII Applied Economics Meeting (2025)*; Behavioural Finance Working Group 18th Annual Conference (2025); Nova–WU Workshop (2025)*; Vienna Graduate School of Finance PhD Research Seminar (2025)

* presented by coauthor

We investigate whether manager characteristics predict U.S. equity mutual fund performance during and after market shocks. We identify storm events as S&P 500 declines exceeding four conditional standard deviations under an exponentially weighted moving average volatility model and estimate stacked difference-in-differences specifications over 1984–2022. Using hand-collected manager data, we find that funds led by individuals with professional certifications, such as CFA, earn higher post-storm returns, whereas graduate and Ivy League education confer no comparable advantage. Funds managed by women also earn higher post-storm returns, although this result is less robust across event samples. Older managers reduce market exposure as volatility rises but exhibit poorer market timing and lower post-event returns. Entering the investment industry during a recession predicts differences in portfolio positioning and tail behavior, but not in mean post-storm returns. Overall, our findings show that professional training, demographic characteristics, and formative career experiences help explain cross-sectional differences in how mutual funds navigate market stress.

The 22nd International Behavioural Finance Conference (2026)*; Vienna Graduate School of Finance PhD Research Seminar (2026)*

* presented by coauthor