The Importance of Size: An examination of the effect of size and the prevalence of skill in Swedish mutual funds

Abstract: In this thesis, I examine the relation between size and performance in Swedish equity mutual funds during the period 2010 – 2017. The thesis is divided into two main parts with the first part investigating the relation between size and performance by dividing the sample of 107 mutual funds into three groups according to the size of the funds. The funds are then analyzed with three different performance measures. The differences between the performance measures of the three groups are tested for statistical significance to give an indication of the relation between size and performance. The results show no clear relation between size and performance although the largest fund size show overall better results compared to the other sizes. The second part of the thesis examines the distribution of skilled fund managers among the different fund sizes. The results show an improbable high proportion of skilled fund managers in the sample compared to previous research. When analyzing the differences in the proportion of skilled fund managers between the fund sizes it is discovered that the smallest fund size has the smallest proportion of skilled fund managers among the groups.