Smart Institutions, Foolish Choices: The Limited Partner Performance Puzzle
利用新数据发现，不同机构投资者在私募股权上的回报差异巨大，捐赠基金的年回报率比平均水平高近21%，且其优势源于更擅长预测后续基金表现，而非仅靠优先获取优质基金。
ABSTRACT The returns that institutional investors realize from private equity differ dramatically across institutions. Using detailed, hitherto unexplored records, we document large heterogeneity in the performance of investor classes: endowments' annual returns are nearly 21% greater than average. Analysis of reinvestment decisions suggests that endowments (and to a lesser extent, public pensions) are better than other investors at predicting whether follow‐on funds will have high returns. The results are not primarily due to endowments' greater access to established funds, since they also hold for young or undersubscribed funds. Our results suggest that investors vary in their sophistication and potentially their investment objectives.