Mutual Fund Management Fees and Returns: A Stochastic Dominance Analysis

Using stochastic dominance approach of Lim, Maasouimi, and Martin (2006) and Linton, Maasoumi, and Whang (2005), I find that mutual funds with low management fees, regardless of the growth or value strategy they follow, stochastically dominate the S&P500 index. High fee funds, on the other hand, fail to stochastically dominate the S&P500 index. Collectively, these results suggest that the historical performance of mutual fund managers may not entirely align with the higher fees they typically charge.