Human Capital efficiency and equity funds' performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

The paper investigates the impact of human capital efficiency (HCE) on equity funds' performance during three stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data for 799 open-ended equity funds across five EU countries and ranked them in five categories of HCE and compare their risk-adjusted performance across these categories. The results suggest that during the COVID-19 outbreak, the equity funds that were ranked higher in HCE outperformed their counterparts. We suggest that fund managers should invest in human capital to improve funds' coping ability and resilience during periods of extreme stress.

Automated summary

The study found that during the COVID-19 outbreak, equity funds with higher HCE rankings outperformed their counterparts, suggesting that fund managers should invest in human capital to enhance the funds' ability to cope with extreme stress.