The Role of Remuneration Structures in Hedge Fund Performance

In this paper, we rationalize the persistent abnormal performance of hedge funds. We show how the commitment to deliver an absolute return, the decreasing returns to scale to which hedge fund strategies are subject, and the performance-linked compensation combine with the income maximizing behavior of managers to effectively align the interests of investors and managers. Thanks to the coexistence of these elements, managers have an incentive to control the size of the funds. Therefore, performance-diluting flows do not occur and abnormal performance persists. The model can quantitatively reproduce many empirical facts about hedge funds.