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DISCUSSION PAPER PI-0310

Institutional Traders' Behavior in an Emerging Stock Market:
Empirical Evidence on Polish Pension Fund Investors

Svitlana Voronkova and Martin T. Bohl

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we contribute to the literature on institutional herding and
positive feedback trading by analysing the behavior of pension fund investors
on the Polish stock market. Their entrance on the Polish stock market due to
the national pension system reform in 1999 provides a unique opportunity to
receive deeper insight into the behavior of institutional investors in an emerging
capital market. Our results show that Polish pension fund investors are to a greater
extent involved in herd-like behavior and more often pursue feedback trading
strategies than their counterparts in mature markets. This finding is primarily
attributed to regulatory inefficiencies and high market concentration. We do not
detect, however, that trading by the pension fund investors exerts significant
influence on stock prices.