Why Are University Endowments Large and Risky?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gilbert, Thomas; Hrdlicka, Christopher
• 署名单位: University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhv031
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 2643
• 关键词: agency problems; consumption; ALUMNI; INVESTMENT; decisions; ECONOMICS; altruism; WEALTH

摘要

We build a model of universities combining their real production decisions with their choice of endowment size and asset allocation. Variation in opportunity cost, that is, the productivity of internal projects, has a first-order effect on these choices. Adding the UPMIFA-mandated 7% payout constraint, the endowment size and asset allocations match those empirically observed. This constraint has little effect on universities that do not value the output of their internal projects but harms those that do: it prevents the endowment's use as an effective buffer stock, thereby increasing the volatility of production, and it slows the growth of the most productive universities.