BlackRock Paper Explores Market Perceptions, Academic Theories Around Index Investing

A recent paper by BlackRock staff examines the themes explaining the dominance of index investing and challenges common perceptions around the sector’s significant growth and market impact. The key drivers leading the shift toward index strategies are performance, fees, regulatory change, and business model changes, the BlackRock authors note. They contend that despite the common perception of index investing’s widespread market penetration, the relative scale of index investing is still small, representing less than 20% of global equities. They also note that investment flows into different asset classes and sectors are driven by overall asset allocation decisions made by asset owners, not by the appeal of certain products or investment styles. The authors discuss whether index funds have the potential to distort investment flows, create stock price bubbles, or conversely, exacerbate a decline in market prices. They also examine popular academic discourse that attributes higher consumer prices, escalating executive compensation, and aspects of wealth inequality to index investment products. The authors note that if additional market shifts occur, the growth in index investing may provide more opportunity for active managers to utilize pricing inefficiencies. They conclude that while the shift to index strategies is disruptive to the asset management industry, it is not disruptive to markets as a whole.