Is there a home field advantage in global markets

International equity mutual funds that hire managers from a country linked to the fund`s geographic mandate exhibit a strong bias to invest in stocks of that country. These funds with “home-biased managers” attract disproportionally more flows, on average, that intensify during periods of higher economic uncertainty in that country. Stocks domiciled in countries in which the fund has a home-field advantage outperform those held by other funds without home-biased managers, but with investments in the same countries. We interpret this new finding as evidence of an information-based channel through which the home-bias phenomenon may be revealed and link it to theories that emphasize the role of an informational endowment advantage.