Half of all of U.S. households own shares in one or more mutual funds, either directly or through personal or employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The growth in mutual fund investment has been dramatic. At the end of World War II, there were 73 mutual funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission holding 1.2 dollar billion in assets (Investment Company Institute, 2003). By the end of 2002, over 8,000 mutual funds held more than 6 dollar trillion in assets. Mutual funds own approximately 21 percent of the common equity and 11 percent of the debt securities of U.S. corporations (Federal Reserve, 2003). Table 1 shows the growth in the number and assets of mutual funds from 1992-2002.
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