Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of the Bank of Japan ETFs Purchase Program on the private investment decision. In 2011, Bank of Japan started a huge purchase program of ETFs that was absorbed by the following QQE, leading Bank of Japan to own around 80% of ETF market. At the same time, private ownership started to increase after a decade of an almost stable trend. The paper focuses on the increase of the ETFs amount owned by private investors, investigating about the connection with the Bank of Japan intervention. We study the impact of the main announcement about BoJ ETFs Purchase Program and the causality between the public and private investment in ETFs. Further we distinguish the effects among professional and not professional investors showing how the announcement and the media propagation affects mainly the not professional ones.