The Influence of Fund Size and Investment Expenses on the Performance of Pension Funds in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This work investigates the relationship between investment expenses and pension fund size with investment performance, and whether or not past performance influences future performance. Relationships are presented between expenses, size and investment performance of pension funds in Brazil in the period 1998–2002. Utilizing regressions allowed for the conclusion that performance and expenses presented an inverse relationship, and that past performance does not offer any indication as to future performance, which indicates that active administration is not a good strategy. Finally, portfolio size presented a relationship inverse to performance.

RESUMEN. Este trabajo investiga la relación que existe entre los gastos incurridos por las inversiones, y el tamaño de los fondos de pensión con respecto al desempeño de las inversiones, para determinar si el desempeño del pasado ejerce o no algún tipo de influencia sobre el desempeño esperado. Hemos trazado una relación entre los gastos, tamaño y desempeño de las inversiones asignadas a los fondos de pensión en Brasil durante el período 1998–2002. El uso de estas regresiones nos permitió determinar que el desempeño y gastos presentaron una relación inversa, y que el desempeño anterior no ofrece ninguna indicación sobre el desempeño que se puede esperar en el futuro. Esto indica que la administración activa de los fondos no es una buena estrategia y, por último, determinamos que el tamaño de la cartera presentó una relación inversa al desempeño.

RESUMO. Este trabalho verifica se as despesas de investimentos e o porte do fundo de pensão estão direta ou inversamente relacionados com o desempenho dos investimentos. Apresentam-se relações entre despesas, porte e o desempenho dos investimentos dos fundos de pensão no Brasil, no período de 1998 a 2002. A utilização de regressões entre as medidas de desempenho, as despesas e o porte permitiu concluir que as despesas de investimentos e o porte das carteiras dos fundos de pensão apresentaram relação inversa com o desempenho dos investimentos. Essa descoberta favorece a idéia de que a administração ativa não é boa estratégia.     

Openness,inequality and poverty: Endowments matter

Using tariffs as a measure of openness, this paper finds consistent evidence that the conditional effects of trade liberalization on inequality are correlated with relative factor endowments. Trade liberalization, measured by changes in tariff revenues, is associated with increases in inequality in countries well-endowed with highly skilled workers and capital or with workers that have very low education levels. Similar, although less robust, results are also obtained when decile data are used instead of the usual Gini coefficients. Taken together, the results are strongly supportive of the factor-proportions theory of trade and suggest that trade liberalization in poor countries where the share of the labor force with little education is high raises inequality. Simulation results also suggest that relatively small changes in inequality as measured by aggregate measures of inequality, like the Gini coefficient, are magnified when estimates are carried out using decile data.     

Liquidity constraints,productivity, employment and output: evidence from non-agricultural activities in Bangladesh

This paper examines the role played by liquidity constraints in determining non-agricultural employment, labour productivity and output among poor, landless households. The hypothesis that the provision of credit to poor non-agricultural households on reasonable terms can greatly enhance labour use, and output, thereby reducing poverty is empirically investigated using survey data from rural landless households in Bangladesh. The study's findings indicate that even small amounts of credit on reasonable terms can substantially enhance labour use and income for poor households and that the impact is greatest for the poorest households.     

The care-less marketplace: exclusion as affective inequality

ABSTRACT

The care-less marketplace is a discrete site which reinforces structural inequality in the affective domain of life. Drawing on the work of pro-care feminist theory, this empirical paper explores marketplace exclusion from the perspective of economic disadvantage and its impact on relations of love, care and solidarity. Adopting a voice-centred-relational approach, this interpretative study examines the narrative accounts of a diverse group of women living in diverse poverty contexts. Articulating marketplace exclusion as a series of affective burdens, material struggles and disconnections embedded within the relational web of family, friends and community – these experiences mirror participants’ imposed exclusion in the marketplace due to chronic economic hardship. Through the diffusion of an alternative theoretical lens, affective inequality surfaces the importance of care and how it is often most visible in the lives of vulnerable consumers when it is absent or broken.     

Integrating Global Poverty Into Mainstream Business Classrooms

Most of the products and services discussed in business curricula serve a small portion of humanity. But the great majority of economic growth over the next few decades is expected to occur in emerging and frontier markets. This emerging reality increases the urgency for including topics related to global poverty, unmet human needs, and emergence from poverty in conventional business curricula. This article describes several strategies the authors have employed to engage students' imaginations as well as their analytical capabilities to address the business challenges and opportunities inherent in addressing global poverty. It also offers possibilities for expanding students' concepts of themselves as business people and encouraging them to use their business skills to solve unmet human needs.     

The Poverty Curtain Revisited: Reflections on the Doha Development Agenda

This review article makes a contribution to the discussion of economic development especially as it concerns reasons for the currently stalled trade talks of the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization. This reviews predictions made by Dr. Mahbub ul Haq 30 years ago in a book titled The Poverty Curtain (1976), and by analyzing this work in conjunction with events that have transpired since its original publication, it clarifies areas of progress for the global economy, as well as areas that are still in need of an improvement. The first part of the analysis will discuss why gross domestic product (GDP) is not a panacea in terms of development. The second part of the review discusses the need for an international “new deal,” something that was stressed 30 years ago, and is still applicable today.     

Market penetration strategies and the fee–performance relationship: the case of Spanish money mutual funds

This article shows that market penetration strategies are common practice during the product introduction stage in the money mutual funds in Spain. During this stage there is no relation between fees and performance because this strategy is optimal. In order to analyse this relationship during the other stages of the product life cycle, funds under three years old were omitted from the analysis. Among the remaining funds, those with the highest fees are found to present a higher gross return than the low-fee funds, although the difference is not statistically significant. Nevertheless, in terms of net returns, low-fee funds are observed to stochastically dominate high-fee funds for any risk-averse investor. These findings hold for any managerial skill level or segmentation by the mutual fund family type.     

社会资本异质性与农村减贫成效差异——基于收入增长和差距缩小的双重视角分析

中国农村是一个典型的"关系社会",社会资本对于信息分享和资源配置具有较强的干预。本文基于中国家庭追踪调查2016年的农村样本数据,采用分位数回归方法,从收入增长与收入差距缩小的双重视角考察社会资本对中国农村贫困户减贫的影响。研究结果显示:2010-2016年间,中国农村的贫困发生率呈逐年下降趋势,这一趋势主要源于收入增长,而不是收入差距缩小。社会网络、社会参与和社会信任所体现的社会资本可以显著提高农户的收入水平,有效发挥减贫作用。就缩小收入差距的视角看,社会网络对农村的减贫作用比社会参与和社会信任更为显著。注重农村贫困人口社会资本的构建,尤其是提高贫困农户的社会网络质量,对于农村减贫具有重要的政策意义。     

New membership function for poverty measure

Fuzziness in a fuzzy set is determined by its membership function (m.f) which translates the reality of a problem. Accordingly, the shapes of membership functions (m.fs) are important for a particular problem such as poverty since they effect on a fuzzy inference system. Some authors have used to visualize the behaviour of poverty, different shapes like triangular, trapezoidal. In this paper, a specific (m.f), named modified logistic membership function better illustrating the complicated reality, is proposed to measure poverty. The modified logistic membership function is first formulated for several states of poverty and its flexibility in taking up vagueness in poverty is established by an analytical approach using aggregate operators in order to infer a logical conclusion measuring poverty. An application based on individual well-being data from Tunisian households in 2010 is presented to illustrate use of proposed concepts.     

对地质找矿新机制的认识和理解

地质找矿新机制的"新"体现在"基金衔接"和"整装勘查"上,两者体现了国家对地质找矿的干预和调控.公益先行,重在解决地质找矿潜力和找矿空间选择问题,其定位符合地质规律和地质工作规律.地勘基金很大程度上具有暂时替代风险勘查资本市场的作用,要与地勘单位和矿山企业衔接好.商业跟进的核心是要确立企业在地质找矿中的主体地位.整装勘查是地质找矿组织模式的创新,对提高找矿效果,特别是找大矿具有重要意义.要注意防止地方以地勘基金之名掌控矿业权,要通过资源税费制度改革,从根本上解决地方政府掌控和经营矿业权的冲动.新机制要研究通过进一步深化改革,逐步解决勘查资本与技术分离问题,促进两者有机结合.