Risk Appetite,Home Bias and the Unstable Demand for Emerging Market Assets

Home bias arises when the actual portfolio of an investor consists of a smaller proportion of foreign assets than that predicted by standard portfolio theory for the observed set of risks and returns on available assets. The existence and persistence of home bias undermines the theoretical case for the efficiency of international capital markets. In this paper we use data on UK pension fund portfolios to measure home bias, and find that this is doubly acute in the case of emerging market equity—a bias against overseas assets as a whole being further magnified by a bias against emerging markets within the foreign equity class as a whole. Moreover, contrary to the conventional assumption that risk aversion is both relatively low and stable over time (canonised in neoclassical theory by the derivation of constant relative risk aversion from the utility function itself) our finding that home bias fluctuates over time suggests that risk aversion is in fact time‐variant and path‐dependent. We sketch an alternative Keynesian approach in conclusion.     

Home Bias and High Turnover in an Overlapping-generations Model with Learning

This paper develops a two‐country overlapping‐generations (OLG) model under the assumption that investors are on a learning path. While investors from both countries receive identical information flows, domestic investors start off with less precise prior beliefs concerning foreign fundamentals. On a learning path, differences in beliefs and estimation risk generate portfolio biases that match the empirical evidence: home bias in equity portfolios and trend‐chasing in international flows. In addition, due to the higher volatility of the estimates of foreign state variables, our model produces excessive turnover in foreign securities. We calibrate the model on the historical path of quarterly real GDP data for the US and Europe. Under the assumption of a financial liberalization in the 1970s, the model produces preference for domestic securities and turnover.     

国际分散化投资与本土偏好行为——基于QDⅡ对外投资基金的实证分析

本文运用2009年中国8家QDII基金境外组合的周收益历史数据,与基于全球29个股市指数的收益数据构建的国际投资分散化有效前沿进行比较,探讨QDII基金在境外投资过程中是否存在"本土偏好"。研究发现我国QDII基金与国际投资分散化有效边界都存在着不同程度的偏差,反映出较显著的本土偏好的投资行为。本土偏好减弱了国际分散化效果,降低了QDII基金的绩效。资本管制、交易成本和信息不对称是造成本土偏好的主要原因,因此放松资本管制,降低交易成本,降低信息获取成本,加快资本市场开放和合作能够使投资者更好地享受国际分散化投资带来的利益。     

国际分散化投资与本土偏好行为——基于QDII对外投资基金的实证分析

本文运用2009年中国8家QDII基金境外组合的周收益历史数据,与基于全球29个股市指数的收益数据构建的国际投资分散化有效前沿进行比较,探讨QDII基金在境外投资过程中是否存在“本土偏好”。研究发现我国QDII基金与国际投资分散化有效边界都存在着不同程度的偏差,反映出较显著的本土偏好的投资行为。本土偏好减弱了国际分散化效果,降低了QDII基金的绩效。资本管制、交易成本和信息不对称是造成本土偏好的主要原因,因此放松资本管制,降低交易成本,降低信息获取成本,加快资本市场开放和合作能够使投资者更好地享受国际分散化投资带来的利益。     

OPTIMAL INTERNATIONAL ASSET ALLOCATION WITH TIME-VARYING RISK

This paper examines the optimal allocation each period of an internationally diversified portfolio from the different points of view of a UK and a US investor. We find that investor location affects optimal asset allocation. The presence of exchange rate risk causes the markets to appear not fully integrated and creates a preference for home assets. Domestic equity is the dominant asset in the optimal portfolio for both investors, but the US investor bears less risk than the UK investor, and holds less foreign equity – 20% compared with 25%. Survey evidence indicates actual shares are 6% and 18%, respectively, making the home‐bias puzzle more acute for US than UK investors. There would seem to be more potential gains from increased international diversification for the US than the UK investor.     

PORTFOLIO SELECTION BETWEEN A MATURE MARKET AND SELECTED EMERGING MARKETS INDICES IN THE PRESENCE OF STRUCTURAL BREAKS

The paper examines the influence of the structural breaks on the optimal weights, hedge ratios and hedge effectiveness index (HEI) of risk‐minimizing portfolios composed of S&P500 and selected emerging markets’ indices from East Europe, Asia and South America. We employ a bivariate DCC‐EGARCH models without and with structural breaks and we find better estimation features when structural breaks are included in the model. However, we do not find evidence that insertion of structural breaks increases portfolio hedging performances. The differences that exist between optimal weights, hedge ratios and HEI values are so small that tangible economic benefit for international investors do not exist.     

The effects of portfolio size on international equity home bias puzzle

This paper investigates a new explanation for the international equity home bias puzzle based on an endogenous asymmetric information model. Using a cross-sectional mutual fund data set, it is found that the degrees of home bias across fund managers are negatively correlated to the asset sizes under their management. This result is consistent with the theoretical prediction in the endogenous asymmetric information model—the portfolio managers with the larger assets tend to acquire more information regarding foreign equity and, hence, hold more foreign equity holdings.     

Capital Market Integration in Euroland: The Role of Banks

The introduction of the euro marks a milestone in the process of European financial market integration. This paper analyzes the implications of the euro for cross-border banking activities. A portfolio model is used which captures the role of banks as providers of informational and of risk-diversification services. By eliminating exchange rate risks, the euro enhances the incentives of banks to expand within Euroland. Yet, while the currency bias in bank portfolios will be eliminated, the home bias will remain. Implications of market integration for the risk-taking and the monitoring of banks are not clear-cut.     

The Home Bias in Equities and Distribution Costs

We show that incorporating distribution costs into a general equilibrium model of international portfolio choice helps to explain the home bias in international equity investment. Our model is able to replicate observed investment positions for a wide range of parameter values, even if agents have an incentive to hedge labor income risk by purchasing foreign equity. This is because the existence of a retail sector affects both the correlation of domestic returns with the domestic price level and the correlation between financial and non‐financial income.     

International Bank Portfolios: Short‐ and Long‐Run Responses to Macroeconomic Conditions

International bank portfolios constitute a large component of international country portfolios. Yet, banks' response to international macroeconomic conditions remains largely unexplored. We use a novel dataset on banks' international portfolios to answer three questions. First, what are the long‐run determinants of banks' international portfolios? Second, how do banks' international portfolios adjust to short‐run macroeconomic developments? Third, does the speed of adjustment change with the degree of financial integration? We find that, in the long‐run, market size has a positive impact on foreign assets and liabilities. An increase in the interest differential between the home and the foreign economy lowers foreign assets and increases foreign liabilities. Foreign trade has a positive impact on international bank portfolios, which is independent from the effect of other macroeconomic variables. Short‐run dynamics show heterogeneity across countries, but these dynamics can partly be explained with gravity‐type variables.     

Diversification into Emerging Markets – An Australian and the US Perspective Using a Time‐varying Approach

Over the past two decades, a number of studies have examined the benefits of diversifying equity investments internationally, particularly into emerging markets. In the portfolio construction process, many researchers have criticised Markowitz's Portfolio Theory because of its inherent assumptions such as symmetric and constant correlations. In this study, we use a conditional copula model to estimate the time‐varying asymmetric correlations of stock markets and construct optimal portfolios by using estimated correlations. We find that optimised portfolios provide significant benefits for both Australian and the US investors. Out‐of‐sample results show Copula model provides results closer to the in‐sample‐estimated benefits of diversification. The results have important implications for portfolio managers who seek to diversify into emerging markets.     

Self‐Directed Pensions: Gender,Risk, and Portfolio Choices*

In this paper, I investigate gender differences in financial risk‐taking from a new perspective, and I show that gender plays a different role across the risk distribution. To evaluate risk‐taking, I exploit portfolio choices following a reform that entitles almost the entire Swedish workforce to choose a risk profile for a part of their public‐pension contributions. The novel finding is that portfolio risk does not differ much between the men and women who choose less risky portfolios, while the men who choose risky portfolios take on significantly more risk than do the women who choose risky portfolios. The findings are robust to investors choosing the default alternative, chasing past returns, rebalancing, and different measures of risk‐taking.     

ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION TO DIVERSIFY CONTRACTUAL RISK*

Are hedging transactions that diversify a manager’s compensation risk detrimental to incentives, or can they improve contracting efficiency? If hedging provides efficiency benefits, should the manager or the firm undertake it? In our model, both the firm and the manager can trade financial portfolios to diversify the manager’s compensation risk. Prior to the portfolio selection, the parties need to acquire information on how different financial portfolios fit their diversification purposes. We illustrate that financial portfolios correlated with firm‐specific risk improve contracting efficiency. For equal information costs, it is optimal for the firm to undertake the hedging on the manager’s behalf.     

Investment horizon effect on asset allocation between value and growth strategies

How does the optimal risk exposure of assets change as their investment horizons increase? Does this impact investment portfolio decision-making, in particular, optimal asset allocation between value and growth strategies over various investment horizons? This paper adopts a new approach to address these questions by examining portfolio allocation between value and growth stocks over various investment horizons. This new approach is based on wavelet analysis, which decomposes the returns of a particular investment strategy across multiple investment horizons. The key empirical results show that the success of pursuing the value strategy (short-selling growth stocks and going long on value stocks) is impacted by the approach used to classify value and growth stock returns. We explore two common alternatives: Fama-French versus Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500/Barra portfolios. The results using Fama-French portfolios show that as the investment horizon increases, the optimal mean allocation of investors tilts heavily away from growth stocks, particularly for lower and moderate levels of risk aversion. Interestingly, for S&P 500/Barra portfolios the allocation weights between value and growth do not vary much.     

ON THE ROLE OF THE GROWTH OPTIMAL PORTFOLIO IN FINANCE

The paper discusses various roles that the growth optimal portfolio (GOP) plays in finance. For the case of a continuous market we show how the GOP can be interpreted as a fundamental building block in financial market modeling, portfolio optimisation, contingent claim pricing and risk measurement. On the basis of a portfolio selection theorem, optimal portfolios are derived. These allocate funds into the GOP and the savings account. A risk aversion coefficient is introduced, controlling the amount invested in the savings account, which allows to characterize portfolio strategies that maximise expected utilities. Natural conditions are formulated under which the GOP appears as the market portfolio. A derivation of the intertemporal capital asset pricing model is given without relying on Markovianity, equilibrium arguments or utility functions. Fair contingent claim pricing, with the GOP as numeraire portfolio, is shown to generalise risk neutral and actuarial pricing. Finally, the GOP is described in various ways as the best performing portfolio.     

Information and capital flows: The determinants of transactions in financial assets

We show that a gravity model explains international transactions in financial assets at least as well as goods trade transactions. Our results support the hypothesis that informational asymmetries are responsible for the strong negative relationship between asset trade and distance. This result is very important for theories of asset trade, portfolio adjustments and home bias. We strengthen it by investigating the roles of explicit informational variables, as well as distance, in explaining separately cross-border trade in corporate equities, corporate bonds, and government bonds.     

Probabilistic dominance and status quo bias

Decision makers have a strong tendency to retain the current state of affairs. This well-documented phenomenon is termed status quo bias. We present the probabilistic dominance approach to status quo bias: an alternative is considered acceptable to replace the status quo only if the chances of a (subjectively) severe loss, relative to the status quo, are not too high. Probabilistic dominance is applied and behaviorally characterized in a choice model that allows for a range of status quo biases, general enough to accommodate unanimity, but also standard expected utility maximization. We present a comparative notion of “revealing more bias towards the status quo” and study its implications to the probabilistic dominance model of choice. Lastly, the model is applied to the endowment effect phenomenon and to a problem of international portfolio choice when investors are home biased.     

Portfolio choice with high frequency data: CRRA preferences and the liquidity effect

This paper suggests a new approach for portfolio choice. In this framework, the investor, with CRRA preferences, has two objectives: the maximization of the expected utility and the minimization of the portfolio expected illiquidity. The CRRA utility is measured using the portfolio realized volatility, realized skewness and realized kurtosis, while the portfolio illiquidity is measured using the well-known Amihud illiquidity ratio. Therefore, the investor is able to make her choices directly in the expected utility/liquidity (EU/L) bi-dimensional space. We conduct an empirical analysis in a set of fourteen stocks of the CAC 40 stock market index, using high frequency data for the time span from January 1999 to December 2005 (seven years). The robustness of the proposed model is checked according to the out-of-sample performance of different EU/L portfolios relative to the minimum variance and equally weighted portfolios. For different risk aversion levels, the EU/L portfolios are quite competitive and in several cases consistently outperform those benchmarks, in terms of utility, liquidity and certainty equivalent.     

Modelling VaR for foreign-asset portfolios in continuous time

VaR is widely viewed as a measure of market risk of a portfolio. The purpose of this article is to provide a VaR model for foreign-asset portfolios in continuous time. In the VaR model, the VaRs are not only a function of volatilities of asset returns and exchange rate but also a function of correlation coefficient between foreign assets and exchange rate. Moreover, by backtesting, the empirical results show that the new VaR model can efficiently evaluate the market risk of foreign-asset portfolios.     

A large CVaR-based portfolio selection model with weight constraints

Although the traditional CVaR-based portfolio methods are successfully used in practice, the size of a portfolio with thousands of assets makes optimizing them difficult, if not impossible to solve. In this article we introduce a large CVaR-based portfolio selection method by imposing weight constraints on the standard CVaR-based portfolio selection model, which effectively avoids extreme positions often emerging in traditional methods. We propose to solve the large CVaR-based portfolio model with weight constraints using penalized quantile regression techniques, which overcomes the difficulties of large scale optimization in traditional methods. We illustrate the method via empirical analysis of optimal portfolios on Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 (HS300) index and Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite (SSEC) index of China. The empirical results show that our method is efficient to solve a large portfolio selection and performs well in dispersing tail risk of a portfolio by only using a small amount of financial assets.