Individual account investment options and portfolio choice: Behavioral lessons from 401(k) plans

This paper examines how the menu of investment options made available to workers in defined contribution plans influences portfolio choice. Using unique panel data of 401(k) plans in the U.S., we present three principle findings. First, we show that the share of investment options in a particular asset class (i.e., company stock, equities, fixed income, and balanced funds) has a significant effect on aggregate participant portfolio allocations across these asset classes. Second, we document that the vast majority of the new funds added to 401(k) plans are high-cost actively-managed equity funds, as opposed to lower-cost equity index funds. Third, because the average share of assets invested in low-cost equity index funds declines with an increase in the number of options, average portfolio expenses increase and average portfolio performance is thus depressed. All of these findings are obtained from a panel data set, enabling us to control for heterogeneity in the investment preferences of workers across firms and across time.     

A new perspective on performance persistence: evidence using portfolio holdings

We investigate the existence and sources of performance persistence for Australian equity funds, using monthly portfolio holdings data. We find significant persistence among outperforming rather than underperforming funds, which is primarily related to security selection skill, and is associated with growth‐orientated funds. Meanwhile, the relation between persistence and momentum is secondary and nuanced. Further, persistence largely derives from existing holdings, while subsequent active trading contributes only moderately positive returns for both outperforming and underperforming funds. We also find that persistence fades beyond 6 months and vanishes after 24 months. Our findings differ from those for U.S. equity funds and previous Australian studies, implying that persistence may vary with market context and its identification may depend on data availability.     

Social responsibility portfolio optimization incorporating ESG criteria

Social responsibility investment (SRI) has attracted worldwide attention for its potential in promoting investment sustainability and stability. We developed a three-step framework by incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance into portfolio optimization. In comparison to studies using weighted ESG rating scores, we constructed a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with quadratic and cubic terms to enhance the evidence of two or more aspects, as well as the interaction between the environmental, social, and governance attributes. We then combined the ESG scores with financial indicators to select assets based on a cross-efficiency analysis. The portfolio optimization model incorporating ESG scores with selected assets was constructed to obtain a social responsibility investment strategy. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we applied it in the United States industrial stock market from 2005 to 2017. The empirical results show that the obtained SRI portfolio may be superior to traditional investment strategies in many aspects and may simultaneously achieve the consistency of investment and social values.     

我国微观主体资产选择行为对货币需求结构的影响

我国经济开放程度日益增加,经济转型程度逐步加深,处于经济转型期的居民、企业、金融机构等微观主体的资产选择行为发生了重要变化。文章对我国经济主体的资产选择行为对货币需求影响的作用机理进行深入的研究。通过不同样本区间的比较,分析宏观大环境发生变化的条件下,我国微观主体的资产选择行为对我国货币需求的影响路径,并根据实证结果提出保持较高利率水平下合理的利率市场化形成机制的政策建议。     

Amplification and asymmetry in crashes and frenzies

We often observe disproportionate reactions to tangible information in large stock price movements. Moreover these movements feature an asymmetry: the number of crashes is more than that of frenzies in the S&P 500 index. This paper offers an explanation for these two characteristics of large movements in which hedging (portfolio insurance) causes amplified price reactions to news and liquidity shocks as well as an asymmetry biased towards crashes. Risk aversion of traders is shown to be essential for the asymmetry of price movements. Also, we show that differential information can enhance both amplification and asymmetry delivered by hedging. This paper is based on part of my Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of Minnesota. I am grateful to Andy McLennan and Jan Werner for their valuable advice and unwavering support. Also, I would like thank Mehmet Barlo, Michele Boldrin, Partha Chatterjee, Mehmet Ozhabes, Dimitrios Tsomocos and seminar participants at the University of Minnesota, the MEA and the MFA Meetings in St Louis for helpful comments. Comments on a previous draft by an anonymous referee greatly improved the presentation of this paper. Financial support from William W. Stout Fellowship is gratefully acknowledged.     

Handling measurement issues and strategic directions in Kraljic''s purchasing portfolio model

Kraljic's purchasing portfolio model, which was introduced in 1983, still is the dominant approach in the profession. Contrary to the growing use of the Kraljic matrix, there are problems and unanswered questions with respect to measurement and strategic issues. Based on explorative case studies, the critique of Kraljic's model has been disputed and refuted to a large extent. This study describes the solutions of experienced practitioners to the problems which have been put forward in literature. The case studies point out which measurement methods are possible and which supplier strategies are feasible, including additional strategic movements of commodities within the matrix. The research findings indicate that there is no simple, standardized blue print for the application of the portfolio analysis. It requires reflecting on results, critical thinking and sophistication of purchasing management.     

Do ADRs enhance portfolio performance for a domestic portfolio? Evidence from the 1990s

American depository receipts (ADRs) represent an increasingly popular and convenient mechanism for international investing. We analyze ADRs traded throughout the 1990s and find that these securities offer a diversification and portfolio performance benefit when combined with a domestic portfolio (proxied by the S&P 500). While we find that emerging market ADRs are effective instruments for reducing portfolio risk, they do not improve portfolio performance as measured by the Sharpe ratio. Developed market ADRs do improve portfolio performance as measured by the Sharpe ratio. The asset allocation which maximizes the Sharpe ratio is 84 percent domestic stocks, 16 percent developed ADRs, and 0 percent emerging ADRs. Further, due to problems in defining an appropriate market index for ADRs, the Sharpe ratio is viewed to be the preferred performance measure. Other measures such as Jensen’s alpha and the Treynor measure are susceptible to being “gamed” to distort portfolio performance.     

信贷资产组合保险策略定价研究

本文探讨了信贷资产组合保险策略在信用风险管理领域的地位。基于CreditMetrics模型，提出了信贷资产组合保险策略的定价算法，这是对主流风险计量模型的一种全新尝试。处理的过程对CreditMetrics的VaR技术做了一些细节上的变换，通过蒙特卡洛模拟得到了较理想的运算结果。最后对模型的实施提出了合理的建议。     

Dynamic mean–VaR portfolio selection in continuous time

The value-at-risk (VaR) is one of the most well-known downside risk measures due to its intuitive meaning and wide spectra of applications in practice. In this paper, we investigate the dynamic mean–VaR portfolio selection formulation in continuous time, while the majority of the current literature on mean–VaR portfolio selection mainly focuses on its static versions. Our contributions are twofold, in both building up a tractable formulation and deriving the corresponding optimal portfolio policy. By imposing a limit funding level on the terminal wealth, we conquer the ill-posedness exhibited in the original dynamic mean–VaR portfolio formulation. To overcome the difficulties arising from the VaR constraint and no bankruptcy constraint, we have combined the martingale approach with the quantile optimization technique in our solution framework to derive the optimal portfolio policy. In particular, we have characterized the condition for the existence of the Lagrange multiplier. When the opportunity set of the market setting is deterministic, the portfolio policy becomes analytical. Furthermore, the limit funding level not only enables us to solve the dynamic mean–VaR portfolio selection problem, but also offers a flexibility to tame the aggressiveness of the portfolio policy.     

商业银行贷款组合的风险控制研究

商业银行经营管理的核心是收益与风险的权衡,对贷款进行组合多样化管理,可以达到分散风险的目的,而单项贷款违约模型的确定是贷款组合多样化的基础。本文基于期权模型讨论了商业银行的贷款组合问题,认为在商业银行贷款管理中引入期权概念,可以定量地利用成熟的期权理论进行分析研究,为多样化分析提供较为准确的量度方法。