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What makes investors over or underweight? explaining international appetites for foreign equities

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Author Info
Carol C. Bertaut
Linda S. Kole
Abstract

Using data from the IMF Coordinated Portfolio Investment Surveys conducted in 2001, we analyze the determinants of 31 countries' international equity holdings. We show that investors in all countries underweight U.S. equities in their portfolios, many by more than they underweight foreign equities in general. Such behavior is surprising given the common perception of the United States as a desirable investment destination due to its well-developed legal and regulatory environment. Instead we find that investors in some countries are overweight in equities from other countries with which they have close regional or political ties. Such ties, along with distance, trade, issuance of U.S. ADRs or cross-listing on the London Stock exchange, market concentration, and estimated betas, help explain patterns of diversification. However, even when all these variables are included, we find significant fixed effects for most countries, suggesting that a considerable amount of cross-country variation in investment positions and in home bias remains to be explained. Our work confirms previous findings and extends results most completely documented for the United States to other major investor countries. But it also suggests caution should be used when interpreting results derived from studies of one or a few countries.

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Paper provided by Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.) in its series International Finance Discussion Papers with number 819.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Keywords: Investments; Foreign ; International finance;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Reena Aggarwal & Leora Klapper & Peter D. Wysocki, 2003. "Portfolio preferences of foreign institutional investors," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3101, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R., 2003. "Emerging markets finance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 3-56, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth Rogoff, 2000. "The Six Major Puzzles in International Macroeconomics: Is There a Common Cause?," NBER Working Papers 7777, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Scott Weisbenner & Zoran Ivkovich, 2003. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," NBER Working Papers 9685, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Shujing Li & Isabel K. Yan & Hamid Faruqee, 2004. "The Determinants of International Portfolio Holdings and Home Bias," IMF Working Papers 04/34, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1996. "Law and Finance," NBER Working Papers 5661, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Richard Portes & Helene Rey, 1999. "The Determinants of Cross-Border Equity Flows," NBER Working Papers 7336, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Marco Pagano & Ailsa A. Röell & Josef Zechner, 2002. "The Geography of Equity Listing: Why Do Companies List Abroad?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2651-2694, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Karen K. Lewis, 1999. "Trying to Explain Home Bias in Equities and Consumption," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(2), pages 571-608, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Alan G. Ahearne & William L. Griever & Francis E. Warnock, 2000. "Information costs and home bias: an analysis of U.S. holdings of foreign equities," International Finance Discussion Papers 691, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  11. Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti & Philip R. Lane, 2004. "International Investment Patterns," IMF Working Papers 04/134, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Klaus Gugler & Dennis C. Mueller & B. Burcin Yurtoglu, 2003. "The Impact of Corporate Governance on Investment Returns in Developed and Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages F511-F539, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. G. Andrew Karolyi & Rene M. Stulz, 2002. "Are Financial Assets Priced Locally or Globally?," NBER Working Papers 8994, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Hali J. Edison & Francis E. Warnock, 2003. "U.S. Investors' Emerging Market Equity Portfolios: A Security-Level Analysis," IMF Working Papers 03/238, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Martin, Philippe & Rey, Helene, 2004. "Financial super-markets: size matters for asset trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 335-361, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Paul A. Gompers & Joy L. Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2001. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," NBER Working Papers 8449, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Lee Pinkowitz & Rene M. Stulz & Rohan Williamson, 2001. "Corporate Governance and the Home Bias," NBER Working Papers 8680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, & Philip R. Lane, 2003. "International Financial Integration," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp03, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Dahlquist, Magnus & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Ren? M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Corporate Governance and the Home Bias," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(01), pages 87-110, March. [Downloadable!]
  21. René M Stultz, 1984. "Pricing Capital Assets in an International Setting: An Introduction," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 55-73, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anne Marie Gleeson & Frances Ruane, 2006. "Export dynamics in Small Open Economies: Indigenous Irish Manufacturing Exports, 1985-2003," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp140, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
  2. Ahmed Zoromé, 2007. "Concept of Offshore Financial Centers: In Search of an Operational Definition," IMF Working Papers 07/87, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  3. Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti & Philip R. Lane, 2006. "Capital Flows to Central and Eastern Europe," IMF Working Papers 06/188, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Philip Lane & Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, 2005. "The International Equity Holdings of Euro Area Investors," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp104, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
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