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Is Home Bias in Assets Related to Home Bias in Goods?

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Author Info
Eric van Wincoop
Francis E. Warnock

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Abstract

Obstfeld and Rogoff (2000) have reinvigorated an old literature on the link between home bias in the goods market and home bias in the asset market by arguing that trade costs in the goods market can account for the observed portfolio home bias. The key link between home bias in the two markets is the real exchange rate. Home bias in consumption implies a different expenditure allocation across countries, which leads to different inflation rates when measured in the same currency. This leads investors from different countries to choose different portfolios to hedge against inflation uncertainty. An older partial equilibrium literature argued that such hedge portfolios are not large enough to produce substantial home bias. We link the general equilibrium and partial equilibrium literatures and show that in both the resulting home bias in the equity market depends on a covariance-variance ratio: the covariance between the real exchange rate and the excess return on home relative to foreign equity, divided by the variance of the excess return. Empirical evidence shows that this ratio and the implied home bias are close to zero, casting significant doubt on a meaningful link between home bias in the goods and asset markets. General equilibrium models that conclude otherwise imply a covariance-variance ratio that is at odds with the data.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12728.

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Date of creation: Dec 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12728

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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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. 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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  2. Pesenti, Paolo & van Wincoop, Eric, 2002. "Can Nontradables Generate Substantial Home Bias?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(1), pages 25-50, February.
  3. Jorge Braga de Macedo, 1983. "Optimal Currency Diversification for a Class of Risk Averse International Investors," NBER Working Papers 0959, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Philippe Bacchetta & Eric van Wincoop, 2006. "Incomplete information processing: a solution to the forward discount puzzle," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Jun. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Charles Engel & Akito Matsumoto, 2005. "Portfolio Choice in a Monetary Open-Economy DSGE Model," IMF Working Papers 05/165, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Mico Loretan, 2005. "Indexes of the foreign exchange value of the dollar," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Win, pages 1-8. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Jonathan Heathcote & Fabrizio Perri, 2007. "The International Diversification Puzzle Is Not As Bad As You Think," NBER Working Papers 13483, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Jorge Braga de Macedo & Jeffrey Goldstein & David Meerschwam, 1984. "International Portfolio Diversification: Short-Term Financial Assets and Gold," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rate Theory and Practice, pages 199-238 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Stockman, Alan C. & Dellas, Harris, 1989. "International portfolio nondiversification and exchange rate variability," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 271-289, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Cooper, Ian & Kaplanis, Evi, 1994. "Home Bias in Equity Portfolios, Inflation Hedging, and International Capital Market Equilibrium," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 45-60. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Ahearne, Alan G. & Griever, William L. & Warnock, Francis E., 2004. "Information costs and home bias: an analysis of US holdings of foreign equities," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 313-336, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Adler, Michael & Dumas, Bernard, 1983. " International Portfolio Choice and Corporation Finance: A Synthesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(3), pages 925-84, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Eric Van Wincoop & Cedric Tille, 2007. "International Capital Flows," NBER Working Papers 12856, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

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. Fabrizio Perri & Jonathan Heathcote, 2007. "The International Diversification Puzzle Is Not as Bad as You Think," Working Papers 2007-3, University of Minnesota, Department of Economics, revised 08 Oct 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Nicolas Coeurdacier & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, 2008. "When bonds matter: home bias in goods and assets," Working Paper Series 2008-25, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
  3. Tobias Broer, 2008. "The home bias of the poor: terms of trade effects and portfolios across the wealth distribution," Economics Working Papers ECO2008/28, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
  4. Coeurdacier, Nicolas & Kollmann, Robert & Martin, Philippe, 2007. "International Portfolios with Supply, Demand and Redistributive Shocks," CEPR Discussion Papers 6482, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Nicolas Coeurdacier & Robert Kollmann & Philippe Martin, 2009. "International portfolios, capital accumulation and foreign assets dynamics," Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Working Paper 27, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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