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The international diversification puzzle is not as bad as you think

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Author Info
Jonathan Heathcote
Fabrizio Perri

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Abstract

In the data country portfolios are heavily biased toward domestic assets. Standard one-good international macro models predict that, due to the presence of non-diversifiable labor income risk, country portfolios should be heavily biased toward foreign assets; this discrepancy constitute the international diversification puzzle. (Baxter and Jermann, 1997). We show that a simple extension of one-good models help reconcile theory and data. In particular we analytically solve for the equilibrium country portfolios in a two-country, two-goods model with non-diversifiable labor income and investment. In this set-up, consistently with the data, country portfolios contain a relatively small, but positive, share of foreign assets. The reason why international diversification is low is that terms of trade movements provide considerable insurance against country specific shocks and labor income risk (Cole and Obstfeld 1991, Acemoglu and Ventura, 2001). The reason why international diversification is positive is that foreign assets are crucial to share the financing of investment across countries. Finally in the model a country’s share of foreign assets should depend on its import share and on its capital share. We show how this relation is qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with country portfolios in the cross section of OECD countries in the 1990s.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Society for Economic Dynamics in its series 2004 Meeting Papers with number 152.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:red:sed004:152

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Related research
Keywords: home bias; international risk sharing;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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.:

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  35. Cédric Tille & Eric van Wincoop, 2007. "International capital flows," Staff Reports 280, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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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. Akito Matsumoto, 2007. "The Role of Nonseparable Utility and Nontradeables in International Business Cycle and Portfolio Choice," IMF Working Papers 07/163, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  2. Eric van Wincoop & Francis E. Warnock, 2006. "Is Home Bias in Assets Related to Home Bias in Goods?," NBER Working Papers 12728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Andrea Raffo, 2006. "Net exports, consumption volatility, and international real business cycle models," Research Working Paper RWP 06-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. 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!]
  5. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, 2006. "The Research Agenda: Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas on Global Imbalances and Financial Factors," EconomicDynamics Newsletter, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(2), April. [Downloadable!]
  6. 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!]
  7. Harald Hau & Helene Rey, 2008. "Home Bias at the Fund Level," NBER Working Papers 14172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Coeurdacier, Nicolas & Kollmann, Robert Miguel W. K. & Martin, Philippe J., 2008. "International portfolios, capital accumulation and foreign assets dynamics," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2008,19, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Martin D. D. Evans & Viktoria Hnatkovska, 2005. "Solving General Equilibrium Models with Incomplete Markets and Many Assets," NBER Technical Working Papers 0318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Fabrice Collard & Harris Dellas & Behzad Diba & Alan Stockman, 2007. "Goods Trade and International Equity Portfolios," NBER Working Papers 13612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Michael B. Devereux & Alan Sutherland, 2008. "Country portfolios in open economy macro models," Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Working Paper 09, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Cedric Tille, 2005. "Financial integration and the wealth effect of exchange rate fluctuations," Staff Reports 226, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Cédric Tille & Eric van Wincoop, 2007. "International capital flows," Staff Reports 280, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Fabio Ghironi & Jaewoo Lee & Alessandro Rebucci, 2007. "The Valuation Channel of External Adjustment," NBER Working Papers 12937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Devereux, Michael B & Saito, Makoto, 2006. "A Portfolio Theory of International Capital Flows," CEPR Discussion Papers 5746, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Martin D. D. Evans & Viktoria Hnatkovska, 2005. "International Capital Flows, Returns and World Financial Integration," NBER Working Papers 11701, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Viktoria Hnatkovska & Martin Evans, 2005. "International Capital Flows in a World of Greater Financial Integration," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 419, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
  18. Charles Engel & Akito Matsumoto, 2005. "Portfolio Choice in a Monetary Open-Economy DSGE Model," IMF Working Papers 05/165, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Kollmann, Robert, 2006. "International Portfolio Equilibrium and the Current Account," CEPR Discussion Papers 5512, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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