IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v66y2022icp155-175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The diversification benefits and policy risks of accessing China’s stock market

Author

Listed:
  • Shan, Chenyu
  • Tang, Dragon Yongjun
  • Wang, Sarah Qian
  • Zhang, Chang

Abstract

China’s stock market (the “A share market”) has a lower correlation with the global market and is less affected by international financial contagions than any other major economy. The inclusion of mainland China stocks into an international portfolio increases its Sharpe ratio. However, we find that Chinese stocks providing the most diversification benefits also carry the most policy risk for international investors. Holding Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong does not reap the same diversification benefits. While global market integration and the increase in foreign ownership can diminish diversification benefits, mainland China stocks still provide valuable diversification opportunities for international investors up till the most recent time in late 2010s.

Suggested Citation

  • Shan, Chenyu & Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Wang, Sarah Qian & Zhang, Chang, 2022. "The diversification benefits and policy risks of accessing China’s stock market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 155-175.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:66:y:2022:i:c:p:155-175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2022.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539822000093
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2022.01.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Forbes, Kristin & Fratzscher, Marcel & Kostka, Thomas & Straub, Roland, 2016. "Bubble thy neighbour: Portfolio effects and externalities from capital controls," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 85-104.
    2. Liu, Jianan & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Yuan, Yu, 2019. "Size and value in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 48-69.
    3. Claessens, Stijn & Feijen, Erik & Laeven, Luc, 2008. "Political connections and preferential access to finance: The role of campaign contributions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 554-580, June.
    4. Markus K Brunnermeier & Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong, 2022. "China’s Model of Managing the Financial System [Beauty Contests and Iterated Expectations in Asset Markets]," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 89(6), pages 3115-3153.
    5. Andrew Ang & Geert Bekaert, 2002. "International Asset Allocation With Regime Shifts," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1137-1187.
    6. Joon Chae, 2005. "Trading Volume, Information Asymmetry, and Timing Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 413-442, February.
    7. Huang, Wei, 2007. "Financial integration and the price of world covariance risk: Large- vs. small-cap stocks," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1311-1337, December.
    8. Jean-Claude Cosset & Jean-Marc Suret, 1995. "Political Risk and the Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 26(2), pages 301-318, June.
    9. Cheol S. Eun & Sandy Lai & Frans A. de Roon & Zhe Zhang, 2010. "International Diversification with Factor Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1500-1518, September.
    10. Liu, Laura Xiaolei & Shu, Haibing & Wei, K.C. John, 2017. "The impacts of political uncertainty on asset prices: Evidence from the Bo scandal in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 286-310.
    11. Matthew Elliott & Benjamin Golub & Matthew O. Jackson, 2014. "Financial Networks and Contagion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3115-3153, October.
    12. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    13. Anna Cieslak & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2021. "The Economics of the Fed Put," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(9), pages 4045-4089.
    14. Morris Goldstein, 1998. "The Asian Financial Crisis," Policy Briefs PB98-1, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    15. Morris Goldstein, 1998. "Asian Financial Crisis: Causes, Cures and Systemic Implications, The," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number pa55, October.
    16. Longin, Francois & Solnik, Bruno, 1995. "Is the correlation in international equity returns constant: 1960-1990?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-26, February.
    17. Levy, Haim & Sarnat, Marshall, 1970. "International Diversification of Investment Portfolios," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(4), pages 668-675, September.
    18. Kee-Hong Bae & G. Andrew Karolyi & René M. Stulz, 2003. "A New Approach to Measuring Financial Contagion," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 717-763, July.
    19. Christoffersen, Peter & Errunza, Vihang & Jacobs, Kris & Jin, Xisong, 2014. "Correlation dynamics and international diversification benefits," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 807-824.
    20. Silvers, Roger, 2021. "Does regulatory cooperation help integrate equity markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(3), pages 1275-1300.
    21. Geert Bekaert & Robert J. Hodrick & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2009. "International Stock Return Comovements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(6), pages 2591-2626, December.
    22. Liu, Clark & Wang, Shujing & Wei, K.C. John, 2021. "Demand shock, speculative beta, and asset prices: Evidence from the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    23. Eun, Cheol S. & Huang, Wei & Lai, Sandy, 2008. "International Diversification with Large- and Small-Cap Stocks," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 489-524, June.
    24. Jonathan Brogaard & Lili Dai & Phong T H Ngo & Bohui Zhang, 2020. "Global Political Uncertainty and Asset Prices [When should you adjust standard errors for clustering]," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(4), pages 1737-1780.
    25. Jonathan Brogaard & Lili Dai & Phong T H Ngo & Bohui Zhang, 2020. "Global Political Uncertainty and Asset Prices," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1737-1780.
    26. Geert Bekaert & Campbell R. Harvey & Christian T. Lundblad & Stephan Siegel, 2011. "What Segments Equity Markets?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(12), pages 3841-3890.
    27. Engle, Robert, 2002. "Dynamic Conditional Correlation: A Simple Class of Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(3), pages 339-350, July.
    28. Richard A. Brealey & Ian A. Cooper & Evi Kaplanis, 2010. "Excess Comovement in International Equity Markets: Evidence from Cross-border Mergers," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(4), pages 1718-1740, April.
    29. Peter Christoffersen & Vihang Errunza & Kris Jacobs & Hugues Langlois, 2012. "Is the Potential for International Diversification Disappearing? A Dynamic Copula Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3711-3751.
    30. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    31. François Longin & Bruno Solnik, 2001. "Extreme Correlation of International Equity Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 649-676, April.
    32. Griffin, John M. & Andrew Karolyi, G., 1998. "Another look at the role of the industrial structure of markets for international diversification strategies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 351-373, December.
    33. Baur, Dirk G., 2012. "Financial contagion and the real economy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 2680-2692.
    34. Huang, Wei & Zhu, Tao, 2015. "Foreign institutional investors and corporate governance in emerging markets: Evidence of a split-share structure reform in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 312-326.
    35. Mariassunta Giannetti & Guanmin Liao & Xiaoyun Yu, 2015. "The Brain Gain of Corporate Boards: Evidence from China," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1629-1682, August.
    36. Grace Xing Hu & Can Chen & Yuan Shao & Jiang Wang, 2019. "Fama–French in China: Size and Value Factors in Chinese Stock Returns," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 3-44, March.
    37. Joon Woo Bae & Redouane Elkamhi & Mikhail Simutin, 2019. "The Best of Both Worlds: Accessing Emerging Economies via Developed Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(5), pages 2579-2617, October.
    38. Jagannathan, Murali & Jiao, Wei & Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2022. "Is there a home field advantage in global markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 742-770.
    39. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    40. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong, 2020. "China’s Model of Managing the Financial System," Working Papers 2020-45, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    41. Heston, Steven L. & Rouwenhorst, K. Geert, 1994. "Does industrial structure explain the benefits of international diversification?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 3-27, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Hongbo & Chen, Yiqing & Wan, Hong & Yao, Shujie, 2023. "Possibility versus feasibility: International portfolio diversification under financial liberalization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Attig, Najah & Guedhami, Omrane & Nazaire, Gregory & Sy, Oumar, 2023. "What explains the benefits of international portfolio diversification?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Niţoi, Mihai & Pochea, Maria Miruna, 2020. "Time-varying dependence in European equity markets: A contagion and investor sentiment driven analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 133-147.
    3. Sewraj, Deeya & Gebka, Bartosz & Anderson, Robert D.J., 2018. "Identifying contagion: A unifying approach," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 224-240.
    4. Billio, M. & Donadelli, M. & Paradiso, A. & Riedel, M., 2017. "Which market integration measure?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 150-174.
    5. Martin Hoesli & Kustrim Reka, 2013. "Volatility Spillovers, Comovements and Contagion in Securitized Real Estate Markets," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 1-35, July.
    6. Giovanna Bua & Carmine Trecroci, 2019. "International equity markets interdependence: bigger shocks or contagion in the 21st century?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 155(1), pages 43-69, February.
    7. Mimouni, Karim & Charfeddine, Lanouar & Al-Azzam, Moh'd, 2016. "Do oil producing countries offer international diversification benefits? Evidence from GCC countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 263-280.
    8. Cheol S. Eun & Sandy Lai & Frans A. de Roon & Zhe Zhang, 2010. "International Diversification with Factor Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1500-1518, September.
    9. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2023. "Misery on Main Street, victory on Wall Street: Economic discomfort and the cross-section of global stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    10. Conlon, Thomas & Cotter, John & Gençay, Ramazan, 2018. "Long-run wavelet-based correlation for financial time series," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 676-696.
    11. Aslanidis, Nektarios & Martinez, Oscar, 2021. "Correlation regimes in international equity and bond returns," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 397-410.
    12. Kellner, Ralf & Rösch, Daniel, 2019. "A country specific point of view on international diversification," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Karen K. Lewis, 2011. "Global Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 435-466, December.
    14. Arouri, Mohamed & M’saddek, Oussama & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Pukthuanthong, Kuntara, 2019. "Cojumps and asset allocation in international equity markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-22.
    15. Michael Ehrmann & Marcel Fratzscher & Roberto Rigobon, 2011. "Stocks, bonds, money markets and exchange rates: measuring international financial transmission," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 948-974, September.
    16. Ginanjar Dewandaru & Rumi Masih & Mansur Masih, 2018. "Unraveling the Financial Contagion in European Stock Markets During Financial Crises: Multi-Timescale Analysis," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 859-880, March.
    17. Kuper, Gerard H. & Lestano, 2007. "Dynamic conditional correlation analysis of financial market interdependence: An application to Thailand and Indonesia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 670-684, August.
    18. Maya Jalloul & Mirela Miescu, 2021. "Equity Market Connectedness across Regimes of Geopolitical Risks," Working Papers 324219805, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    19. Eun, Cheol S. & Lee, Jinsoo, 2010. "Mean-variance convergence around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 856-870, April.
    20. Hyde, Stuart J & Bredin, Don P & Nguyen, Nghia, 2007. "Correlation dynamics between Asia-Pacific, EU and US stock returns," MPRA Paper 9681, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International diversification; Contagion; China; Stock market; Policy risks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:66:y:2022:i:c:p:155-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.