IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v94y2024ics105752192400214x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uncertainty and international fund flows: A cross-country analysis

Author

Listed:
  • French, Joseph J.
  • Shin, Seungho
  • Gurdgiev, Constantin
  • Naka, Atsuyuki

Abstract

This paper investigates the impacts of uncertainty on international portfolio allocation decisions and returns across 27 countries. Using panel structural vector autoregressive analysis, a positive link between both country-level and global uncertainty with equity fund flows is uncovered, highlighting the role of investor sentiment in capital allocation decisions. Findings also support the portfolio rebalancing theory, revealing the negative influence of past returns on fund flows. Results show that the VIX demonstrates a positive association with fund flows, particularly during periods of elevated global uncertainty. Moreover, this research analyzes differences between developed and emerging markets in their sensitivity to uncertainty shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • French, Joseph J. & Shin, Seungho & Gurdgiev, Constantin & Naka, Atsuyuki, 2024. "Uncertainty and international fund flows: A cross-country analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:94:y:2024:i:c:s105752192400214x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103282
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105752192400214X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103282?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. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    2. John M. Griffin & Federico Nardari & René M. Stulz, 2004. "Are Daily Cross-Border Equity Flows Pushed or Pulled?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 641-657, August.
    3. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Quah, Danny, 1989. "The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 655-673, September.
    4. Kenneth A. Froot & Tarun Ramadorai, 2001. "The Information Content of International Portfolio Flows," NBER Working Papers 8472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Duong, Huu Nhan & Nguyen, Justin Hung & Nguyen, My & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2020. "Navigating through economic policy uncertainty: The role of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Kang, Boda & Nikitopoulos, Christina Sklibosios & Prokopczuk, Marcel, 2020. "Economic determinants of oil futures volatility: A term structure perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Baker, Scott R. & Davis, Steven J. & Levy, Jeffrey A., 2022. "State-level economic policy uncertainty," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 81-99.
    8. Tim Bollerslev & George Tauchen & Hao Zhou, 2009. "Expected Stock Returns and Variance Risk Premia," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(11), pages 4463-4492, November.
    9. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A model of investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 307-343, September.
    10. William A. Barnett & Xue Wang & Hai-Chuan Xu & Wei-Xing Zhou, 2023. "The stable tail dependence and influence among the European stock markets: a score-driven dynamic copula approach," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(16), pages 1933-1956, November.
    11. Fan, Xuecheng & Xu, Zeshui & Qin, Yong & Škare, Marinko, 2023. "Quantifying the short- and long-run impact of inflation-related price volatility on knowledge asset investment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    13. Kwiatkowski, Denis & Phillips, Peter C. B. & Schmidt, Peter & Shin, Yongcheol, 1992. "Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root : How sure are we that economic time series have a unit root?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 159-178.
    14. Demir, Ender & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Vigne, Samuel A., 2018. "Does economic policy uncertainty predict the Bitcoin returns? An empirical investigation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 145-149.
    15. Tsai, Pei-Jung, 2009. "International equity flows and country funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 862-894, December.
    16. Bartsch, Zachary, 2019. "Economic policy uncertainty and dollar-pound exchange rate return volatility," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Wang, Jiqian & Lu, Xinjie & He, Feng & Ma, Feng, 2020. "Which popular predictor is more useful to forecast international stock markets during the coronavirus pandemic: VIX vs EPU?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Peter Pedroni, 2013. "Structural Panel VARs," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-27, September.
    19. Joseph J. French & Wei‐Xuan Li, 2012. "A note on US institutional equity flows to Brazil," Review of Accounting and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 298-315, August.
    20. Yen, Kuang-Chieh & Cheng, Hui-Pei, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and cryptocurrency volatility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    21. French, Joseph J. & Li, Wei-Xuan, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and fund flows to the United States," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    22. Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Janzen, Malte, 2018. "Policy uncertainty, investment, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 28-45.
    23. Andreasson, Pierre & Bekiros, Stelios & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2016. "Impact of speculation and economic uncertainty on commodity markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 115-127.
    24. Marfatia, Hardik A., 2020. "Investors’ risk perceptions in the US and global stock market integration," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    25. Xiaoqing An & William A. Barnett & Xue Wang & Qingyuan Wu, 2023. "Brexit spillovers: how economic policy uncertainty affects foreign direct investment and international trade," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(16), pages 1913-1932, November.
    26. M. Karanasos & S. Yfanti, 2020. "On the macro-drivers of realized volatility: the destabilizing impact of UK policy uncertainty across Europe," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(12), pages 1146-1183, August.
    27. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Sharma, Susan Sunila & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2018. "Can economic policy uncertainty predict stock returns? Global evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 134-150.
    28. Steven J. Davis, 2016. "An Index of Global Economic Policy Uncertainty," NBER Working Papers 22740, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Panagiota Makrychoriti & Spyros Spyrou, 2023. "To be or not to be in the EU: the international economic effects of Brexit uncertainty," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 58-85, January.
    30. Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Sheridan Titman, 2001. "Profitability of Momentum Strategies: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 699-720, April.
    31. B. Bakhtyar, 2017. "Universal Financial Crisis and Association of Southeast Asian Nations CO2 Emission," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 137-141.
    32. Christensen, B. J. & Prabhala, N. R., 1998. "The relation between implied and realized volatility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 125-150, November.
    33. Harris, Lawrence E & Gurel, Eitan, 1986. "Price and Volume Effects Associated with Changes in the S&P 500 List: New Evidence for the Existence of Price Pressures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(4), pages 815-829, September.
    34. Xing Han & Youwei Li & Olena Onishchenko, 2022. "Shunned stocks and market states," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(7), pages 705-717, May.
    35. Xiuwen Chen, 2023. "Are the shocks of EPU, VIX, and GPR indexes on the oil-stock nexus alike? A time-frequency analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(48), pages 5637-5652, October.
    36. Ihsan U. Badshah, 2018. "Volatility Spillover from the Fear Index to Developed and Emerging Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(1), pages 27-40, January.
    37. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 523-564.
    38. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. French, Joseph J. & Li, Wei-Xuan, 2017. "Sentiment, foreign equity flows, and returns: Evidence from Thailand’s stock markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 816-831.
    2. Shabir, Mohsin & Jiang, Ping & Hashmi, Shujahat Haider & Bakhsh, Satar, 2022. "Non-linear nexus between economic policy uncertainty and bank lending," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 657-679.
    3. Arbatli Saxegaard, Elif C. & Davis, Steven J. & Ito, Arata & Miake, Naoko, 2022. "Policy uncertainty in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Jo, Eun Hye & Lee, Jung Wha, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and managerial short-termism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Tsai, Pei-Jung, 2009. "International equity flows and country funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 862-894, December.
    6. Tee, Chwee-Ming & Hooy, Chee-Wooi, 2023. "Political connections and economic policy uncertainty: A global evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    7. Theodora Bermpei & Antonios Nikolaos Kalyvas & Lorenzo Neri & Antonella Russo, 2022. "Does economic policy uncertainty matter for financial reporting quality? Evidence from the United States," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 795-845, February.
    8. Liu, Jinjing & Wang, Hong, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and the cost of capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Zeng, Qing & Lu, Xinjie & Dong, Dayong & Li, Pan, 2022. "Category-specific EPU indices, macroeconomic variables and stock market return predictability," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Jory, Surendranath R. & Khieu, Hinh D. & Ngo, Thanh N. & Phan, Hieu V., 2020. "The influence of economic policy uncertainty on corporate trade credit and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Jiang, Yonghong & Wu, Lanxin & Tian, Gengyu & Nie, He, 2021. "Do cryptocurrencies hedge against EPU and the equity market volatility during COVID-19? – New evidence from quantile coherency analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    12. Himounet, Nicolas, 2022. "Searching the nature of uncertainty: Macroeconomic and financial risks VS geopolitical and pandemic risks," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 1-31.
    13. Wen, Qiang & Zhang, Teng, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and industrial pollution: The role of environmental supervision by local governments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. Daniel Pastorek, 2020. "Measuring the Public Perception of the European Integration Process: Evidence from the United Kingdom and Germany," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 113-126.
    15. Luo, Qin & Bu, Jinfeng & Xu, Weiju & Huang, Dengshi, 2023. "Stock market volatility prediction: Evidence from a new bagging model," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 445-456.
    16. Hong, Yun & Zhang, Rushan & Zhang, Feipeng, 2024. "Time-varying causality impact of economic policy uncertainty on stock market returns: Global evidence from developed and emerging countries," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Weihua Yu & Xin Jin, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm performance: Evidence from the energy-intensive industry in China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(2), pages 815-832, March.
    18. Frank Obenpong Kwabi & Samuel Owusu-Manu & Agyenim Boateng & Ernest-Bruno Ezeani & Min Du, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and cost of capital: the mediating effects of foreign equity portfolio flow," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 457-481, August.
    19. Vo, Hong & Trinh, Quoc-Dat & Le, Minh & Nguyen, Thuy-Ngan, 2021. "Does economic policy uncertainty affect investment sensitivity to peer stock prices?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 685-699.
    20. Alam, Ahmed W. & Farjana, Ashupta & Houston, Reza, 2023. "Firm investment steering through state-level policy uncertainty," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fund flows; Capital flows; Economic policy uncertainty; Geopolitical risk; Portfolio rebalancing theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F38 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

    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:finana:v:94:y:2024:i:c:s105752192400214x. 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/inca/620166 .

    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.