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Diversification in euro area stock markets: Country versus industry

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  • Moerman, Gerard A.
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    Abstract

    The harmonization of fiscal and economic policy within the European Monetary Union (EMU) has had a considerable impact on the economies of member countries. In particular, several studies indicate that the proceeding economic integration among euro area countries has important consequences for the factors driving asset returns in financial markets. However, these studies rely on one specific methodology [Heston, S.L., Rouwenhorst, K.G., 1994. Does industrial structure explain the benefits of international diversification? Journal of Financial Economics 36, 3-27; Heston, S.L., Rouwenhorst, K.G., 1995. Industry and country effects in international stock returns. Journal of Portfolio Management Spring, 53-58], that has recently been criticized as too restrictive. This study adopts a mean-variance approach instead. Using recent euro area stock markets data, we find strong evidence that diversification over industries yields more efficient portfolios than diversification over countries.

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    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261-5606(08)00085-5
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    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of International Money and Finance.

    Volume (Year): 27 (2008)
    Issue (Month): 7 (November)
    Pages: 1122-1134

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    Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:27:y:2008:i:7:p:1122-1134
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30443

    Keywords: EMU Euro area stock markets Portfolio diversification Industry factors Country factors European integration process;

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    1. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, 03.
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    4. Roll, Richard, 1992. " Industrial Structure and the Comparative Behavior of International Stock Market Indices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 3-41, March.
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    7. Kpate ADJAOUTÉ, & Jean-Pierre DANTHINE, 2000. "EMU and Portfolio Diversification Opportunities," FAME Research Paper Series rp31, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering.
    8. Kpate Adjaoute & Jean-Pierre Danthine, 2004. "Portfolio diversification: alive and well in Euro-land!," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(17), pages 1225-1231.
    9. Paul EHLING & Sofia B. RAMOS, 2003. "Geographical versus Industrial Diversification: A Mean Variance Spanning Approach," FAME Research Paper Series rp80, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering.
    10. Flavin, Thomas J., 2004. "The effect of the Euro on country versus industry portfolio diversification," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(7-8), pages 1137-1158.
    11. Gikas A. Hardouvelis & Dimitrios Malliaropulos & Richard Priestley, 2006. "EMU and European Stock Market Integration," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(1), pages 365-392, January.
    12. 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.
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