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Flights to Safety

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  • Lieven Baele
  • Geert Bekaert
  • Koen Inghelbrecht
  • Min Wei

Abstract

We identify flight-to-safety (FTS) days for 23 countries using only stock and bond returns and a model averaging approach. FTS days comprise less than 2% of the sample, and are associated with a 2.7% average bond-equity return differential and significant flows out of equity funds and into government bond and money market funds. FTS represents flights to both quality and liquidity in international equity markets, but mainly a flight-to-quality in the US corporate bond market. Emerging markets, endowment funds, and hedge funds all perform poorly during FTS, while hedge funds appear to vary their systematic exposures prior to a FTS.

Suggested Citation

  • Lieven Baele & Geert Bekaert & Koen Inghelbrecht & Min Wei, 2013. "Flights to Safety," NBER Working Papers 19095, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19095
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    JEL classification:

    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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