IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/1886.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Country funds and asymmetric information

Author

Listed:
  • Frankel, Jeffrey A.
  • Schmukler, Sergio L.

Abstract

Using data on country funds, the authors study how differential access to information affects international investment. They find that past changes in net asset values (NAVs) and discounts predict current country fund prices more commonly than prices and discounts predict NAVs. The price (NAV) adjustment coefficients are low and negatively correlated with the local (foreign) market variability -- but not with the fund price (NAV) variability. NAVs seem to be closer to local information. They are the asset prices that react first to local news. Later the country fund holders receive the information and those prices react after NAVs have reacted. The 1995Mexican crisis and the 1997 Asian crisis are two examples of this type of behavior. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of asymmetric information, according to which the holders of the underlying assets have more information about local assets than the country fund holders do. The authors empirically test the asymmetric information hypothesis against the noise traders hypothesis. A theoretical model is presented in the appendix.

Suggested Citation

  • Frankel, Jeffrey A. & Schmukler, Sergio L., 1998. "Country funds and asymmetric information," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1886, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1886
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1998/02/01/000009265_3980429111122/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lewis, Karen K., 1995. "Puzzles in international financial markets," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 1913-1971, Elsevier.
    2. Guillermo A. Calvo & Leonardo Leiderman & Carmen M. Reinhart, 1994. "The Capital Inflows Problem: Concepts And Issues," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 54-66, July.
    3. Guillermo A. Calvo & Leonardo Leiderman & Carmen M. Reinhart, 1994. "The Capital Inflows Problem: Concepts And Issues," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 54-66, July.
    4. Errunza, Vihang & Losq, Etienne, 1985. "International Asset Pricing under Mild Segmentation: Theory and Test," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(1), pages 105-124, March.
    5. Peter Klibanoff & Owen Lamont & Thierry A. Wizman, "undated". "Investor Reaction to Salient News in Closed-End Country Funds," CRSP working papers 346, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    6. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1980. "On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 393-408, June.
    7. Johansen, Soren & Juselius, Katarina, 1990. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference on Cointegration--With Applications to the Demand for Money," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(2), pages 169-210, May.
    8. Gikas Hardouvelis & Rafael La Porta & Thierry A. Wizman, 1994. "What Moves the Discount on Country Equity Funds?," NBER Chapters, in: The Internationalization of Equity Markets, pages 345-403, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Lang, Larry H P & Litzenberger, Robert H & Madrigal, Vicente, 1992. "Testing Financial Market Equilibrium under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 317-348, April.
    10. Jeffrey A. Frankel., 1994. "The Internationalization of Equity Markets: Introduction," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C94-033, University of California at Berkeley.
    11. De Long, J Bradford & Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers & Robert J. Waldmann, 1990. "Noise Trader Risk in Financial Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(4), pages 703-738, August.
    12. Lee, Charles M C & Shleifer, Andrei & Thaler, Richard H, 1991. "Investor Sentiment and the Closed-End Fund Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 75-109, March.
    13. Phillips, P C B, 1987. "Time Series Regression with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 277-301, March.
    14. Guillermo A. Calvo, 1998. "Varieties of Capital-Market Crises," International Economic Association Series, in: Guillermo Calvo & Mervyn King (ed.), The Debt Burden and its Consequences for Monetary Policy, chapter 7, pages 181-207, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Frankel, Jeffrey A & Schmukler, Sergio L, 2000. "Country Funds and Asymmetric Information," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 5(3), pages 177-195, July.
    16. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1994. "Introduction to "The Internationalization of Equity Markets "," NBER Chapters, in: The Internationalization of Equity Markets, pages 1-20, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Claessens, S. & Gooptu, S., 1993. "Portfolio Investment in Developing Countries," World Bank - Discussion Papers 228, World Bank.
    18. Lee, Charles & Shleifer, Andrei & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Anomalies: Closed-End Mutual Funds," Scholarly Articles 33077904, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    19. French, Kenneth R & Poterba, James M, 1991. "Investor Diversification and International Equity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 222-226, May.
    20. Lee, Charles M C & Shleifer, Andrei & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Closed-End Mutual Funds," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 153-164, Fall.
    21. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    22. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1994. "The Internationalization of Equity Markets," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fran94-1, February.
    23. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1981. "Information aggregation in a noisy rational expectations economy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 221-235, September.
    24. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    25. Chen, Nai-fu & Kan, Raymond & Miller, Merton H, 1993. "Are the Discounts on Closed-End Funds a Sentiment Index? A Rejoinder," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 809-810, June.
    26. Chen, Nai-fu & Kan, Raymond & Miller, Merton H, 1993. "Are the Discounts on Closed-End Funds a Sentiment Index?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 795-800, June.
    27. Bonser-Neal, Catherine, et al, 1990. "International Investment Restrictions and Closed-End Country Fund Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 523-547, June.
    28. Guillermo A. Calvo, 1995. "Varieties of Capital-Market Crises," Research Department Publications 4008, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    29. Rogers, John H., 1994. "Entry barriers and price movements between major and emerging stock markets," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 221-241.
    30. Chopra, Navin, et al, 1993. "Yes, Discounts on Closed-End Funds Are a Sentiment Index," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 801-808, June.
    31. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1993. "Differences of Opinion Make a Horse Race," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(3), pages 473-506.
    32. Phillips, P C B, 1987. "Time Series Regression with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 277-301, March.
    33. Stijn Claessens & Moon-Whoan Rhee, 1994. "The Effect of Barriers to Equity Investment in Developing Countries," NBER Chapters, in: The Internationalization of Equity Markets, pages 231-275, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Stulz, Rene M, 1981. "On the Effects of Barriers to International Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 923-934, September.
    35. Gehrig, Thomas, 1993. " An Information Based Explanation of the Domestic Bias in International Equity Investment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 97-109.
    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. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Sergio L. Schmukler, 1996. "Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994: Did Local Residents Turn Pessimistic Before International Investors?," NBER Working Papers 5714, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lee, Bong-Soo & Hong, Gwangheon, 2002. "On the dual characteristics of closed-end country funds," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 589-618, October.
    3. Barron, John M. & Ni, Jinlan, 2008. "Endogenous asymmetric information and international equity home bias: The effects of portfolio size and information costs," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 617-635, June.
    4. Philipp Kellerhals, B. & Schobel, Rainer, 2002. "The dynamic behavior of closed-end funds and its implication for pricing, forecasting, and trading," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1615-1643, August.
    5. Lenkey, Stephen L., 2015. "The closed-end fund puzzle: Management fees and private information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 112-129.
    6. Ledenyov, Dimitri O. & Ledenyov, Viktor O., 2015. "Wave function method to forecast foreign currencies exchange rates at ultra high frequency electronic trading in foreign currencies exchange markets," MPRA Paper 67470, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Robert Chirinko & Hisham Foad, 2006. "Noise vs. News in Equity Returns," CESifo Working Paper Series 1812, CESifo.
    8. Stylianos X. Koufadakis, 2016. "Mispricing Explanations of Closed-End Funds: A Survey Review," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 66(1-2), pages 108-135, January-J.
    9. Coen, Alain, 2001. "Home bias and international capital asset pricing model with human capital," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(4-5), pages 497-513, December.
    10. Ming-Shiun Pan & Kam C. Chan & David J. Wright, 2001. "Divergent Expectations And The Asian Financial Crisis Of 1997," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 24(2), pages 219-238, June.
    11. Alexander S. Sangare, 2005. "Efficience des marchés : un siècle après Bachelier," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 81(4), pages 107-132.
    12. Ni, Jinlan, 2009. "The effects of portfolio size on international equity home bias puzzle," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 469-478, June.
    13. Stylianos X. Koufadakis, 2015. "Asymmetries on Closed End Country Funds Premium and Monetary Policy Announcements: An Approach Trough the Perspective of Foreign Countries," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 65(3-4), pages 29-65, july-Dece.
    14. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1994. "The Internationalization of Equity Markets," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fran94-1, February.
    15. Kenneth A. Froot & Tarun Ramadorai, 2001. "The Information Content of International Portfolio Flows," NBER Working Papers 8472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Chandar, Nandini & Patro, Dilip Kumar, 2000. "Why do closed-end country funds trade at enormous premiums during currency crises?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 217-248, May.
    17. Maxfield, Sylvia, 1998. "Understanding the Political Implications of Financial Internationalization in Emerging Market Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 1201-1219, July.
    18. Lahr, Henry & Kaserer, Christoph, 2009. "Net asset value discounts in listed private equity funds," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-12, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    19. Karen K. Lewis, 2011. "Global Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 435-466, December.
    20. Delcoure, Natalya & Zhong, Maosen, 2007. "On the premiums of iShares," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 168-195, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Terrorism&Counterterrorism; Financial Intermediation; Payment Systems&Infrastructure; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Financial Intermediation; Payment Systems&Infrastructure; Insurance Law; Environmental Economics&Policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F30 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - General
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • 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:wbk:wbrwps:1886. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.