Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/ecoint/0005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Myth of International Diversification

Author

Listed:
Abstract
We test the proposition that international diversification is effective in reducing risk. The traditional underlying argument is that low correlations of international stock returns make the variance of an international portfolio lower than the variance of a purely domestic portfolio when long positions are taken on the domestic and foreign markets. Our analysis of more than 100 portfolios involving developed and emerging markets shows that correlations are not adequately low to produce effective diversification when long positions are taken. In a few cases involving developed markets only, correlations are high to the extent that taking opposite positions (long and short) produces effective diversification. The results cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of international diversification in reducing risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Moosa, Imad A. & Al-Deehani, Talla M., 2009. "The Myth of International Diversification," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 62(3), pages 383-406.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:ecoint:0005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iei1946.it/RePEc/ccg/MOOSA%20AL%20DEEHANI%20383_406.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen K. Lewis, 1999. "Trying to Explain Home Bias in Equities and Consumption," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(2), pages 571-608, June.
    2. Hong, Harrison & Torous, Walter & Valkanov, Rossen, 2007. "Do industries lead stock markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 367-396, February.
    3. Andrew Ang & Geert Bekaert, 2002. "International Asset Allocation With Regime Shifts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1137-1187.
    4. Basher, Syed A. & Sadorsky, Perry, 2006. "Oil price risk and emerging stock markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 224-251, December.
    5. Campbell, John Y & Hamao, Yasushi, 1992. "Predictable Stock Returns in the United States and Japan: A Study of Long-Term Capital Market Integration," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 43-69, March.
    6. Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, Rene M., 2003. "Are financial assets priced locally or globally?," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 975-1020, Elsevier.
    7. 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.
    8. Chang, Eric & Eun, Cheol S. & Kolodny, Richard, 1995. "International diversification through closed-end country funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1237-1263, October.
    9. Stockman, Alan C. & Dellas, Harris, 1989. "International portfolio nondiversification and exchange rate variability," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 271-289, May.
    10. Baxter, Marianne & Jermann, Urban J, 1997. "The International Diversification Puzzle Is Worse Than You Think," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 170-180, March.
    11. Allan Timmermann & David Blake, 2005. "International Asset Allocation with Time-Varying Investment Opportunities," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 71-98, January.
    12. Nahum Biger, 1979. "Exchange Risk Implications of International Portfolio Diversification," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 10(2), pages 63-74, June.
    13. Cooper, Ian & Kaplanis, Evi, 1994. "Home Bias in Equity Portfolios, Inflation Hedging, and International Capital Market Equilibrium," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 45-60.
    14. 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.
    15. De Santis, Giorgio & Gerard, Bruno, 1997. "International Asset Pricing and Portfolio Diversification with Time-Varying Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(5), pages 1881-1912, December.
    16. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    17. 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.
    18. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    19. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    20. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, June.
    21. Grubel, Herbert G & Fadner, Kenneth, 1971. "The Interdependence of International Equity Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 89-94, March.
    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. Lee, Junyong & Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2023. "International portfolio diversification and the home bias puzzle," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Nicolas Coeurdacier & Hélène Rey, 2013. "Home Bias in Open Economy Financial Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 63-115, March.
    3. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g81p7j6b6 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g81p7j6b6 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Karen K. Lewis, 2011. "Global Asset Pricing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 435-466, December.
    6. 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.
    7. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g81p7j6b6 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. 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.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g81p7j6b6 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Anil Mishra, 2011. "Australia’s equity home bias and real exchange rate volatility," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 223-244, August.
    11. Massimo Guidolin & Allan Timmermann, 2008. "International asset allocation under regime switching, skew, and kurtosis preferences," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 889-935, April.
    12. Giofré, Maela, 2013. "International diversification: Households versus institutional investors," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 145-176.
    13. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, June.
    14. De Moor, Lieven & Sercu, Piet & Vanpée, Rosanne, 2010. "The plausibility of risk estimates and implied costs to international equity investments," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 623-644, September.
    15. Nicolas Coeurdacier & Hélène Rey, 2010. "Home bias in open economy financial macroeconomics," SciencePo Working papers hal-01069440, HAL.
    16. Coeurdacier, Nicolas, 2009. "Do trade costs in goods market lead to home bias in equities?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 86-100, February.
    17. Giofré, Maela, 2014. "Domestic investor protection and foreign portfolio investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 355-371.
    18. Mishra, Anil V., 2015. "Measures of equity home bias puzzle," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 293-312.
    19. Udichibarna Bose & Ronald MacDonald & Serafeim Tsoukas, 2014. "The role of education in equity portfolios during the recent financial crisis," Working Papers 2014_17, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    20. Campbell, Rachel A. & Kraussl, Roman, 2007. "Revisiting the home bias puzzle: Downside equity risk," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(7), pages 1239-1260, November.
    21. Eduard Gaar & David Scherer & Dirk Schiereck, 2022. "The home bias and the local bias: A survey," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 21-57, February.
    22. Daly, Kevin & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2013. "The determinants of home bias puzzle in equity portfolio investment in Australia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 34-42.
    23. Coeurdacier, Nicolas & Guibaud, Stéphane, 2011. "International portfolio diversification is better than you think," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 289-308, March.
    24. Roque, Vanda & Cortez, Maria Céu, 2014. "The determinants of international equity investment: Do they differ between institutional and noninstitutional investors?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 469-482.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Diversification; Variance Ratio; Variance Reduction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • 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:ris:ecoint:0005. 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: Angela Procopio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cacogit.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.