International Diversification at Home and Abroad


Book Description

It is an established fact that investors favor the familiar%u2014be it domestic securities or, within a country, the securities of nearby firms%u2014and avoid investments that would provide the greatest diversification benefits. While we do not rule out familiarity as an important driver of portfolio allocations, we provide new evidence of investors%u2019 international diversification motive. In particular, our analysis of the security-level U.S. equity holdings of foreign and domestic institutional investors indicates that institutional investors reveal a preference for domestic multinationals (MNCs), even after controlling for familiarity factors. We attribute this revealed preference to the desire to obtain %u201Csafe%u201D international diversification. We then show that holdings of domestic MNCs are substantial and, after accounting for this home-grown foreign exposure, that the share of %u201Cforeign%u201D equities in investors%u2019 portfolios roughly doubles, reducing (but not eliminating) the observed home bias.




Resolution of Failed Banks by Deposit Insurers


Book Description

"There is a wide cross-country variation in the institutional structure of bank failure resolution, including the role of the deposit insurer. The authors use quantitative analysis for 57 countries and discuss specific country cases to illustrate this variation. Using data for over 1,700 banks across 57 countries, they show that banks in countries where the deposit insurer has the responsibility of intervening failed banks and the power to revoke membership in the deposit insurance scheme are more stable and less likely to become insolvent. Involvement of the deposit insurer in bank failure resolution thus dampens the negative effect that deposit insurance has on banks' risk taking. "--World Bank web site.




Portfolio Diversification


Book Description

Portfolio Diversification provides an update on the practice of combining several risky investments in a portfolio with the goal of reducing the portfolio's overall risk. In this book, readers will find a comprehensive introduction and analysis of various dimensions of portfolio diversification (assets, maturities, industries, countries, etc.), along with time diversification strategies (long term vs. short term diversification) and diversification using other risk measures than variance. Several tools to quantify and implement optimal diversification are discussed and illustrated. - Focuses on portfolio diversification across all its dimensions - Includes recent empirical material that was created and developed specifically for this book - Provides several tools to quantify and implement optimal diversification




Diversified Development


Book Description

Eurasian economies have to become efficient more productive, job-creating, and stable. But efficiency is not the same as diversification. Governments need to worry less about the composition of exports and production and more about asset portfolios natural resources, built capital, and economic institutions.




Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds


Book Description

The book covers a wide range of topics of relevance to policymakers in countries that have sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and those that receive SWF investments. Renowned experts in the field have contributed chapters. The book is organized around four themes: (1) the role and macrofinancial linkages of SWFs, (2) institutional factors, (3) investment approaches and financial markets, and (4) the postcrisis outlook. The book also discusses the challenges facing sovereign wealth funds in the coming years, from an inside perspective on countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Norway, Russia, and New Zealand. Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds will contribute to a further understanding of the nature, strategies and behavior of SWFs and the environment in which they operate, as their importance is likely to grow in the coming years.




OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2021


Book Description

This edition of the OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook reviews developments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for government borrowing needs, funding conditions and funding strategies in the OECD area.




Recent Developments in International Banking and Finance


Book Description

This book contains theoretical and applied papers dealing with issues at the cutting edge of international banking and finance. Some of these papers were presented at the fifth symposium on International Banking and Finance held in Baden Baden, Germany, April 1990, organized by The Foundation for Research in International Banking and Finance (FBRIF). The symposium was decidedly focused on Eastern Europe and Western Europe after 1991 and represented a balance between academic and nonacademic presentations. In addition to these lectures, more papers within this scope are published in the book. The book constitutes excellent material for academic or advanced training courses in international banking and finance. It can be used as a source of authoritative information on the frontiers of international banking research.




Shifting Paradigms in International Investment Law


Book Description

International investment law is in transition. Whereas the prevailing mindset has always been the protection of the economic interests of individual investors, new developments in international investment law have brought about a paradigm shift. There is now more than ever before an interest in a more inclusive, transparent, and public regime. Shifting Paradigms in International Investment Law addresses these changes against the background of the UNCTAD framework to reform investment treaties. The book analyses how the investment treaty regime has changed and how it ought to be changing to reconcile private property interests and the state's duty to regulate in the public interest. In doing so, the volume tracks attempts in international investment law to recalibrate itself towards a more balanced, less isolated, and increasingly diversified regime. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.




The New Capital Markets in Central and Eastern Europe


Book Description

An excellent analyses of the effects of EU enlargement on capital markets in the most advanced countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. It also investigates the EU's impact on the interactions between Eastern and Western capital markets. The study is particularly useful for financial analysts, institutional investors and academic researchers who are interested in the economic and institutional developments of capital markets in CEE countries.




World Investment Report 2019


Book Description

This report focuses on special economic zones (SEZs) which are widely used across most developing and many developed economies. It explores the place of SEZs in today's global investment landscape and provides guidance for policymakers on how to make SEZs work for sustainable development. It presents international investment trends and prospects at global, regional and national levels, as well as the evolution of international production and global value chains. It analyses the latest developments in new policy measures for investment promotion, facilitation and regulation around the world.