Are institutional investors an important source of portfolio investment in emerging markets?

The author examines five major industrial countries'portfolio investment in developing countries to learn if institutional investors are significant investors in emerging developing countries. The data reveals considerable divergence in the pattern of outward portfolio flow for the industrial countries studied. Evidence on asset composition and discussion with market participants suggest that major institutional investors (such as pension funds and insurance companies) have tended to approach the markets for emerging developing countries cautiously. They invest only a tiny fraction of their portfolios in emerging market securities. The author finds that investor-country regulations governing outward portfolio investment were a significant constraint only in Germany.