Exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track a specified index are a financial technology that has risen dramatically in the last two decades. We model an ETF's optimal index replication strategy and show that it involves underweighting or omitting illiquid index assets. Instrumenting for ETF trading...

We show that global political uncertainty, measured by the U.S. election cycle, on average, leads to a fall in equity returns in fifty non-U.S. countries. At the same time, market volatilities rise, local currencies depreciate, and sovereign bond returns increase. The effect of global political...