When delegating an investment decisions to a professional manager, investors often anchor their mandate to a specific benchmark. The manager’s exposure to risk is controlled by means of a tracking error volatility constraint. It depends on market conditions whether this constraint is easily...

We introduce the concept of cross-sectional heterogeneity (and homogeneity) of equity markets. From period to period, the stocks in a market may move more or less ‘in line’. When stock prices move perfectly in line, we use the term ‘homogeneous market’. When the stock price developments...