The hedge fund industry represents a significant and viable alternative for mainstream investment business clientèle, as well as a growing number of sophisticated high net worth individuals. The hedge fund raison d'être has been relative independence of other (more traditional) asset classes...

We study how mutual fund managers gain an edge in selecting stocks in an era of globalization. We use textual analysis to construct a new measure that captures a mutual fund's offshore exposure concentration through holding U.S. multinational firms. The proposed offshore concentration index...

In this work, we study the strategies driving cross-border sovereign wealth fund (SWF) investments worldwide. In particular, we investigate how SWFs internationalize their activities, studying whether the use of investment vehicles as signal of passive investment approach to access foreign...

Alternative assets represent an increasing share of pension fund assets, and real estate is a cornerstone of that allocation. This paper investigates the trends in pension fund real estate investments over the last three decades, both in private and in public real estate, focusing on the...

The Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust is the oldest surviving closed end fund, having been established in 1868. Its early success and emulation were related to its identification of a missing market - the provision of a wholesale diversified vehicle for the investing public. This paper is a...

International equity mutual funds that hire managers from a country linked to the fund's geographic mandate exhibit a strong bias to invest in stocks of that country. These funds with “home-biased managers” attract disproportionally more flows and reveal greater flow-performance sensitivity....

Global micro-cap stocks have provided greater diversification benefits and a more robust long-term value premium than small- and mid- to large-cap stocks. Among the features contributing to these benefits for micro caps worldwide:• a large, diverse universe with little sell-side research...

In previous versions of our Value vs. Glamour study we have explored the historical performance of stocks based on their fundamental characteristics and quantified a value premium. Results have shown that over the long term, unpopular “value” stocks, those that are associated with companies...

We study the impact of global volatility on equity portfolio flows of institutional investors worldwide. We find that their equity allocations decrease in times of high volatility; retail investors are net buyers. The effect is present in developed and emerging markets, is economically stronger...