This paper examines the diversification benefits of iShares in comparison to closed-end country funds (CECFs) and American Depository Receipts (ADRs) between April 1996 and December 2013. iShares are country-specific exchange traded funds that track specific Morgan Stanley Capital International...

The extant literature demonstrates the importance of stock return predictability for portfolio allocation. The usefulness of incorporating return predictability into portfolio decisions is most evident for Bayesian investors who build their portfolios based on their prior beliefs. I show that...

Using U.S. and global data, we examine the impact of Smart Beta ETFs on active mutual funds. As Smart Beta ETFs become widely available and actively traded, active mutual fund flows become “smarter”, that is they become more sensitive to multi-factor alphas. Our findings demonstrate how...