Private savings for retirement, in the form of pensions, play an important role in most OECD countries. Given the scale of assets managed, these funds constitute a major institutional investor. The aim of this article is to present the financial behaviour of pension funds in these countries. A...

This article examines how the introduction of an ETF replicating a stock index impacts on the liquidity of the underlying stocks when the ETF market involves liquidity providers (LPs). We find that index stock spreads decline, relative to those of non-index stocks, after the introduction of the...

In this paper, we assess whether the stock market downturn can be an opportunity for Defined Contribution pension plan members to reinforce their risky assets exposure? In line with the framework developed by Kojein et al. (Manag Sci 55(7):1199–1213, 2009), we consider a DC plan investor,...

Inflation shocks are one of the pitfalls of developing economies and are usually difficult to hedge. This paper examines the optimal strategic asset allocation for a Brazilian investor seeking to hedge inflation risk at different horizons, ranging from one to 30 years. Using a...

The exceptional rise in government deficits following the subprime crisis, the recent commodity price spikes and the increase in inflation volatility have revived the debate on medium to long-term resurgence of inflation. Using a vector-autoregressive model, this paper investigates the...

Pension fund return s can be decomposed into different sources, including market movements, asset allo-cation policy, and active portfolio management. We use a unique database covering the asset allocations of US defined-benefit pension funds for the perio d 1990–2008, and we test the role...

The unconventional monetary policies implemented in the wake of the subprime crisis and the recent increase in inflation volatility have revived the debate on medium to long-term resurgence of inflation. This paper presents the optimal strategic asset allocation for investors seeking to hedge...