This paper investigates the growth effects of financial integration and financial deepening in selected SSA economies, using a panel dataset of 10 SSA countries from 1970-2012. We use ratio of net FDI inflow to GDP (proxy for financial integration), ratio of gross capital formation to GDP (proxy...

This paper examines the investment behavior of Indian mutual fund industry. Since the majority of investors who invest in mutual funds are salaried individuals or individuals that own SMEs, the Indian Mutual Fund industry should have a long term investment horizon. However, the data from all...

Credit risk has been a worrying type of risk for financial managers. Fortunately, a recent market development –credit derivatives- has made the credit risk more manageable. The loan portfolio management has become more practicable than it used to be in the past. However, credit derivatives are...

Mutual fund investors are concerned with the selection of the best fund in terms of performance among the set of alternative funds. This paper proposes an innovative mutual funds performance evaluation measure in the context of multicriteria decision making. We implement a multicriteria...

In this study, we provide new evidence on the performance measurement and reporting of commercial real estate returns. We do so by examining the accuracy of commercial-real-estate appraisals that occurred prior to the sale of properties from the NCREIF National Property Index (“NPI”) during...

The past few decades have seen amajor shift from centralized to decentralized investment management by pension fund sponsors, despite the increased coordination problems that this brings. Using a unique, proprietary dataset of pension sponsors and managers, we identify two secular...

This study compares the performance of various fixed and lifecycle portfolio strategies for the accumulation phase of retirement planning in emerging market countries. With an expected utility framework and a bootstrapped Monte Carlo procedure, we find that the majority of emerging market...

In recent years, investment portfolio selection is growing in importance for many emerging market pension funds, as pension reforms replace traditional pay-as-you-go systems with advanced funding systems. Various investment regulations are applied to the funded pensions, particularly in the form...

Assuming loss aversion, stochastic investment and labour income processes, and a path-dependent target fund, we show that the optimal investment strategy for defined contribution pension plan members is a target-driven 'threshold' strategy. With this strategy, the equity allocation is increased...

A defined contribution pension plan allows consumption to be redistributed from the plan member’s working life to retirement in a manner that is consistent with the member’s personal preferences. The plan’s optimal funding and investment strategies therefore depend on the desired profile...