We show that the newly developed exchange-traded world equity index funds, or iShares, trade at economically significant premiums for 10–50% of the times even after controlling for transaction costs and time-zone measurement errors. Moreover, iShares price returns exhibit excessive volatility...

The paper analyses whether, and to what extent, emerging market economies (EMEs) have systemic importance for global financial markets, above and beyond their influence during crises episodes. Using a novel database of exogenous economic and political shocks for 14 EMEs, we find that EME shocks...