We decompose the returns differential between U.S. portfolio claims and liabilities into the composition, return, and timing effects. Our most striking and robust finding is that foreigners exhibit poor timing when reallocating between bonds and equities within their U.S. portfolios. The poor...

A debate has raged in the general equilibrium literature on the impact of trade costs on portfolio home bias. In all of these models there is a simple, easily observed covariance-variance ratio. We compute this term using data on real exchange rates and asset returns. The resulting portfolio...

This paper analyzes waves in international capital flows. We develop a new methodology for identifying episodes of extreme capital flow movements using data that differentiates activity by foreigners and domestics. We identify episodes of “surges” and “stops” (sharp increases and...

As domestic sources of outside finance are limited in many countries around the world, it is important to understand factors that influence whether foreign investors provide capital to a country's firms. This study uses a unique and comprehensive dataset of foreign holdings by U.S. investors...

We analyze a unique data set and uncover a remarkable result that casts a new light on the home bias phenomenon. The data are comprehensive, security-level holdings of emerging market equities by U.S. investors. We document that at a point in time U.S. portfolios are tilted towards firms that...

We examine the extent to which markets enable the provision of housing finance across a wide range of countries. Housing is a major purchase requiring a long-term financing, and the factors that are associated with well functioning housing finance systems are those that enable the provision of...

We examine the extent to which markets enable the provision of housing finance across a wide range of countries. Housing is a major purchase requiring long-term financing, and the factors that are associated with well-functioning housing finance systems are those that enable the provision of...

Kristin Forbes and Francis Warnock's "Capital Flow Waves: Surges, Stops, Flight, and Retrenchment," in Journal of International Economics (forthcoming) identifies episodes of extreme capital flow movements—surges, stops, flight, and retrenchment—and finds that global factors, especially...

We analyze capital flows to emerging markets in a framework that incorporates two quantitative measures of financial integration, the intensity of capital controls and the extent of cross border listings, while controlling for traditional global (push) and country specific (pull) factors. Two...