This paper focuses on the replication process of exchange traded funds (ETFs). It compares the tracking ability of ETFs based on physical replication of their benchmark indices to those of synthetic ETFs. Synthetic ETFs rely on derivatives such as swaps. For ETFs listed at the Frankfurt Stock...

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 funds typically suggest the 60-40 stock-bond rule to lower risk as during stock market declines bonds tend to rise. However, US investment returns have been presidential party dependent; and returns in the last two years of all administrations exceed those in the first two years. The...

Multiple studies have examined the relationship between performance and subsequent fund flows. Prior work takes a fund's dollar flows divided by its assets under management as the dependent variable. However, individual fund flows have to add up to the aggregate flow in every period. If...

Previous EBRI research reported on a comparative analysis of future benefits from private-sector, voluntary enrollment (VE) 401(k) plans and stylized, final-average-pay defined benefit (DB) plans. This paper expands upon work previously published by computing for a number of simulated employee...

This paper surveys the recent literature on investing in illiquid assets. The paper takes a practical perspective and contains recommendations for the investment policy of a large sovereign wealth fund. We first summarize the theoretical literature on liquidity level and liquidity risk premiums....

VaR_Delta-Normal fails in two counts: subadditivity and potentially producing losses larger than its portfolio value. This paper solves the second inconsistency developing formulas derived from a put option, named PVaR_Delta-Normal and Put_Expected_Shortfall, PSF_Delta-Normal; the latter also...

This paper is the fifth examination of asset allocation from the EBRI IRA Database, an ongoing project that collects data from IRA plan administrators. For 2013, it contained information on 25.8 million accounts with total assets of $2.46 trillion. The number of IRAs in the database with...

This paper analyzes changes in 401(k) account balances of consistent participants in the EBRI/ICI 401(k) database over the six-year period from year-end 2007 to year-end 2013. Two major insights emerge from looking at consistent participants in the EBRI/ICI 401(k) database over this six-year...