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An Optimal World Portfolio on the Eve of World War I: Was There a Bias to Investing in the New World Rather Than in Europe?

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  • Edlinger, Cécile
  • Merli, Maxime
  • Parent, Antoine

Abstract

The geographical distributions of French and British foreign investment portfolios differ markedly before World War I. Did French portfolios favor European investments just as British portfolios favored “New World” assets? Should economic rationality have encouraged investors to invest widely in the “New World” rather than in Europe? Combining Modern Portfolio Theory and a new data set comprising assets listed on the Paris and London Stock Exchanges, we show that investing in the “New World” did not yield higher returns than investing in Europe. The “European preference” of the Paris Bourse and, by extension, of French investors was not inefficient.

Suggested Citation

  • Edlinger, Cécile & Merli, Maxime & Parent, Antoine, 2013. "An Optimal World Portfolio on the Eve of World War I: Was There a Bias to Investing in the New World Rather Than in Europe?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(2), pages 498-530, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:73:y:2013:i:02:p:498-530_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Cécile EDLINGER & Maxime MERLI & Antoine PARENT, 2018. "Financial Diversification before WW1 : A Risk/Return Analysis of Portfolio’s Advice of French Financial Analyst Alfred Neymarck," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2018-03, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    2. van Hombeeck, Carlos Eduardo, 2020. "An exorbitant privilege in the first age of international financial integration?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & Janette Rutterford & Carolyn Keber, 2020. "UK investment trust portfolio strategies before the First World War," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 785-814, August.
    4. Gareth Campbell & Meeghan Rogers, 2017. "Integration between the London and New York Stock Exchanges, 1825–1925," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1185-1218, November.
    5. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D., 2015. "Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    6. Maxime MERLI & Antoine PARENT, 2022. "Portfolio Diversification During the Belle Époque: When the Actual Portfolios of French Individual Investors Met Behavioral Finance," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2022-01, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    7. Marc Deloof & Ine Paeleman, 2024. "International entrepreneurship without investor protection: Evidence from initial public offerings in Belgium before the First World War," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 523-553, May.

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