IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/glofin/v34y2017icp43-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sovereign pension and social security reserve funds: A portfolio analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Dreassi, Alberto
  • Miani, Stefano
  • Paltrinieri, Andrea

Abstract

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have been increasing in numbers and in the global reach of their investment activities. At the same time, they seem to experience the adverse consequences of the financial crisis differently than other financial intermediaries. This paper assesses whether and how a retirement-financing purpose has affected their investment strategies since the global financial crisis, as opposed to the strategies of other public pension entities that do not operate as SWFs. We construct a sample of 12 sovereign pension reserve funds (SPRFs) and social security reserve funds (SSRFs) and analyze the effects of size, operational model, country development, the fund's experience, and quality of disclosures on strategic asset allocation for the period 2007–2014. We also investigate the relevance of “home bias.” Our results show that SPRFs invest more aggressively than SSRFs, but are less exposed to domestic investments. We do not find major shifts in asset allocation induced by the financial crisis, except for a recent decrease of home-country exposures.

Suggested Citation

  • Dreassi, Alberto & Miani, Stefano & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2017. "Sovereign pension and social security reserve funds: A portfolio analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 43-53.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:34:y:2017:i:c:p:43-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2017.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044028316300710
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.gfj.2017.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Crossley & Mario Jametti, 2013. "Pension Benefit Insurance and Pension Plan Portfolio Choice," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 337-341, March.
    2. Joseph Chen & Harrison Hong & Ming Huang & Jeffrey D. Kubik, 2004. "Does Fund Size Erode Mutual Fund Performance? The Role of Liquidity and Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1276-1302, December.
    3. Pennacchi, George & Rastad, Mahdi, 2011. "Portfolio allocation for public pension funds," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 221-245, April.
    4. Shai Bernstein & Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar, 2013. "The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(2), pages 219-238, Spring.
    5. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2016. "Sovereign wealth funds targets selection: A comparison with pension funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-76.
    6. Salehizadeh, Mehdi, 2003. "U.S. multinationals and the home bias puzzle: an empirical analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 303-318, December.
    7. Lippi, Andrea, 2016. "(Country) Home bias in Italian occupational pension funds asset allocation choices," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 78-82.
    8. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:2623-2654 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2002. "The Equity Premium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 637-659, April.
    10. Adrian Blundell-Wignall & Yu-Wei Hu & Juan Yermo, 2008. "Sovereign wealth & pension fund issues," OECD Journal: Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2008(1), pages 117-132.
    11. Allan Timmermann & David Blake, 2005. "International Asset Allocation with Time-Varying Investment Opportunities," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 71-98, January.
    12. Bradley, Daniel & Pantzalis, Christos & Yuan, Xiaojing, 2016. "The influence of political bias in state pension funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 69-91.
    13. Nuno Fernandes, 2014. "The Impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds on Corporate Value and Performance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 26(1), pages 76-84, March.
    14. Mishra, Anil V., 2014. "Australia's home bias and cross border taxation," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 108-123.
    15. Alhashel, Bader, 2015. "Sovereign Wealth Funds: A literature review," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-13.
    16. Knill, April & Lee, Bong-Soo & Mauck, Nathan, 2012. "Bilateral political relations and sovereign wealth fund investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 108-123.
    17. Iva Petrova & Jukka Pihlman & Mr. Peter J Kunzel & Miss Yinqiu Lu, 2011. "Investment Objectives of Sovereign Wealth Funds: A Shifting Paradigm," IMF Working Papers 2011/019, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Blake, David & Lehmann, Bruce N & Timmermann, Allan, 1999. "Asset Allocation Dynamics and Pension Fund Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(4), pages 429-461, October.
    19. Deborah J. Lucas & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2009. "How Should Public Pension Plans Invest?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 527-532, May.
    20. Knill, April M. & Lee, Bong Soo & Mauck, Nathan, 2012. "Sovereign wealth fund investment and the return-to-risk performance of target firms," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 315-340.
    21. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, June.
    22. Gollier, Christian, 2008. "Intergenerational risk-sharing and risk-taking of a pension fund," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1463-1485, June.
    23. Adrian Blundell-Wignall & Yu-Wei Hu & Juan Yermo, 2008. "Sovereign Wealth and Pension Fund Issues," OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions 14, OECD Publishing.
    24. Sundaresan, Suresh & Zapatero, Fernando, 1997. "Valuation, Optimal Asset Allocation and Retirement Incentives of Pension Plans," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 631-660.
    25. Robert Novy‐Marx & Joshua Rauh, 2011. "Public Pension Promises: How Big Are They and What Are They Worth?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(4), pages 1211-1249, August.
    26. Ciarlone, Alessio & Miceli, Valeria, 2016. "Escaping financial crises? Macro evidence from sovereign wealth funds' investment behaviour," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 169-196.
    27. Bertoni, Fabio & Lugo, Stefano, 2014. "The effect of sovereign wealth funds on the credit risk of their portfolio companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 21-35.
    28. Bernardo Bortolotti & Veljko Fotak & William L. Megginson, 2015. "Editor's Choice The Sovereign Wealth Fund Discount: Evidence from Public Equity Investments," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(11), pages 2993-3035.
    29. Sofia A Johan & April Knill & Nathan Mauck, 2013. "Determinants of sovereign wealth fund investment in private equity vs public equity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(2), pages 155-172, February.
    30. Kotter, Jason & Lel, Ugur, 2011. "Friends or foes? Target selection decisions of sovereign wealth funds and their consequences," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 360-381, August.
    31. William L. Megginson & Veljko Fotak, 2015. "Rise Of The Fiduciary State: A Survey Of Sovereign Wealth Fund Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 733-778, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mork, Knut Anton & Harang, Fabian Andsem & Trønnes, Haakon Andreas & Bjerketvedt, Vegard Skonseng, 2023. "Dynamic spending and portfolio decisions with a soft social norm," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Sovereign wealth funds: Past, present and future," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Snorre Lindset & Knut Anton Mork, 2019. "Risk Taking and Fiscal Smoothing with Sovereign Wealth Funds in Advanced Economies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-24, January.
    4. Knut Anton Mork & Haakon Andreas Trønnes & Vegard Skonseng Bjerketvedt, 2022. "Capital Preservation and Current Spending with Sovereign Wealth Funds and Endowment Funds: A simulation Study," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-24, August.
    5. Knut Anton Mork & Vegard Skonseng Bjerketvedt, 2021. "Soft habits," Working Paper Series 18921, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    6. Knut Anton Mork & Haakon Andreas Trønnes & Vegard Skonseng Bjerketvedt, "undated". "Capital preservation and current spending with Sovereign Wealth Funds and Endowment Funds: A simulation study," Working Paper Series 19222, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    7. Knut Anton Mork & Fabian Andsem Harang & Haakon Andreas Tr{o}nnes & Vegard Skonseng Bjerketvedt, 2022. "Dynamic spending and portfolio decisions with a soft social norm," Papers 2212.10053, arXiv.org.
    8. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Anna Grosman & Geoffrey T. Wood, 2023. "Cross-country variations in sovereign wealth funds’ transparency," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(3), pages 306-329, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gangi, Francesco & Meles, Antonio & Mustilli, Mario & Graziano, Domenico & Varrone, Nicola, 2019. "Do investment determinants and effects vary across sovereign wealth fund categories? A firm-level analysis," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 438-457.
    2. Arouri, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Grais, Wafik & Grira, Jocelyn, 2018. "Rationality or politics? The color of black gold money," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 62-76.
    3. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2017. "Sovereign wealth funds investment effects on target firms' competitors," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 96-112.
    4. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Sovereign wealth funds: Past, present and future," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Peng Liu & Nathan Mauck & S. McKay Price, 2020. "Are Government Owned Investment Funds Created Equal? Evidence from Sovereign Wealth Fund Real Estate Acquisitions," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 698-729, November.
    6. Alhashel, Bader S. & Albader, Sulaiman H., 2020. "How do sovereign wealth funds pay their portfolio companies’ executives? Evidence from Kuwait," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 303-322.
    7. Gangi, Francesco & Mustilli, Mario & Varrone, Nicola & Graziano, Domenico, 2023. "Target firms’ characteristics and the effects of sovereign wealth funds’ investments: Does cultural context of SWFs matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Murtinu, Samuele & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2016. "Sovereign Wealth Funds' Internationalization Strategies: The Use of Investment Vehicles," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 249-264.
    9. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Grira, Jocelyn, 2016. "Sovereign wealth funds targets selection: A comparison with pension funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-76.
    10. Boubaker, Sabri & Boubakri, Narjess & Grira, Jocelyn & Guizani, Asma, 2018. "Sovereign wealth funds and equity pricing: Evidence from implied cost of equity of publicly traded targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 202-224.
    11. Grira, Jocelyn & Labidi, Chiraz & Rouatbi, Wael, 2022. "Does political risk matter for sovereign wealth funds? International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Ciarlone, Alessio & Miceli, Valeria, 2016. "Escaping financial crises? Macro evidence from sovereign wealth funds' investment behaviour," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 169-196.
    13. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Anna Grosman & Geoffrey T. Wood, 2023. "Cross-country variations in sovereign wealth funds’ transparency," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(3), pages 306-329, September.
    14. Amar, J. & Lecourt, C. & Carpantier, J.F., 2022. "GCC Sovereign Wealth Funds: Why do they take control?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. K.S.Reddy, 2019. "Pot the ball? Sovereign wealth funds’ outward FDI in times of global financial market turbulence: A yield institutions-based view," Central Bank Review, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, vol. 19(4), pages 129-139.
    16. Francesco Baldi & Davide Ciferri, 2016. "State-owned private equity funds investing in "national champions": The case of Italy," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(3), pages 177-218.
    17. Mehmet AKYOL & Barýþ YILDIZ, 2017. "Impact of size of the National Asset Funds on Economic Development: Panel Data Analysis on Select Nations," Journal of Economics Library, KSP Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 194-205, June.
    18. Paul Calluzzo & G Nathan Dong & David Godsell, 2017. "Sovereign wealth fund investments and the US political process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 222-243, February.
    19. Grira, Jocelyn, 2020. "Back to government ownership: The Sovereign Wealth Funds phenomenon," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    20. İlker YAMAN & Ahmet Burçin YERELİ, 2019. "The Political Aspect of Sovereign Wealth Funds," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 27(41).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:34:y:2017:i:c:p:43-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620162 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.