IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v69y2018icp99-109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The benefits of international diversification with weight constraints: A cross-country examination

Author

Listed:
  • McDowell, Shaun

Abstract

This paper measures the effect of allocation weight constraints on the potential benefits from international diversification for investors with long investment horizons in 34 countries. Naive international diversification does not provide positive benefits for all investors during the 1993–2014 investment period. Relaxing the market allocation weight constraints applied to in-sample mean-variance optimized portfolios increases the potential for diversification gains. The return-to-risk benefits that these portfolios provide versus the domestic market portfolio are not statistically significant for many investors. There is also an imbalance between the global demand for equity in markets that provide portfolio efficiencies versus the supply of available equity, which is an additional constraint that may limit the efficiency gains that can be captured in equilibrium.

Suggested Citation

  • McDowell, Shaun, 2018. "The benefits of international diversification with weight constraints: A cross-country examination," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 99-109.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:99-109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2018.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976917301679
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2018.02.003?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. Ledoit, Olivier & Wolf, Michael, 2004. "A well-conditioned estimator for large-dimensional covariance matrices," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 365-411, February.
    2. Lessard, Donald R, 1973. "International Portfolio Diversification: A Multivariate Analysis for a Group of Latin American Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(3), pages 619-633, June.
    3. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    4. Solnik, Bruno H., 1974. "An equilibrium model of the international capital market," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 500-524, August.
    5. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Raman Uppal, 2009. "Optimal Versus Naive Diversification: How Inefficient is the 1-N Portfolio Strategy?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(5), pages 1915-1953, May.
    6. Ledoit, Oliver & Wolf, Michael, 2008. "Robust performance hypothesis testing with the Sharpe ratio," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 850-859, December.
    7. Ravi Jagannathan & Tongshu Ma, 2003. "Risk Reduction in Large Portfolios: Why Imposing the Wrong Constraints Helps," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1651-1683, August.
    8. Solnik, B H, 1974. "The International Pricing of Risk: An Empirical Investigation of the World Capital Market Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 365-378, May.
    9. Levy, Haim & Levy, Moshe, 2014. "The benefits of differential variance-based constraints in portfolio optimization," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 372-381.
    10. Michael Wolf & Dan Wunderli, 2009. "Fund-of-funds construction by statistical multiple testing methods," IEW - Working Papers 445, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    11. Levy, Haim & Sarnat, Marshall, 1970. "International Diversification of Investment Portfolios," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(4), pages 668-675, September.
    12. Victor DeMiguel & Lorenzo Garlappi & Francisco J. Nogales & Raman Uppal, 2009. "A Generalized Approach to Portfolio Optimization: Improving Performance by Constraining Portfolio Norms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(5), pages 798-812, May.
    13. Behr, Patrick & Guettler, Andre & Miebs, Felix, 2013. "On portfolio optimization: Imposing the right constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1232-1242.
    14. French, Kenneth R & Poterba, James M, 1991. "Investor Diversification and International Equity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 222-226, May.
    15. Tesar, Linda L. & Werner, Ingrid M., 1995. "Home bias and high turnover," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 467-492, August.
    16. Nijman, T.E. & de Roon, F.A. & Werker, B.J.M., 2001. "Testing for Mean-Variance spanning with short sales constraints and transaction costs : The case of emerging markets," Other publications TiSEM f4a3551a-d7ae-4c22-8813-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Ledoit, Olivier & Wolf, Michael, 2003. "Improved estimation of the covariance matrix of stock returns with an application to portfolio selection," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 603-621, December.
    18. Jorion, Philippe, 1985. "International Portfolio Diversification with Estimation Risk," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 259-278, July.
    19. Fletcher, Jonathan & Marshall, Andrew, 2005. "An empirical examination of the benefits of international diversification," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 455-468, December.
    20. Cooper, Ian & Sercu, Piet & Vanpée, Rosanne, 2013. "The Equity Home Bias Puzzle: A Survey," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 7(4), pages 289-416, December.
    21. Chiou, Wan-Jiun Paul, 2008. "Who benefits more from international diversification?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 466-482, December.
    22. René M. Stulz, 2007. "The Limits of Financial Globalization," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(1), pages 8-15, January.
    23. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    24. Frans A. De Roon & Theo E. Nijman & Bas J. M. Werker, 2001. "Testing for Mean‐Variance Spanning with Short Sales Constraints and Transaction Costs: The Case of Emerging Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 721-742, April.
    25. Driessen, Joost & Laeven, Luc, 2007. "International portfolio diversification benefits: Cross-country evidence from a local perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1693-1712, June.
    26. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:4:p:1651-1684 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Li, Kai & Sarkar, Asani & Wang, Zhenyu, 2003. "Diversification benefits of emerging markets subject to portfolio constraints," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 57-80, February.
    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. Gossé, Jean-Baptiste & Jehle, Camille, 2024. "Benefits of diversification in EU capital markets: Evidence from stock portfolios," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).

    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. McDowell, Shaun, 2018. "An empirical evaluation of estimation error reduction strategies applied to international diversification," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Mishra, Anil V., 2016. "Foreign bias in Australian-domiciled mutual fund holdings," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 101-123.
    3. Mishra, Anil V., 2015. "Measures of equity home bias puzzle," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 293-312.
    4. Gossé, Jean-Baptiste & Jehle, Camille, 2024. "Benefits of diversification in EU capital markets: Evidence from stock portfolios," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    6. Lord Mensah, 2016. "Asset Allocation Brewed Accross African Stock Markets," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 3205757, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    7. Wan-Jiun Paul Chiou & Vigdis W Boasson, 2015. "International Variations in the Benefits of Feasible Diversification Strategies," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(04), pages 1-38, December.
    8. Mishra, Anil V., 2017. "Foreign bias in Australia's international equity holdings," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 41-54.
    9. Attig, Najah & Guedhami, Omrane & Nazaire, Gregory & Sy, Oumar, 2023. "What explains the benefits of international portfolio diversification?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Chiou, Wan-Jiun Paul, 2009. "Benefits of international diversification with investment constraints: An over-time perspective," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 93-110, April.
    11. Candelon, B. & Hurlin, C. & Tokpavi, S., 2012. "Sampling error and double shrinkage estimation of minimum variance portfolios," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 511-527.
    12. Erindi Allaj, 2020. "The Black–Litterman model and views from a reverse optimization procedure: an out-of-sample performance evaluation," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 465-492, October.
    13. Jones Odei Mensah & Gamini Premaratne, 2019. "Exploring Diversification Benefits In Asian Equity Markets," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(03), pages 517-542, June.
    14. Behr, Patrick & Guettler, Andre & Miebs, Felix, 2013. "On portfolio optimization: Imposing the right constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1232-1242.
    15. Paul Chiou & Cheng-Few Lee, 2013. "Do investors still benefit from culturally home-biased diversification? An empirical study of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 341-381, February.
    16. Anja Vinzelberg & Benjamin R. Auer, 2022. "Unprofitability of food market investments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(7), pages 2887-2910, October.
    17. Migliavacca, Milena & Goodell, John W. & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2023. "A bibliometric review of portfolio diversification literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Füss, Roland & Miebs, Felix & Trübenbach, Fabian, 2014. "A jackknife-type estimator for portfolio revision," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 14-28.
    19. Thapa, Chandra & Poshakwale, Sunil S., 2012. "Country-specific equity market characteristics and foreign equity portfolio allocation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 189-211.
    20. Jing-Rung Yu & Wan-Jiun Paul Chiou & Jian-Hong Yang, 2017. "Diversification benefits of risk portfolio models: a case of Taiwan’s stock market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 467-502, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Portfolio choice; International financial markets;

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:quaeco:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:99-109. 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/620167 .

    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.