The authors model trading by foreign and domestic investors in developed-country equity markets. The key assumptions are that (i) both the foreign and domestic investor populations contain investors of different sophistication, and (ii) investor sophistication matters for performance in both public equity and private off-market investments. A quantitative model with these assumptions delivers a...

The objective of this paper is to review the transmission mechanisms uniting equity market development and economic growth in developing countries. We find that the theoretical impact of equity markets is ambiguous. At the domestic level, the allocation function of equity markets appears conditioned by the extent of informational efficiency. Turning to international linkages, theoretical models...

Stochastic dominance is theoretically superior to mean-variance (MV) analysis because it considers the entire return distribution and is based on minimally restrictive assumptions regarding investor motives. This study uses stochastic dominance to examine whether adding internationally based assets to a wholly domestic portfolio generates diversification benefits for an investor. In contrast to...

This paper provides closed-form likelihood approximations for multivariate jump-diffusion processes widely used in finance. For a fixed order of approximation, the maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE) computed from this approximate likelihood achieves the asymptotic efficiency of the true yet uncomputable MLE as the sampling interval shrinks. This method is used to uncover the realignment probabi...

With the introduction of the Euro, a single European money market has emerged. Further wholesale financial markets are considered to be highly integrated within the European Union. However, integration in retail financial markets is less advanced. For measuring financial market integration this distinction between wholesale and retail markets becomes crucial. There is a wide literature relating...

This paper shows how a mean variance criterion can be applied to a multi period setting in order to obtain efficient portfolios in an asset and liability context. The optimization model allows for rebalancing activities, transaction costs, stochastic volatilities for both assets and liabilities. Furthermore, a general framework for the projection of pension fund liabilities as well as for the g...

Field Editor: N. Coviello Contributing to the literature on local bias and financial networks, we examine how direct and indirect network ties of financial intermediaries mitigate the effects of distance and preference for local investments. In our analysis of cross-border venture capital exits, we find that proximity within networks facilitates cross-border transactions, which suggests that ne...

We study the role of financial market development in the financing choice of firms in developing countries using a dynamic panel approach with aggregate firm-level data. The results suggest that equity market development favors firms’ equity financing over debt financing, while banking sector development favors debt financing over equity financing, as one would expect. However, surprisingly, eq...

This paper explores the determinants of intelligence by focusing on the role played by barriers to the diffusion of competence and human capital. The results based on crosssectional data from 167 countries consisting of 1996-2009 averages suggest that, genetic distance to global frontiers has a negative relationship with human capital. Countries that are genetically far from leading nations ten...

The internet revolution is said to foster integration of the market for financial services, since consumers are able to shop around at all companies worldwide and firms can easily offer their services on the internet at a minimum of distribution cost. However, the European market for online brokerage displays a different picture. Prices paid for online brokerage differ substantially across Euro...