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Cost shifting and the freezing of corporate pension plans

This paper, which examines the impact of the trend in the US of corporate funds freezing their defined benefit funds and offering defined contribution plans, shows that net of the increase in total DC contributions, firms save 2.7-3.6 per cent of payroll per year, and over a 10-year horizon they save 3.1 per cent of

The arithmetic of “all-in” investment expenses

In the January/February issue of the Financial Analysts Journal, Jack Bogle, founder and former chief executive of the Vanguard Group, looks at the “all-in” investment expenses including not only expense ratios byt transaction costs, sales loads and cash drag. He highlights, in particular, how damaging these costs can be over the long run, and reaffirms

How to estimate the equity risk premium

Given the importance of equity risk premium, it is surprising how haphazard the estimation of equity risk premiums remains in practice. This paper by Aswath Damodaran at the New York University Stern School of Business examines a number of different approaches to determining the equity risk premium and why different approaches yield different values. It

Risk parity and beyond

This paper analyses whether the use of uncorrelated underlying risk factors, as opposed to correlated asset returns, can lead to a more efficient framework for measuring and managing portfolio diversification. The paper, by academics at EDHEC Business School and SYMMYS, acknowledges that the ability to construct well-diversified portfolios is a challenge of critical importance in

Emerging equity markets in a globalising world

Even though there has been dramatic globalisation over the past 20 years it still makes sense to segregate global equities into “developed” and “emerging” market buckets, according to a paper by Columbia and Duke academics. The research, which has important policy implications for institutional and pension fund management, shows that while correlations between developed and

Citigroup: a case study in managerial and regulatory failures

This article by Arthur Wilmarth from George Washington University Law School uses Citigroup as a case study to demonstrate the question of whether bank executives and regulators are able to supervise and control today’s complex megabanks. The study shows that post-mortem evaluations of Citigroup’s near-collapse revealed that neither Citigroup’s managers nor its regulators recognized the