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Realization Utility: an inbuilt bias to transact

We study the possibility that, aside from standard sources of utility, investors also derive utility from realizing gains and losses on assets that they own. We propose a tractable model of this “realization utility,” derive its predictions, and show that it can shed light on a number of puzzling facts. These include the poor trading

Friends or Foes? The Stock Price Impact of Sovereign Wealth

This paper examines the stock price impact of 163 announcements of Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) investments. We document an average positive risk-adjusted return of 2.1 percent for target firms during two days surrounding SWF acquisition announcements. The announcement effect is both statistically and economically significant. A multivariate analysis shows that the degree of transparency of

Defining Moments: the future for pension funds and the pension fund industry

The goal of the research was to drill deeply into the evolving forces in the industry and present a plausible picture of its future landscape, through both near-term and longer-term trends. Our time horizon looked out towards 2020. We, however, acknowledge the considerable difficulties with longer-range forecasting given the increasing pace of change. There is

Infrastructure on the Defensive

The unwinding of several high profile infrastructure funds in the recent past has prompted questions as to the performance of infrastructure assets/investments and the impact of the current credit markets, on the outlook for the sector. Mercer remains positive on the long-term fundamentals for the infrastructure sector, especially in the emerging markets. Moreover, we believe

The Role of Commodities and Timberland in a Portfolio

Over the last several years, institutional investors have more than doubled their allocation, to over $110 billion, to financial products whose returns are linked to those of commodity indices. Commodities may be attractive due to the low correlation between the returns of commodities and those of other asset classes, the high correlation of commodities returns