Country portfolios under global imbalances

Zhang, N. (2019) Country portfolios under global imbalances. European Economic Review, 119, pp. 302-317. (doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2019.07.009)

Abstract

This paper studies the composition of country portfolios under global imbalances. When countries are identical, the optimal portfolio is fully diversified, which reflects the cross-country symmetric self-hedging (Lucas, 1982). Assuming a structural country asymmetry in patience, we construct a model of portfolio choices that features persistent non-zero net foreign assets (NFA). Because the latter opens a gap between GNP and GDP, we found that an asymmetric hedging of net portfolio returns emerges in addition to the otherwise only Lucas’ symmetric self-hedging in shaping the gross country portfolios, which implies a short (long) position of the local asset in the debtor (creditor) country. The resulting portfolio is home biased. We calibrate our model to the U.S. and China data over 1999–2017 and show that it matches the portfolio data for countries with unbalanced net external positions well.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Financial support from the ESRC, Grant No. ES/I024174/1, University of St Andrews, and University of Glasgow is gratefully acknowledged.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Zhang, Ning
• Authors: Zhang, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics
• Journal Name: European Economic Review
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0014-2921
• ISSN (Online): 1873-572X
• Published Online: 30 July 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in European Economic Review 119:302-317
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher