The Home Bias in Equities and Distribution Costs

We show that including distribution costs into a general equilibrium model of inter- national portfolio choice contributes to explaining the "home bias" in international equity investment. Our model is able to replicate observed investment positions for a wide range of parameter values, even if agents have an incentive to hedge labor income risk by purchasing foreign equity. This is because the existence of a retail sector affects both the correlation of domestic returns with the domestic price level and the correlation between financial and nonfinancial income.

Reaping the Gains: Specialization and Capital Flows

This paper gives a new answer to the old question of whether international trade and capital flows are substitutes or complements. In contrast to conventional intuition, we show that when Heckscher-Ohlin trade takes place in high-skill and low-skill intensive goods, this does create incentives for capital flows. Technically, we incorporate capital as a composite factor in a tractable 3-factor neoclassical trade model. It shows that countries for whom trade induces greater trade specialization observe larger capital inflows. By using data on revealed comparative advantage while controlling for common factors, we provide emprical evidence for our results

The Home Bias in Equities and Distribution Costs

We show that including distribution costs into a general equilibrium model of international portfolio choice contributes to explaining the "home bias" in international equity investment. Our model is able to replicate observed investment positions for a wide range of parameter values, even if agents have an incentive to hedge labor income risk by purchasing foreign equity. This is because the existence of a retail sector affects both the correlation of domestic returns with the domestic price level and the correlation between financial and nonfinancial income

The home bias in equities and distribution costs

We show that including distribution costs into a general equilibrium model of international portfolio choice contributes to explaining the 'home bias' in international equity investment. Our model is able to replicate observed investment positions for a wide range of parameter values, even if agents have an incentive to hedge labor income risk by purchasing foreign equity. This is because the existence of a retail sector affects both the correlation of domestic returns with the domestic price level and the correlation between financial and nonfinancial income