International Finance Discussion Papers (IFDP)
April 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Home Bias and High Turnover Reconsidered
Francis E. Warnock
Abstract:
The Tesar and Werner (1995) finding of very high turnover rates on foreign equity portfolios is based on an underestimation of cross-border equity positions. Foreign turnover rates calculated using information from comprehensive benchmark surveys on cross-border holdings are much lower than previously reported and comparable to domestic turnover rates. However, the basic intuition from the Tesar-Werner study, that transaction costs do not help explain the observed home bias, is confirmed using data on transaction costs in 41 markets.
Original version (PDF)Keywords: Transaction costs, international portfolio diversification, turnover rates
PDF: Full Paper
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