Gains From International Diversification: 1968-85 Returns on Portfolios of Stocks and Bonds

Robert Grauer and Nils H. Hakansson

The Journal of Finance, 42, July 1987, 721-739.

Abstract
This paper applies the multi-period investment model to a universe of international securities on the basis of the simple probability assessment approach. Our principal findings are: 1) the gains from including non-U.S. asset categories in the universe were remarkably large (in some cases statistically significant), especially for the highly risk-averse strategies, 2) the gains form removing the no leverage constraint were more substantial than they were in the absence of non-U.S. securities, and 3) there is strong evidence of market segmentation in that the optimal levels of investment in U.S. securities were mostly zero in the presence of the non-U.S. asset categories.

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