Portfolio selection has a long tradition in financial economics and plays an integral role in investment management. Portfolio selection provides the framework to determine optimal portfolio choice from a universe of available investments. However, the asset weightings from portfolio selection are optimal only if the empirical characteristics of asset returns do not violate the portfolio selection model assumptions. This thesis explores the empirical characteristics of traditional assets and hedge fund returns and examines their effects on the assumptions of linearity-in-the-mean testing and portfolio selection. The encompassing theme of this thesis is the empirical interplay between traditional assets and hedge fund returns. Despite the paucity of hedge fund research, pension funds continue to increase their portfolio allocations to global hedge funds in an effort to pursue higher risk-adjusted returns. This thesis presents three empirical studies which provide positive insights into the relationships between traditional assets and hedge fund returns. The first two empirical studies examine an emerging body of literature which suggests that the relationship between traditional assets and hedge fund returns is non-linear. For mean-variance investors, non-linear asset returns are problematic as they do not satisfy the assumption of linearity required for the covariance matrix in portfolio selection. To examine the linearity assumption as it relates to a mean-variance investor, a hypothesis test approach is employed which investigates the linearity-in-the-mean of traditional assets and hedge funds. The findings from the first two empirical studies reveal that conventional linearity-in-the-mean tests incorrectly conclude that asset returns are nonlinear. We demonstrate that the empirical characteristics of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation in asset returns are the primary sources of test mis-specification in these linearity-in-the-mean hypothesis tests. To address this problem, an innovative approach is proposed to control heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation in the underlying tests and it is shown that traditional assets and hedge funds are indeed linear-in-the-mean. The third and final study of this thesis explores traditional assets and hedge funds in a portfolio selection framework. Following the theme of the previous two studies, the effects of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation are examined in the portfolio selection context. The characteristics of serial correlation in bond and hedge fund returns are shown to cause a downward bias in the second sample moment. This thesis proposes two methods to control for this effect and it is shown that autocorrelation induces an overallocation to bonds and hedge funds. Whilst heteroscedasticity cannot be directly examined in portfolio selection, empirical evidence suggests that heteroscedastic events (such as those that occurred in August 1998) translate into the empirical feature known as tail-risk. The effects of tail-risk are examined by comparing the portfolio decisions of mean-variance analysis (MVA) versus mean-conditional value at risk (M-CVaR) investors. The findings reveal that the volatility of returns in a MVA portfolio decreases when hedge funds are included in the investment opportunity set. However, the reduction in the volatility of portfolio returns comes at a cost of undesirable third and fourth moments. Furthermore, it is shown that investors with M-CVaR preferences exhibit a decreasing demand for hedge funds as their aversion for tail-risk increases. The results of the thesis highlight the sensitivities of linearity tests and portfolio selection to the empirical features of heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and tail-risk. This thesis contributes to the literature by providing refinements to these frameworks which allow improved inferences to be made when hedge funds are examined in linearity and portfolio selection settings.

Submitted by Alvaro Germano Albernaz (aga050@gmail.com) on 2016-01-25T12:32:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_final final_versão certa_3 V16 220116.pdf: 3740558 bytes, checksum: cdf2c2c779f7fc18a9d89f5cac0bda6f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-02-05T16:49:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_final final_versão certa_3 V16 220116.pdf: 3740558 bytes, checksum: cdf2c2c779f7fc18a9d89f5cac0bda6f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-02-22T12:23:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_final final_versão certa_3 V16 220116.pdf: 3740558 bytes, checksum: cdf2c2c779f7fc18a9d89f5cac0bda6f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-22T12:23:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_final final_versão certa_3 V16 220116.pdf: 3740558 bytes, checksum: cdf2c2c779f7fc18a9d89f5cac0bda6f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-16 / This work intends to subsidize the real estate investment funds investor in choosing a FII investment portfolio in order to obtain performance at or above the industry benchmark (IFIX). Such a grant is made initially by methodology which considers the concept of Efficient Portfolio (Risk / Return) proposed by Markowitz, can work together with the dimension of the concept of Behavioral Finance, led by Daniel Kahneman, constituting the investor’s orientation bases. We add the methodological approach to the indications suggested by Bazerman and Moore, in the decisionmaking process that reduces the effects of heuristics and viésis. To start the way the investor responds to questionnaire of 5 questions that aims to classify the degree of ’capacity and tolerance ―by the IFI prod-uct. From their responses the investor will be referred to a‖ cluster ―of funds, classified according to the perception of retail investor, according to the complexity of analyzing the background. Selected FIIs with potential for application, bring the investor as an ‖Ranking― of the funds in question answering three questionnaires that motivate the expansion of its research in the following dimensions :. (i) Capacity of the fund, (ii) on the (s) Active (s) of the fund, and (iii) of the Income Generation of FII Complementing the creation of ‖Ranking― is also considered its Anchor decision, ie, the main investor reason to choose each selected fund. Finally, we use the concept of Markowitz to identify the most efficient Portfolio considering the ‖Ranking' of the investor, with the EXCEL package with the tool SOLVER. The results of that portfolio were higher than the industry benchmark (IFIX), demonstrating technically than using appropriate tools and establishing a path to guide the investor research in finding structural information you can build an efficient portfolio that helps the his applications long term. / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo subsidiar o investidor de Fundos de Investimento Imobiliário na escolha de uma carteira de aplicação de FIIs, visando obter performance igual ou superior ao índice de referência do setor (IFIX). Tal subsídio é constituído, inicialmente, por uma metodologia que considera que o conceito de Carteira Eficiente (Risco/Retorno) preconizada por Markowitz pode trabalhar em conjunto com a dimensão do conceito das Finanças Comportamentais, liderada por Daniel Kahneman, constituindo as bases de orientação do investidor. Acrescentamos o caminho metodológico com as indicações, sugeridas por Bazerman e Moore, no processo de tomada de decisão, que reduza os efeitos de heurísticas e vieses.

Sverige är beroende av nystartade företag och entreprenörer för att finansiera landets välstånd. Riskkapitalbolag innehar ofta en betydande roll för de nya företagen när verksamheten ska utvecklas eller expandera. Bolagen assisterar de nya företagen med ett brett spektrum av nyckelaktiviteter som finansiering, operativt arbete, strategi eller kontaktnät. Tidigare studier visar att riskkapitalfinansierade bolag både växer snabbare och lyckas oftare. Samtidigt visar forskningen att riskkapitalbolag präglas av stort risktagande och övermod vid sina investeringar. Emellertid finns mindre djupgående forskning om vilka konkreta faktorer och omständigheter som resulterar i de olika utfallen. Syftet med examensarbetet är att skapa en bättre förståelse för specifika faktorer som påverkar svenska riskkapitalbolags beslutsfattande och resulterar i särskilda utfall. Undersökningen ämnar att betona likheter och skillnader i riskhanteringen av investeringsval mellan riskkapitalbolagen där utfallen antingen resulterar i nytta eller förlust för bolagen. För att uppfylla syftet har institutionella teorin, kognitiva bias och moderna portföljteorin aktualiserats. Undersökningen genomfördes genom intervjuer med beslutsfattare från åtta stycken konfidentiella riskkapitalbolag. Samtliga bolag kodades om för att säkerställa konfidentialitet i syfte att erhålla djupare inblickar i deras investeringsutfall. De erhållna resultaten visar på att framförallt kognitiva bias men även den institutionella teorin förklarade de olika investeringsutfallen väl. Riskkapitalbolagen präglades av stark övermod vid sina misslyckade investeringar och medelstark vid sina lyckade. Riskkapitalbolagen var också starkt påverkade från både extern tryck av samhället men även av interna riktlinjer vid sina investeringar. Flera branschmönster har också kartlagts vid både lyckade och misslyckade investeringar däribland syndikering av kapital, efterfrågan av serieentreprenörer och att det enligt de själva vanligtvis är entreprenören eller marknaden som är anledningen till att investeringen inte lyckas. Resultatet antyder också att en av de största svårigheterna för riskkapitalbolagen är att bedöma entreprenörernas möjligheter att utveckla företaget. Den mest tänkbara anledningen till att riskkapitalbolagen har starka tendenser till övermod är för att det krävs för att lyckas i branschen. Inget nystartat bolag är riskfritt och för att våga investera i branschen behövs stark tilltro till sin egen förmåga. / Sweden is dependent upon start-ups and entrepreneurs in order to successfully finance domestic prosperity. Venture capital (VC) companies often play a significant role for new companies when the business is to be developed or expanded. The VC companies support the new companies with a wide range of key features. Such as financing, operational work, strategy or contact networks. Previous studies show that VC-financed companies both grow faster and succeed more often than non VC-backed companies. At the same time, research shows that VC-companies are characterized by great risk-taking and audaciousness in their investments. However, there is less in-depth research on what explicit factors and circumstances result in the successful and unsuccessful investments. The purpose of the study is to create a better understanding of similarities and differences in different investment outcomes and highlight the patterns of their investments. Institutional theory, cognitive bias and modern portfolio theory are the theories used in this study. The survey was conducted through eight semi-structured qualitative interviews with different decision makers from VC-companies in Sweden. In order to gain a deeper understanding of their investment outcomes all company names were re-coded. The obtained results showed that cognitive biases was the primary theory of explanation. However, the institutional theory could also explain the different investment outcomes. The VC-companies were characterized by strong audaciousness with their failed investments and medium audaciousness with the successful. The requirement of success in the VC-industry explains why the companies have tendencies to be audacious in their decision making. A strong confidence is needed when investing in start-up companies since these companies imply a great risk. External societal pressure and internal guidelines strongly influence the investments of the VC. The study identified several industry patterns for both successful and unsuccessful investments.  The patterns include syndication of capital and demand for serial entrepreneurs. The study also showed a pattern of venture capitalists explaining their unsuccessful investment due to issues with the entrepreneur or the market. The results suggest that one of the greatest difficulties for VC-companies is to assess the ability of the entrepreneur to develop the company.

Bakgrund: Kapital på börsen förflyttas fram och tillbaka mellan olika tillgångar, vilket ären naturlig del av diversifieringen i portföljer. När osäkerheten ökar i marknaden väljerinvesterare normalt att förflytta kapital från aktier till säkrare tillgångar som exempelvisobligationer, vilket beskrivs som Flight to Quality (FTQ). Däremot har räntorna efter denglobala finanskrisen 2008 varit historiskt låga och under vissa perioder negativa, vilket i sintur försvagar förflyttningen. Sverige har här utmärkt sig, genom att till skillnad från USA,fortsatt att sänka räntan och legat på låga nivåer under en väldigt lång tid. Därmed uppstårfunderingar kring hur förflyttningar av kapital har sett ut i Sverige de senaste 30 åren, samthur det senaste lågränteklimatet påverkar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka förhållandet mellan avkastningen på noteradeobligationer och aktier i Sverige från 1993 till 2022. Studien ska även undersöka hur enlågräntemiljö påverkar förhållandet. Metod: OMXSPI samt BMSD10Y har använts för att beräkna avkastningen på aktierrespektive obligationer från databaserna Refinitiv Eikon samt Refinitiv Datastream. Urvaleti studien uppgick till 7271 respektive 1526 observationer. Genom en kvantitativ metod ochdeduktiv ansats har studien utgått från teorin gällande FTQ för att undersöka hurkorrelationen förändrats. Vidare har regressioner använts för att säkerställa påverkan pånivån av korrelationen samt hur ett lågränteklimat påverkar styrkan i FTQ. Slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar att korrelationen mellan aktier och obligationer undertidsperioden har varit svagt negativ med fyra olika strukturella förändringar under perioden.Vidare visar studiens resultat att ett lågränteklimat under perioden har försvagat styrkan iFTQ:er som inträffat i Sverige mellan 1993 och 2022. Studien bidrar till litteraturen inomområdet korrelation mellan aktier och obligationers avkastningar, samt litteraturen kringlågränteklimats påverkan på finansiella marknader. / Background: Capital on the stock exchange is moved back and forth between differentassets, which is a natural part of the diversification of portfolios. When uncertainty increasesin the market, investors normally choose to move capital from equities to safer assets such asbonds, which is described as Flight to Quality (FTQ). On the other hand, interest rates afterthe global financial crisis in 2008 have been historically low and in some cases negative,which in turn weakens the capital movement. Sweden has distinguished itself, in that unlikethe United States, it has continued to lower its interest rates and have kept them at low levelsfor a very long time. This raises concerns about how capital movements over the past 30 yearshave developed in Sweden, and how the recent low interest rate climate is affecting. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between returns onstocks and bonds in Sweden from 1993 to 2022. The study will also investigate how a lowyield environment effects the relationship. Method: OMXSPI and BMSD10Y have been used to calculate the return on stocks andbonds from the databases Refinitiv Eikon and Refinitiv Datastream, respectively. The samplein the study amounted to 7271 and 1526 observations. Through a quantitative method anddeductive approach, the study has been based on the theory regarding FTQ to investigatehow the correlation has changed. Furthermore, regressions have been used to ensure theimpact on the level of the correlation and how a low interest rate climate affects the strengthof the FTQ. Conclusion: The result shows a weak negative correlation between returns on stocks andbonds during the time period, with four different structural breaks during the period.Furthermore, the results show that a low yield environment has weakened the strength of theFlights to Quality that have occurred in Sweden between 1993 and 2022. This studycontributes to the literature in the field of stock-bond return correlation and the field of lowyield effects on financial markets.