The First Global Emerging Markets Investor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust 1880-1913

Esteves, Rui; Chambers, David

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2024921

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

The First Global Emerging Markets Investor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust 1880-1913

Explorations in Economic History (Forthcoming)

45 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2012 Last revised: 2 Oct 2013

See all articles by Rui Esteves

Rui Esteves

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)

David Chambers

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School; CEPR

Date Written: July 2, 2013

Abstract

The Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust is the oldest surviving closed end fund, having been established in 1868. Its early success and emulation were related to its identification of a missing market - the provision of a wholesale diversified vehicle for the investing public. This paper is a micro-study of this leading investment trust during the First Era of financial globalisation. The history of this flagship fund over more than three decades provides an insight into the relative success of this financial innovation as well as into the risk and returns of investing in emerging markets over a century ago.

Keywords: portfolio choice, closed end funds, mutual funds, financial innovation, emerging markets, financial crisis, contagion, globalization

JEL Classification: G11, G23, G01, N24

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Esteves, Rui and Chambers, David, The First Global Emerging Markets Investor: Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust 1880-1913 (July 2, 2013). Explorations in Economic History (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2024921 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2024921