The academic world has not really been attracted to the pension fund world as a field of study. Most academic research, by a wide margin, usually goes into the workings of the capital markets rather than the workings of the pension fund participants in those markets.
Hedging pays off for Future Fund
The Australian Future Fund’s policy of hedging its foreign currency exposures so that 80 per cent of the portfolio is held in Australian dollars has resulted in large inflows due to the AUD’s recent appreciation. 
Skewed risk for CalPERS’ absolute return portfolio
The underperformance of the CalPERS’ risk-managed absolute return strategy indicates the portfolio may be too heavily weighted towards macro, currency, commodity or directional risk than the investment committee originally set out to achieve, according to a review by Wilshire.
Portfolio choice with illiquid assets
New research by Columbia University’s Andrew Ang, Dimitris Papanikolaou from Northwestern University, and Mark Westerfield from the University of Southern California, shows that illiquidity, modelled as the ability to trade only at randomly occurring discrete points in time, has large effects on policies and optimal asset allocation.
Stock exchange merger would end Australia’s ‘inward focus’
Australia’s financial sector would be strengthened if the proposed merger between its national stock exchange and the Singapore Exchange gained political approval, the Australian Centre for Financial Studies (ACFS) has argued.
Coming out for gay and lesbian themes
With the return to favour of top-down equities management and renewed focus by pension funds on their asset allocation and beta exposures, there has consequently been a resurgence in thematic investment styles and products.
