Diversification, Schmversification: All Correlations to 1.0(-ish)

This article is a guest contribution by Paul Kedrosky, Infectious Greed.

Good set of graphs in a new paper showing how correlations have increased across equity markets in recent decades. In each graph the top line is the correlation with developed markets, the middle line is with developed & emerging combined, and the bottom line is correlation with emerging markets alone. The trend is steadily higher for most countries, with a few seeing serious spikes toward unity.

Source:

Peter F. Christoffersen et al., “Is the Potential for International Diversification Disappearing?,” SSRN eLibrary (March 16, 2010), http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1573345.

Source: Infectious Greed