European pension reforms and property investments
Important changes are coming quickly to Europe's retirement savings industry. Funds are under pressure to consider investment in a portfolio context, and are giving more serious consideration to alternative investments. As new regulations and standards of best practice emerge, funds will increasingly consider broadening their exposure to alternative investments, particularly property, which compares favourably with stocks and bonds on a total potential return and return-to-risk-ratio basis. This paper shows that, based on some fairly conservative assumptions, property should perform well when compared with other asset classes.
UK pension fund management after Myners: The hunt for correlation begins
The Myners Report will have a number of significant consequences for pension fund management and performance measurement in the UK. First, it changes the way in which assets are selected. The strategic asset allocation will have overriding importance in pension fund management. Asset classes will be selected on the basis of their match with liabilities in terms of correlation and volatility, rather than on the basis of expected return. Every pension scheme will have a scheme-specific funding standard that reflects the maturity structure of the liabilities of the scheme. Secondly, it changes the role of the fund manager. A hierarchical relationship will develop between the investment adviser, actuary and fund manager. The investment advisory function assumes a primacy over the actuarial and fund management functions. Thirdly, it changes the way investment performance is measured. Liability-driven performance measurement and attribution will replace the existing performance measurement framework in the UK. The passively managed components of the pension fund will be judged on the costs of implementation. Only the performance of the surplus assets will be measured on a conventional basis. The Myners Report is summarised and an illustrative statement of investment principles and transparency statement are presented.
The development of biological systematics : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, nature, and the natural system
A reevaluation of the history of biological systematics that discusses the formative years of the so-called natural system of classification in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shows how classifications came to be treated as conventions; systematic practice was not linked to clearly articulated theory; there was general confusion over the "shape" of nature; botany, elements of natural history, and systematics were conflated; and systematics took a position near the bottom of the hierarchy of sciences.