RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Defending the “Endowment Model”: <em>Quantifying</em>
               <br/>
               <em>Liquidity Risk in a Post–Credit Crisis World</em>
JF The Journal of Alternative Investments
FD Institutional Investor Journals
SP 9
OP 24
DO 10.3905/jai.2012.14.4.009
VO 14
IS 4
A1 Abdullah Z. Sheikh
A1 Jianxiong Sun
YR 2012
UL https://pm-research.com/content/14/4/9.abstract
AB This article sets forth the proposition that liquidity risk may be optimized in an attempt to forestall or minimize the impact of a liquidity crisis. For a generic (but typical) endowment asset allocation, the authors find that liquidity levels between 6% and 14% are optimal, all other things equal, because 95% of the time, an allocation in this range would obviate situations in which a portfolio’s payout rate exceeds its liquidity pool. The framework also provides insights for tail-risk events involving a particularly severe liquidity crisis. For a generic endowment portfolio, the analysis indicates that in order to reduce the severity of a liquidity crisis to zero (i.e., eliminate risk completely), the allocation to fixed income would have to be around 35% (close to seven times the payout rate of 5%). Such an allocation would entail a very significant opportunity cost in terms of forgone returns based solely on a desire to mitigate extreme liquidity events (the proverbial “100-year flood”). In the authors’ view, reducing the likelihood of a liquidity crisis to below 5%, may be undesirable for all but the most risk-averse and least returnsensitive endowments.TOPICS: Foundations &amp; endowments, real assets/alternative investments/private equity, risk management, portfolio construction