Research Report

The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define the goal posts for delivering global sustainable development. While governments have developed the goals and signed up to their implementation, government action alone will not be enough to achieve them. This joint discussion paper from MSCI and the OECD proposes a framework for discussion around investment options and the potential role of institutional investors in achieving the SDGs and shares a proof-of-concept illustration of a...

ESG Products & Services

Research Report

MSCI began systematically estimating the size of professionally managed real estate investment markets in 2004. These estimates are fundamental to the creation of the MSCI Global Annual Property Index and a range of other multinational indexes and benchmarks, and they provide insights into the coverage of MSCI’s direct property indexes. This paper sets out the 2019 market size estimates and explains the main changes between 2018 and 2019.

Indexes MSCI Real Estate Indexes Real Estate Products & Services

Research Report

ESG Climate VaR ESG Climate Solutions

Methodology

Indexes

Research Report

Low-volatility indexes have been attractive to some investors, mainly due to their defensive and low-risk characteristics. This has been especially true in times of market uncertainty and heightened volatility. In this paper we investigate the possibility of incorporating the defensive characteristics of the MSCI Minimum Volatility Indexes into the construction of other factor indexes with the aim of achieving the highest “factor exposure-to-risk ratio.”

Indexes

Research Report

Until recently, MSCI had calculated 25 years of simulated history for its factor indexes. In this Research Insight, we extend the simulated history to 40 years, providing new insights into the behavior of factor indexes over various time periods. We look at factor index behavior over various time frames; the changes in the correlation between factor returns over this period; historical variations in valuation of factor indexes and their exposure to GICS sectors. We also use IndexMetrics,...

Indexes

Research Report

Global private real estate represents significant opportunities for investors, but also major challenges, similar to global equity 30 years ago. A lack of information, and the smoothness of appraisal-based valuations, have left investors and risk managers guessing about the behavior of global real estate: a wide-range of speculation is commonplace, including the view that real estate is a low-risk, high-return diversifier. In this Model Insight, we shed light on this misunderstood asset...

Research Report

Commercial real estate represents an important element of the asset allocation process but is difficult to access directly, with high barriers to entry and exit. Listed (or publicly held) real estate is far more liquid but these securities are far more volatile and incorporate an additional layer of leverage. Indexes tracking direct and listed real estate differ significantly in their calculation methodologies, making direct comparisons difficult. The MSCI USA IMI Liquid Real Estate Index...

Indexes

Research Report

Indexes Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Report

Many studies have focused on the relationship between companies with strong ESG characteristics and corporate financial performance.  However, these have often struggled to show that positive correlations — when produced — can in fact explain the behavior. This paper provides a  link between ESG information and the valuation and performance of companies, both through their systematic risk profile (lower costs of capital and higher valuations) and their idiosyncratic risk profile...

Indexes ESG Products & Services Portfolio Management Analytics Risk Management Analytics