Abstract
This paper examines the investments and returns of UK private sector pension funds during the period of UK exchange controls. The main findings are that over the period i) 50% of private sector pension funds' wealth was in UK shares, UK bond holdings fell from 40% to 26%, UK property holdings rose from 3% to 16%, overseas asset holdings were unimportant; ii) the total real return on the portfolio was just over 1% p.a. and that only UK property, loans and shares had positive average real returns; iii) the pension funds generally purchase assets to hold on a long term basis, not for their short-term capital gain potential; iv) the actual investment performance of UK private sector pension funds barely dominated that of a non-traded portfolio.
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