The Investments and Returns of Private Sector Pension Funds in the UK 1963–1978¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Blake, David^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Economics, Birkbeck College, Gresse Street, London WIP IPA, UK

Note: [1] This research was supported by ESRC grants Nos. B00220011 (at the London School of Economics) and B012250012 (at the London Business School).

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.

DOI: 10.3233/JEM-1989-153-401

Journal: Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, vol. 15, no. 3-4, pp. 181-224, 1989