We analyze whether cross-national distance between professional money managers and the positions they take in foreign markets affects investment performance. Out of four dimensions of cross-national distance (geography, culture, business climate, and industry), we find that only cultural distance inversely relates to portfolio performance. Investors earn higher returns in culturally similar foreign markets when market conditions in these countries are favorable. Our results show that the culture-based patterns in foreign portfolio allocations are associated with an information advantage and suggest that multinational corporate decisions influenced by culture increase firm value.

我们分析了专业基金经理与他们在国外市场所持头寸之间的跨国距离是否会影响投资业绩。在跨国距离的四个维度（地理、文化、商业环境和行业）中，我们发现只有文化距离与投资组合绩效成反比。当这些国家的市场条件有利时，投资者在文化相似的外国市场中获得更高的回报。我们的研究结果表明，外国投资组合配置中基于文化的模式与信息优势相关，并表明受文化影响的跨国公司决策增加了公司价值。