Kipling’s Depiction of the Great Game Between British India and Czarist Russia

This article provides valuable information about the living conditions of Muslims of the Pak-Afghan Region in the context of revisiting Rudyard Kipling’s view of the Great Game of the 19th century between Great Britain and Russia that roughly continued for about a century beginning in the second decade of the 19th century to the signing of the Anglo Russian convention in 1907. In this respect his famous novel, Kim (1901) has been critically examined to establish the political content of his creative work. Coupled with the appreciation of the novel as a great work of art with its many facets and themes, views of Edward Said have been juxtaposed to arrive at a conclusion that the novel is also a celebration of imperialism. In today’s scenario in Central Asia particularly Afghanistan, a revisit of Kipling is an interesting revelation. The discussion also reveals the similarities of the tussle of two centuries back to the realities in the region today. This insight as we appreciate Kipling’s masterpiece novel proves even more eye-catching and real. This paper also examines Peter Hopkirk’s works on the Great Game to historically asses the dialectics of the imperial struggle between the two super powers of the time. In this connection, a brief discussion is available on the three Anglo-Afghan Wars as well as the conflict in Kashgharia. This article presents an overview of the view head by Russians on the conflict which they call Tournament of Shadows or Bolshya Igra involving spies and military personnel. A fresh look at Kipling’s works in general and his novel Kim, in particular, helps explore the very essentials of the working of Imperialism and empire-building, which is the main stay of this paper. A deeper look would understandably unfurl big powers rivalry in general, and the present day security situation in Asia in particular, by going through the works of a great writer; the first Englishman and the youngest recipient for Nobel Prize in Literature (1907).  

A Comprehensive Frame Work for Global and Domestic Asset Allocation

There are two main streams to deal with traditional asset allocation strategies i.e. theoretical approach and implementation approach. These approaches are the prime focus of this study. Portfolio optimization is based upon two fundamental ingredients i.e. estimation of return vector and covariance matrix. This study compares the 12 covariance matrix under four categories i.e conventional methods, factor models, portfolio of estimators and shrinkage approach. This study also compares the performance of 7 alternative ways for estimation of return vector. Study also develops portfolios based on mean-variance optimization, minimum variance portfolios, constraints portfolios and naïve diversification. This study first time introduces the ‘country risk’ as unprice risk factor in the Black-Litterman model and uses this augmented Black-Litterman formula (BL-CR) for the estimation of expected return vector. The comparison of asset allocation strategies are base upon the financial efficiency and diversification dimensions using 10 asset classes from 5 emerging Asian countries i.e. India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines & Thailand, 4 asset classes from global environment and 22 asset classes from Pakistan. Study reveals that factor models as a group outperform the competing covariance estimators in all the emerging countries. From the number of positive and negative weights to asset classes, maximum and minimum value of weights, other diversification measures of the mean-variance framework, it is reveal that mean variance portfolios are concentrated, mostly counterintuitive, results more short positions and highly sensitive to the choice of input. Similarly the financial efficiency of these portfolios is also highly sensitive to the input estimates. Results of asset allocation strategies suggest that, on an average, equally weighted portfolios result a competitive strategy in Pakistan and in global environment. Therefore study also recommends that investment managers and academia should at least consider the naïve diversification as a first obvious benchmark in comparison with other asset allocation strategies. The BL-CR model outperform the original model as it has relatively less short positions, more number of positive weight, less variance, low value of Herfindahl index and high value of excess sharp ratio. Therefore BL-CR model is more appropriate on mathematical and empirical ground in asset allocation than original model to disperse country risk. This study also recommends that investment managers and academia should consider the Black-Litterman model under country risk for tactical asset allocation decisions in emerging Asian countries.