The potential of alternative investments as an asset class: a thematic and bibliometric review

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to review, systematize and integrate existing research on alternative investments. This study conducts performance analysis comprising production timeline, country-wise contributions, analysis of sources, affiliations, the geography of authors and citations of studies on alternative investments. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a thematic and bibliometric analysis methodology on 570 papers identified from mainstream literature on alternative investments. This study provides an analysis of science mapping, including co-citation analysis, bibliometric coupling, word analysis and trending topics on alternative investments. In addition, the study presents thematic analysis by classifying existing studies into nine themes. Findings Alternative investments provide diversification benefits and play a critical role in portfolio construction, and the research on alternative investments has gained momentum in recent times. This study finds that hedge funds, private equity, artwork, collectibles, commodities, fine wine and venture capital have remained prominent themes in the field. Investments in cryptocurrencies are an emerging area in the research on alternative investments. Research limitations/implications This study limits itself to the papers published in the area of finance and economics listed on the Scopus database. Originality/value This study provides quantitative bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis of the extant literature on alternative investments and identifies the areas that could be developed to advance research on alternative investments.

Shed old baggage and invest wisely. A bibliometric and thematic analysis of disposition effect and investment

“…Table 1 presents primary key information about selected articles. In agreement with prior studies (Kaur et al, 2022;Mundi and Kumar, 2023), the data visualizations presented in this study are conducted using R-tool's Bibliometrix package (Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017). The existing literature is classified into five themes, and a discussion on the insights from these themes is presented.…”

“…Bibliometric analysis is a promising method to progress emerging research trends as it helps examine a topic’s intellectual structure (Baker et al , 2021b; Mundi and Kumar, 2022). In bibliometric analysis, mathematical and statistical methods are applied to explore existing literature (Aparicio et al , 2019; Kumar et al , 2022).…”

“…Out of 1,343 articles, 746 were selected for screening, and this selection was based on the articles limited to specific subject areas. The subjects selected as filtering criteria were Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Business, Management and Accounting, Psychology, Social Sciences and Multidisciplinary (Mundi and Kumar, 2022; Vashisht et al , 2022). Furthermore, 179 articles were removed after reviewing the title, abstract and keyword.…”

Message in a bottle: Forecasting wine prices

“…The importance of wine prices forecasting is widely acknowledged, serving as a vital tool to plan production, design buying, selling decisions, outline marketing strategies, form expectations, and even invest in alternative classes of assets (Bazen and Cardebat, 2022; Dimson et al, 2015; Mundi and Kumar, 2023). However, forecasting wine prices has proven to be less easy than one may expect.…”

“…While auction prices were available, they were not standardized for conditions or tax status. However, pushed by the digitalization of trade, the creation of the Liv-ex index, and more sophisticated trading infrastructure, wine has become both a popular consumption good and a newer investment asset that is starting to attract large amounts of funds (Ameur et al, 2024; Faye et al, 2015; Fogarty and Sadler, 2014; Masset and Henderson, 2010; Mundi and Kumar, 2023). Notably, it turned out that wine, measured by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index, was a more fruitful investment than several traditional markets in 2021, outperforming the Dow Jones, FTSE 100, and gold 3 .…”