Weekend Reading: CalPERS, TIAA-CREF, Brazil, Spain and Ireland

Welcome to the weekend. 

First, here are today’s top news items:

- Social Science: As a ‘recovering economist’, I admit to loving this article. (Yes, it's by design that this post is being written in an engineering school and not an economics department.)

- Transparency: NY Common sues Qualcomm for transparency into the company's political spending practices. That's a first.

- Economic Geography: Here's the  geography of hedge fund returns. Interesting.

- Real Estate: TIAA-CREF just bought 1511 Third Avenue on New York's Upper East Side.

- Commodities: CalPERS cut its commodity holdings by 55 percent in October:

- SWF Leadership: Singapore's GIC announced the appointment of a new group chief investment officer. 

- Pension Plundering: Brazil, Spain and Ireland plunder their pensions .

Second, here are a few research papers that are hopefully of interest:

- Reserve Adequacy: Joshua Aizenman and Hans Genberg have prepared an interesting review paper entitled, “Research on the Demand for International Reserves: Developments in Academia, the Contribution of IMF Researchers, and Influence on IMF Surveillance.”  

- Trustee Competency: Susan Sayce, Johanna Weststar, and Anil Verma have a new paper entitled “The recruitment and selection of pension trustees: an integrative approach.” This is such an important topic. 

- In-House Management: Gordon Clark and Yours Truly posted a paper over on SSRN before the break entitled, “Principles and Policies for In-House Asset Management.” Send all critiques here.

Enjoy your weekend!