Research Methodology
In June and July 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, surveyed 310 institutional investors in the US and Western Europe to investigate their views surrounding tail risk: what specific risks they are concerned about and why, what strategies they have in place to mitigate the impact of tail risk, what they believe other investors know about tail risk and whether tail risk events will happen more frequently and be more severe than in the past.
Respondents were drawn from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and the US. Investors were grouped by type— institutional investors (such as asset managers and pension funds), family offices, consultants and private banks—and size (assets under management of less than US$1bn and greater than US$1bn).
In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with six experts from asset-management firms, private banks, consultancies, pension funds and academia.
