- MSCI World ex USA index 1985-1987 (Developed Only) - a very crude mapping
- MSCI Emerging Markets index 1988-1994
- Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund (VEIEX) 1995+
Quite obviously, this is very imperfect, not going terribly far back in time, plus the 1985-1987 years are too crude to be meaningful.
While reading various studies about emerging markets, the following index history became apparent (here is a reference):
- Early 80s: the first database of EM returns was created by IFC (International Finance Corporation), it was called EMDB (Emerging Markets Data Base). The primary family index, named IFCG (IFC Global), was made available for academics. IFCG numbers became more broadly available between 1985 and 1987.
- 1988: MSCI created its own Emerging Markets index, which has been a primary reference since then.
- 1989: IFC introduced the IFCI (Investable) family index, which measures returns on stocks that are liquid and available to foreign investors (a subset of IFCG, which tracks the most active stocks on a given market, irrespective of availability to foreigners).
- 1999: IFC sold its EM indices to S&P (Standard&Poor), and the indices have been known since then as S&P/IFCG and S&P/IFCI.
Unfortunately, the IFCG numbers for the years predating IFCI and MSCI EM are hard to find.
Fortunately, an interesting graph was included in the Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2010. Click to see a larger version. Please pay special attention to the description, the authors extended the IFCG EM methodology back to 1976, while staying consistent with the corresponding list and weights of emerging countries. You can also notice that IFCG EM in the early 80s (dark blue line) significantly underperformed MSCI World (developed countries).
