As emerging markets morph into developing – and, eventually, developed – markets, pension funds are keen to cash in on the growth. But those that have so far done so have experienced a bumpy ride.

According to data from Acadian Asset Management, the standard deviation - how far an asset class deviates from its average return - of the MSCI Emerging Markets index was 32% between the beginning of 1993 and the end of August 2010, compared with 18% for the MSCI World index.