Like most investors, Harvard University’s billion-dollar endowment fund took a beating during the global financial crisis. Many investors cashed out, opting for the safety of the sidelines. But Harvard called a new play. During the first quarter, Harvard engineered a dramatic shift in its endowment-fund investment strategy – boosting its stakes in some of the most prominent emerging market exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Capital flows to emerging markets are likely to plunge this year. And countries with low domestic savings or wide external deficits will suffer badly. Martin Hutchinson picks the five best emerging market etfs to hold in 2009.