African Stock Market Performance Dynamics: A Multidimensional Convergence Assessment

The author dissects, with great acuteness, the issues of convergence in financial performance dynamics in the African continent through the lenses of stock market capitalization, value traded, turnover, and number of listed companies. The empirical evidence is premised on 11 homogeneous panels based on regions (Sub-Saharan and North Africa), income levels (low, middle, lower-middle, and upper-middle), legal origins (English common law and French civil law), and religious dominations (Christianity and Islam). Findings provide partial support for the existence of absolute convergence in some dynamics. Only Sub-Saharan Africa reveals conditional convergence in relation to per capita number of listed companies. The speed of convergence for the most part is between 12% and 28% per annum. As a policy implication, countries should work toward adopting common institutional and structural characteristics that favor stock market development.