AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND THE EFFICIENCY OF EMERGING MARKET STOCK PRICES

The efficient markets hypothesis in finance suggests that as equity markets are liberalized and made more open to the public, equity prices should reflect the increased availability of information and be more efficiently priced. In this paper, we examine whether emerging market equity prices have become more efficient after financial liberalization. Using two sets of financial liberalization dates, a battery of econometric tests, and data from sixteen countries and three composite portfolios, we find that in spite of theory suggesting the opposite, liberalization does not seem to have improved the efficiency of emerging markets. In fact, most of our statistical tests indicate that the markets were already efficient before the actual liberalization.     

THE TESTING OF AUSTRALIAN STOCK MARKET INDICES FOR MEAN-VARIANCE EFFICIENCY

Three different market indices are tested for mean-variance efficiency using monthly data for leading Australian securities, and following the methodologies suggested in Roll (1979). The balance of the evidence is against index efficiency and against the two-parameter asset pricing theory. However, this could be influenced by imperfections in the tests, inadequate data, and sampling errors in the betas.     

A NOTE ON THE BEHAVIOR OF SECURITY RETURNS: A TEST OF STOCK MARKET OVERREACTION AND EFFICIENCY

Researchers have debated stock market efficiency for years and have found several apparent anomalies, among them the overreaction investment strategy. In a sample of virtually all AMEX and NYSE stocks over twenty-one years, it is demonstrated that abnormal returns earned in one year are positively related to the abnormal returns earned in the next year. This evidence is contrary to the overreaction investment philosophy.     

STOCK MARKET REACTION TO ETHICAL INITIATIVES OF DEFENSE CONTRACTORS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

This paper offers an Investor Decision Framework (IDF) to describe and measure investor behavior toward social responsibility information. This framework seeks to explain how investors perceive the effects of social responsibility information on firm value. The formation in 1986 by 32 major defense contractors of the Defense Industries Initiative (DII) provides an ideal example to assess stock market reaction to an ethical initiative. The performance of the DII firms was compared with that of a control group of non-DII defense firms, which did not sign the agreement, in order to measure and determine the extent to which the market placed substance on the DII as a public commitment to ethics. We initially posited that the DII firms stock price would move in a significantly positive direction. However, when our analysis revealed a significant negative impact not only on DII, but also on non-DII defense stock prices, we were forced to reject thisa priorihypothesis. The market interpreted this ethical initiative as (i) a precursor of future sanctions towards firms engaged in defense contracting or (ii) as a penalty for social irresponsibility imposed by socially conscious investors. Either way, it would have a negative impact upon future cash flows.     

MARKET EFFICIENCY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY OF THE NAIROBI STOCK EXCHANGE

This study extends evidence on the efficiency of stock markets in developing countries using data from the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), and also addresses some methodological issues which have contributed to the sparseness of similar studies. Evidence is provided that small markets such as the NSE may provide empirical results consistent with weak-form efficiency. This evidence holds for the NSE irrespective of whether bid-, ask-, or market-price series are used in conducting the study.     

STOCK MARKET SEASONALITY AND TAXES: AN EXAMINATION OF THE TAX-LOSS SELLING HYPOTHESIS

Recent empirical studies have found evidence that supports the tax loss selling explanation of seasonal effects in stock returns. Using other test procedures, the present authors conclude that the support found in other studies is likely to be the result of spurious correlation between returns of stocks selected as tax-loss selling candidates and the January returns of these stocks.