Microstructure and asset pricing: An insight on African frontier stock markets

This article investigates the impact of microstructure factors on asset pricing in some African stock markets. We use data on stocks listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the “Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières,” and the Nigeria Stock Exchange, and we consider international portfolio management from 2000 to 2014. Generalized least square and fixed effect are estimation methods used to highlight the effect of microstructure variables on expected return. At the same time, panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) modeling is considered to identify the thresholds in this effect. The results show that liquidity and to a lesser extent the number of trading days are the most common significant microstructure variables for all the studied markets. However, other variables’ effects on the return are specific to the considered stock markets. Furthermore, the PSTR estimator reveals that the impact of indicated factors on asset pricing is not linear because it produces a double threshold between return and microstructure.     

Spillover effects of the 2008 financial crisis on NIE stock markets

This article estimates dynamic conditional correlations of stock returns across countries by using DCC–GARCH model and analyse spillover effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the NIE’s stock markets. The results show that there is no regime shift in mean equation of the correlation coefficient during the financial crisis. It may imply there are no mean spillover effects of the US financial crisis on the NIE’s stock markets. However, there are volatility spillover effects of the financial crisis sparked in 2008 from the US to the NIE’s markets.     

International stock markets comovements: the role of economic and financial integration

The contribution of economic and financial integration to international stock markets comovements are investigated by means of a large scale macroeconometric model, set in the factor vector autoregressive framework (F-VAR). The findings point to a relevant role for both economic and financial integration in explaining international stock markets comovements for the G-7 countries. While economic integration would exercise its effects through the common response of stock markets to global economic shocks, financial integration would operate through financial shocks spillovers, particularly at the regional level.      

Dynamic correlation and equicorrelation analysis of global financial turmoil: evidence from emerging East Asian stock markets

This study investigates the dynamic conditional correlations (DCCs) between eight emerging East Asian stock markets and the US stock market and analyses the dynamic equicorrelation among these nine stock markets. We find a significant increase in the conditional correlations and equicorrelation in the first phase of the global financial crisis. We refer to this finding as contagion from the US stock market to the emerging East Asian markets. We also find an additional significant process of increasing correlations and equicorrelation (herding) in the second phase of the global financial crisis. Further, we employ two new models, namely DCCX-MGARCH (a DCC Multivariate GARCH model with exogenous variables) and DECOX-MGARCH (a dynamic equicorrelation multivariate GARCH model with exogenous variables), to identify the channels of contagion. We find that an increase in the VIX Index increases the conditional correlations and equicorrelation, while increases in TED spreads decrease the conditional correlations of six emerging East Asian countries with the USA. We compare the accuracy of the conditional correlation estimates of the DCC and DCCX models (or DECO and DECOX models) by constructing a loss function. We find that the DCCX (DECOX) model provides more accurate conditional correlation estimates than the DCC (DECO) model by extracting additional information from exogenous variables.     

Financial illness and political virus: the case of contagious crises in the Eurozone

Abstract

This paper investigates the volatility spillover effects from the southern to northern part of the Eurozone during the sovereign debt crisis. Focusing on different phases of the crises, we propose using the dynamic conditional correlation model and the BEKK model to identify possible linkages during the period of 2005–2015. The findings showed that both models behave satisfactorily and are flexible in presenting spillover effects. However, regarding conditional correlations, the asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation model seems to fit better. Additionally, Spain and Italy can significantly damage all strong northern economies, while Greece’s negative shocks are capable of co-moving the French index. Finally, France is the most correlated country within the southern Eurozone.     

The effectiveness of index futures hedging in emerging markets during the crisis period of 2008-2010: Evidence from South Africa

This article provides an assessment of the comparative effectiveness of four econometric methods in estimating the optimal hedge ratio in an emerging equity market, particularly the South African equity and futures markets. The article bases the effectiveness of hedging on volatility reduction and minimization of the coefficient of variation of hedged returns as well as risk-aversion-based utility maximization. The empirical analysis shows that the vector error-correction method and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity methods are most effective over relatively long horizon, weekly and monthly hedging periods.     

Income inequality,consumer debt,and prudential regulation: An agent-based approach to study the emergence of crises and financial instability

The paper presents an agent-based model to study the interaction between income inequality and prudential regulations in a macroeconomic framework characterized by consumer debt. Simulation results show that income inequality is detrimental to both macro and financial stability as it leads to higher credit demands, higher unemployment rates, economic volatility, and financial fragility. Besides the importance of consumers' leveraging, deleveraging externalities are found to be equally important for the emergence of crises and financial fragility because of the liquidity risk they entail. Minsky moments are also observed; they are related to consumers' prudential behavior and their beliefs about the macroeconomic conditions. Concerning the policy relevance of our investigation, simulations allow us to highlight that the effectiveness of prudential regulation depends on the phase of the business cycle and that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” regulation. This study emphasizes that regulatory constraints should take into account the features of the economic agents, such as the distribution of income and their willingness to borrow, in addition to the features of the financial sector.