Efficient Market Hypothesis in Africa's Sub-Saharan Stock Markets

Efficient Market Hypothesis in Africa's Sub-Saharan Stock Markets
Author: Sebastian Groh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 69
Release: 2009-10-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3640438531

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbes. Ökonometrie), course: Bachelorarbeit, language: English, abstract: In recent years foreign aid was often conditioned on good institutions. Due to this course the development of financial institutions has been considered vital for the development process. This thesis points in its theoretical part to the positive effects of efficient stock markets on economic growth and examines empirically the efficiency of Africa's sub-Saharan stock markets. Results are then compared with the same tests on four emerging markets in Asia and as a benchmark on S&P 500 and DAX. It discusses further the relationship between market efficiency and financial crisis and comes to the conclusion that a crisis worsens the respective efficiency level. Nevertheless, all African markets are at least able to pass the critical lowest hurdle of market efficiency. However, conclusions from the research propose, that the Asian markets perform better than the African markets, although the study comes to some inconclusive results. Limits to the efficient market hypothesis itself and its empirical analysis are shown throughout the paper. The study suggests that former reforms need to be intensified in order to avoid a further increase in overall income inequalities.

Efficient Market Hypothesis in Africa’s Sub-Saharan Stock Markets

Efficient Market Hypothesis in Africa’s Sub-Saharan Stock Markets
Author: Sebastian Groh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 63
Release: 2009-10-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3640438663

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim (Lehrstuhl für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbes. Ökonometrie), course: Bachelorarbeit, language: English, abstract: In recent years foreign aid was often conditioned on good institutions. Due to this course the development of financial institutions has been considered vital for the development process. This thesis points in its theoretical part to the positive effects of efficient stock markets on economic growth and examines empirically the efficiency of Africa’s sub-Saharan stock markets. Results are then compared with the same tests on four emerging markets in Asia and as a benchmark on S&P 500 and DAX. It discusses further the relationship between market efficiency and financial crisis and comes to the conclusion that a crisis worsens the respective efficiency level. Nevertheless, all African markets are at least able to pass the critical lowest hurdle of market efficiency. However, conclusions from the research propose, that the Asian markets perform better than the African markets, although the study comes to some inconclusive results. Limits to the efficient market hypothesis itself and its empirical analysis are shown throughout the paper. The study suggests that former reforms need to be intensified in order to avoid a further increase in overall income inequalities.

A Typology of Foreign Exchange Auction Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa

A Typology of Foreign Exchange Auction Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Ron Hood
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

In this analytical sequel to quot;A Typology of Foreign Exchange Auction Markets in sub-Saharan Africaquot; , the authors compare the micromanagement of different foreign exchange auctions in sub-Saharan Africa. Multi-unit auctions for foreign exchange were introduced in a number of countries in the 1980s and 1990s, in a transitional step toward a credible, sustainable, unified regime, such as efficient interbank market. But there is little understanding of how auction markets function in sub-Saharan Africa, and there has been virtually no research on the causes of frequent policy reversals or of auction failure. One possible cause of failure -- apart from thin markets, macroeconomic laxity, and vulnerability to terms-of-trade shocks and fluctuations in the disbursement of foreign aid -- is the inappropriate design and management of auctions. The authors estimate models for the microdeterminants of the auction rate, using weekly data on foreign exchange auctions for Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. Among the policy lessons: 1) Nigeria and Zambia failed to unify and stabilize the exchange rate partly because there was no reserve price rule. When bidders learn such a rule, speculative bidding diminishes. 2) The management of a credible, sustainable reserve price policy requires an efficient secondary market. A simple underlying model, synthesized from the theoretical literature on auctions, specifies the auction rate as a function of fundamental variables and structural shift dummies. The repeated, sequential nature of these multi-unit auctions and the nonstationary nature of most of the auction variables are captured empirically by a cointegrated (error connection) framework. In addition to consistently estimating long-run and short-run parameters of auction fundamentals, the error correction model allows asymptotically efficient testing of three policy hypotheses deriving from auction theory: the competitiveness hypothesis, the effect of uncertainty on the auction-determined rate, and the revenue-equivalence hypothesis. In other words, they used these models to test the impact on the level of the auction rate of increased comptetition among bidders, of the effect of uncertainty (proxied by a volatile supply of foreign exchange), and of different pricing mechanisms.

Stress Testing in Sub-Saharan Africa

Stress Testing in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Mindaugas Leika
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2020-05-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 151353291X

The paper finds that supervisory stress tests are conducted in more than half of sub-Saharan African countries, particularly in western and southern Africa, and that the number of individual stress tests has grown exponentially since the early 2010s. By contrast, few central banks publish assessments of macro-financial linkages; the focus leans more toward discussing trends and weaknesses within the financial sector than on outside risks that may negatively affect its performance.

FinTech in Sub-Saharan African Countries

FinTech in Sub-Saharan African Countries
Author: Mr.Amadou N Sy
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 61
Release: 2019-02-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484385667

FinTech is a major force shaping the structure of the financial industry in sub-Saharan Africa. New technologies are being developed and implemented in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to change the competitive landscape in the financial industry. While it raises concerns on the emergence of vulnerabilities, FinTech challenges traditional structures and creates efficiency gains by opening up the financial services value chain. Today, FinTech is emerging as a technological enabler in the region, improving financial inclusion and serving as a catalyst for the emergence of innovations in other sectors, such as agriculture and infrastructure.

Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Marcel Fafchamps
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 543
Release: 2003-12-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262262703

An analysis of recent data on the economic behavior of market institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, with implications for future research and current policy. In Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Marcel Fafchamps synthesizes the results of recent surveys of indigenous market institutions in twelve countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and presents findings about economics exchange in Africa that have implications both for future research and current policy. Employing empirical data as well as theoretical models that clarify the data, Fafchamps takes as his unifying principle the difficulties of contract enforcement. Arguing that in an unpredictable world contracts are not always likely to be respected, he shows that contract agreements in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by the absence of large hierarchies (both corporate and governmental) and as a result must depend to a greater degree than in more developed economies on social networks and personal trust. Fafchamps considers policy recommendations as they apply to countries in three different stages of development: countries with undeveloped market institutions, like Ghana; countries at an intermediate stage, like Kenya; and countries with developed market institutions, like Zimbabwe. Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa caps ten years of personal research by the author. Fafchamps, in collaboration with such institutions as the Africa Division of the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, participated in the surveys of manufacturing firms and agricultural traders that provide the empirical basis for the book. The result is a work that makes a significant contribution to research on the continuing economic stagnation of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is also largely accessible to researchers in other fields and policy professionals.

Handbook of Research on Financial Management During Economic Downturn and Recovery

Handbook of Research on Financial Management During Economic Downturn and Recovery
Author: Teixeira, Nuno Miguel
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2021-06-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1799866440

Times of crisis are unexpected and they bring diverse challenges and opportunities for companies, financial markets, and the economy. On one hand, more risk and uncertainties appear, yet on the other hand, it is an opportunity to reorganize and reinvent the company. It is important for businesses to understand ways to deal with uncertainty and risk in times of economic downturn and what financial strategies and tools can be used to eliminate or reduce the potential negative effects. These effects can reach the company’s financial performance, capital structure, as well as cause financial debt and the availability of cash-flow to companies. However, different financial instruments can sustain the business and deal with the difficulties of payment when sales reduce and uncertainty increases; thus, research is essential in this critical area. When economic downturn affects the financial markets, the role of banks, country dynamics, the economy, and many other facets of the business world, financial management becomes the key for business recovery. The Handbook of Research on Financial Management During Economic Downturn and Recovery shares relevant knowledge on challenges and opportunities caused by crises, such as the pandemic, and the effects on economic and financial arenas. The chapters cover topics such as business models to understand how companies react to pandemic and crises situations, as well as how they change their management and way of conducting business. Other important topics include sustainable development, international financial markets, capital structure changes, uncertainty and risk, and governance and leadership. This book is ideal for shareholders, directors and managers, economists, researchers, academics, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in knowledge on topics about challenges in the way that companies, financial markets, financial institutions, and governments respond to risk and uncertainty.

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Mr.Dhaneshwar Ghura
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 32
Release: 1995-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451855753

The paper investigates empirically the determinants of economic growth for a large sample of sub-Saharan African countries during 1981-92. The results indicate that (i) an increase in private investment has a relatively large positive impact on per capita growth; (ii) growth is stimulated by public policies that lower the budget deficit in relation to GDP (without reducing government investment), reduce the rate of inflation, maintain external competitiveness, promote structural reforms, encourage human capital development, and slow population growth; and (iii) convergence of per capita income occurs after controlling for human capital development and public policies.