TY  - JOUR
AU  - Martell,Rodolfo
AU  - Stulz,Rene M.
TI  - Equity market liberalizations as country IPOs
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9481
PY  - 2003
Y2  - February 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9481
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9481.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Rodolfo Martell
Purdue University
Krannert School of Management
West Lafayette, IN  47907
E-Mail: rmartell@purdue.edu

Rene M. Stulz
The Ohio State University
Fisher College of Business
806A Fisher Hall
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
Tel: 614/292-1970
Fax: 614/292-2359
E-Mail: stulz_1@cob.osu.edu
AB  - Equity market liberalizations are like IPOs, but they are IPOs of a country's stock market rather than of individual firms. Both are endogenous events whose benefits are limited by poor investor protection, agency costs, and information asymmetries. As for stock prices following an IPO, there are legitimate concerns about the efficiency in the period following the liberalization of the stock market returns of countries that liberalize their equity markets. Equity markets of liberalizing countries experience extremely strong performance immediately after the liberalization, but then go through a period of poor performance. This pattern of stock returns is more dramatic for countries with poorer financial development before the liberalization.
ER  -