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On the relationship between economic freedom and equity returns in the emerging markets: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) stock markets

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  • Smimou, Kamal
  • Karabegovic, Amela

Abstract

Although the relationship between economic freedom and equity returns has been investigated in the literature, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) equity markets were usually excluded. The aim of this paper is to fill in this gap by examining the relationship between economic freedom index and equity market returns after accounting for a number of control variables. Evidence shows that changes in economic freedom have a positive impact on equity market returns, which are not explained by business-cycle control variables related to expected returns, and that legal structure and security of property rights have the most significant impact.

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  • Smimou, Kamal & Karabegovic, Amela, 2010. "On the relationship between economic freedom and equity returns in the emerging markets: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) stock markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 119-151, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:11:y:2010:i:2:p:119-151
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    3. Wajih Khallouli & Rene Sandretto, 2011. "Testing for “Contagion” of the Subprime Crisis on the Middle East And North African Stock Markets: A Markov Switching EGARCH Approach," Working Papers 609, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 Jan 2011.
    4. Walid M.A. Ahmed, 2016. "Cross-border equity flows and market volatility: the case of Qatar Exchange," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 395-418, July.
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    7. Adam Zaremba, 2019. "The Cross Section of Country Equity Returns: A Review of Empirical Literature," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-26, October.
    8. David A. Burnie, 2021. "Democracy, dictatorship, and economic freedom signals in stock market," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 375-390, January.
    9. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2020. "Corruption and equity market performance: International comparative evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Fathia Elleuch Lahyani, 2014. "Are MENA and Pacific Basin Stock Equity Markets Predictable?," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(4), pages 21582440145, December.
    11. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2014. "A distributional analysis of the benefits of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 121-133.
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    13. Devinaga RASIAH & Tay Lee YING & Sakiru Adebola SOLARIN, 2016. "Economic freedom index and stock returns in Malaysia," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(1(606), S), pages 213-236, Spring.

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