IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v58y2021ics0275531921000921.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The stabilizing effect of social distancing: Cross-country differences in financial market response to COVID-19 pandemic policies

Author

Listed:
  • Bickley, Steve J.
  • Brumpton, Martin
  • Chan, Ho Fai
  • Colthurst, Richard
  • Torgler, Benno

Abstract

COVID-19 has had far-reaching global effects on the health and wellbeing of individuals on every continent. The economic and financial market response has been equally disastrous with high levels of volatility observed. This study explores the temporal relations between structural breaks, market volatility and government stay-at-home policy interventions and social distancing measures for 28 countries and their respective indices. We present results which indicate the establishment of stay-at-home policies influence sharp discontinuities in 15 of 28 markets (53.57 %) and increase market efficiency in 30 of 49 cases observed (61.22 %). These results indicate a small, statistically significant degree of stabilization in international financial markets responding to government stay-at-home policies and social distancing measures, a promising result for political actors concerned with economic performance during the public health response to the coronavirus 2019 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Bickley, Steve J. & Brumpton, Martin & Chan, Ho Fai & Colthurst, Richard & Torgler, Benno, 2021. "The stabilizing effect of social distancing: Cross-country differences in financial market response to COVID-19 pandemic policies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:58:y:2021:i:c:s0275531921000921
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2021.101471
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531921000921
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2021.101471?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Huber, Christoph & Huber, Jürgen & Kirchler, Michael, 2021. "Market shocks and professionals’ investment behavior – Evidence from the COVID-19 crash," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Scott R Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Stephen J Terry, 2024. "Using Disasters to Estimate the Impact of Uncertainty," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(2), pages 720-747.
    4. Audrino, Francesco & Sigrist, Fabio & Ballinari, Daniele, 2020. "The impact of sentiment and attention measures on stock market volatility," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 334-357.
    5. Zhang, Dayong & Hu, Min & Ji, Qiang, 2020. "Financial markets under the global pandemic of COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    6. Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang & Hu, Yang & Lucey, Brian & Oxley, Les, 2021. "Aye Corona! The contagion effects of being named Corona during the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    7. Haroon, Omair & Rizvi, Syed Aun R., 2020. "COVID-19: Media coverage and financial markets behavior—A sectoral inquiry," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    8. Claudiu Albulescu, 2020. "Coronavirus and financial volatility: 40 days of fasting and fear," Papers 2003.04005, arXiv.org.
    9. Zaremba, Adam & Kizys, Renatas & Aharon, David Y. & Demir, Ender, 2020. "Infected Markets: Novel Coronavirus, Government Interventions, and Stock Return Volatility around the Globe," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    10. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Kyle J. Kost & Marco C. Sammon & Tasaneeya Viratyosin, 2020. "The Unprecedented Stock Market Impact of COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 26945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Christos Christodoulou-Volos & Fotios Siokis, 2006. "Long range dependence in stock market returns," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(18), pages 1331-1338.
    12. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    13. Reiner Eichenberger & Rainer Hegselmann & David A. Savage & David Stadelmann & Benno Torgler, 2020. "Certified Coronavirus Immunity as a Resource and Strategy to Cope with Pandemic Costs," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 464-474, August.
    14. Goodell, John W., 2020. "COVID-19 and finance: Agendas for future research," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    15. Faheem Aslam & Wahbeeah Mohti & Paulo Ferreira, 2020. "Evidence of Intraday Multifractality in European Stock Markets during the Recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Kuo-Jung Lee & Su-Lien Lu & You Shih, 2018. "Contagion Effect of Natural Disaster and Financial Crisis Events on International Stock Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-25, March.
    17. Ho Fai Chan & Ahmed Skali & Benno Torgler, 2020. "A Global Dataset of Human Mobility," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    18. Ali M. Kutan & Mehmet E. Yaya, 2016. "Armed conflict and financial and economic risk: evidence from Colombia," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 159-187, August.
    19. Ichev, Riste & Marinč, Matej, 2018. "Stock prices and geographic proximity of information: Evidence from the Ebola outbreak," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 153-166.
    20. Kantelhardt, Jan W. & Zschiegner, Stephan A. & Koscielny-Bunde, Eva & Havlin, Shlomo & Bunde, Armin & Stanley, H.Eugene, 2002. "Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of nonstationary time series," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 316(1), pages 87-114.
    21. Silvo Dajcman, 2012. "Time-varying long-range dependence in stock market returns and financial market disruptions -- a case of eight European countries," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(10), pages 953-957, July.
    22. Reiner Eichenberger & Rainer Hegselmann & David Savage & David Stadelmann & Benno Torgler, 2020. "Certified Corona-Immunity as a Resource and Strategy to Cope with Pandemic Costs," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-03, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    23. Kristin van Barneveld & Michael Quinlan & Peter Kriesler & Anne Junor & Fran Baum & Anis Chowdhury & PN (Raja) Junankar & Stephen Clibborn & Frances Flanagan & Chris F Wright & Sharon Friel & Joseph H, 2020. "The COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons on building more equal and sustainable societies," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(2), pages 133-157, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aharon, David Y. & Siev, Smadar, 2021. "COVID-19, government interventions and emerging capital markets performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Ding, Shusheng & Wang, Anqi & Cui, Tianxiang & Du, Anna Min & Zhou, Xinmiao, 2024. "Commodity market stability and sustainable development: The effect of public health policies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tomás Gómez Rodríguez & Humberto Ríos Bolívar & Adriana Zambrano Reyes, 2021. "Volatilidad y COVID-19: evidencia empírica internacional," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 16(3), pages 1-20, Julio - S.
    2. Piñeiro-Chousa, Juan & López-Cabarcos, M. Ángeles & Quiñoá-Piñeiro, Lara & Pérez-Pico, Ada M., 2022. "US biopharmaceutical companies' stock market reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the concept of the ‘paradoxical spiral’ from a sustainability perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    3. Padhan, Rakesh & Prabheesh, K.P., 2021. "The economics of COVID-19 pandemic: A survey," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 220-237.
    4. Baek, Seungho & Mohanty, Sunil K. & Glambosky, Mina, 2020. "COVID-19 and stock market volatility: An industry level analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    5. Díaz, Fernando & Henríquez, Pablo A. & Winkelried, Diego, 2022. "Stock market volatility and the COVID-19 reproductive number," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    6. Lyócsa, Štefan & Baumöhl, Eduard & Výrost, Tomáš & Molnár, Peter, 2020. "Fear of the coronavirus and the stock markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    7. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Economic impact of government interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence from financial markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    8. Yarovaya, Larisa & Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Goodell, John W. & Lucey, Brian & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Rethinking financial contagion: Information transmission mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Faheem Aslam & Paulo Ferreira & Haider Ali & Sumera Kauser, 2022. "Herding behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparison between Asian and European stock markets based on intraday multifractality," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 333-359, June.
    10. Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Charteris, Ailie & Bwanya, Princess Rutendo & Brzeszczyński, Janusz, 2022. "The impact and role of COVID-19 uncertainty: A global industry analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Tarchella, Salma & Dhaoui, Abderrazak, 2021. "Chinese jigsaw: Solving the equity market response to the COVID-19 crisis: Do alternative asset provide effective hedging performance?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Ali, Fahad & Sensoy, Ahmet & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Identifying diversifiers, hedges, and safe havens among Asia Pacific equity markets during COVID-19: New results for ongoing portfolio allocation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 744-792.
    13. Chebbi, Kaouther & Ammer, Mohammed Abdullah & Hameed, Affan, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic and stock liquidity: Evidence from S&P 500," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 134-142.
    14. Emre Cevik & Buket Kirci Altinkeski & Emrah Ismail Cevik & Sel Dibooglu, 2022. "Investor sentiments and stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-34, December.
    15. Sherif, Mohamed, 2020. "The impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on faith-based investments: An original analysis," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    16. Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Kijkasiwat, Ploypailin & Arunachalam, Murugesh & Hammami, Helmi, 2021. "Covid-19 health policy intervention and volatility of Asian capital markets," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    17. Just, Małgorzata & Echaust, Krzysztof, 2020. "Stock market returns, volatility, correlation and liquidity during the COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from the Markov switching approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    18. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Karikari, Nana Kwasi & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko, 2022. "The outbreak of COVID-19 and stock market liquidity: Evidence from emerging and developed equity markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Costa, Antonio & Matos, Paulo & da Silva, Cristiano, 2022. "Sectoral connectedness: New evidence from US stock market during COVID-19 pandemics," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    20. Yousfi, Mohamed & Ben Zaied, Younes & Ben Cheikh, Nidhaleddine & Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Bouzgarrou, Houssem, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the US stock market and uncertainty: A comparative assessment between the first and second waves," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:58:y:2021:i:c:s0275531921000921. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ribaf .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.