Contagion and the Role of Market Development: the Case of the Malaysian Futures Market during the East Asian Crisis of 1997

In looking to explain the possible transmission and causal flows in volatility between financial markets during an economic crisis and the impact of possible contagion, we examine the specific circumstances surrounding the role of the development of futures index trading in Malaysia in relation to the East Asian (or Asian) crisis of the late 1990's. Specifically, our main contribution is to assess whether an undeveloped and subsequently developing futures market had the 'efficiency capacity' to transmit fair prices and, failing that, whether price contagion was spread via futures index trading.