IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sol/wpaper/2013-186361.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Repression and Bond Market Efficiency: the Case of Italy during World War II

Author

Listed:
  • Kim Oosterlinck
  • Jeremy Simon

Abstract

This paper investigates the informational efficiency of bond markets when investments are constrained by financial repression. To assess informational efficiency, this paper performs weak-form efficiency tests on the most liquid bond traded in Italy during the war. Surprisingly, the bond market is informationally efficient even in this repressed environment. In this regard, econometrical techniques aimed at signalling important historical events and the beliefs of contemporaries regarding the outcome of war may provide correct insights even in highly controlled markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Oosterlinck & Jeremy Simon, 2015. "Financial Repression and Bond Market Efficiency: the Case of Italy during World War II," Working Papers CEB 15-001, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/186361
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/186361/1/wp15001.pdf
    File Function: wp15001
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Waldenström, Daniel & Frey, Bruno S., 2008. "Did nordic countries recognize the gathering storm of World War II? Evidence from the bond markets," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 107-126, April.
    2. Pesando, James E, 1979. "On the Random Walk Characteristics of Short- and Long-Term Interest Rates in an Efficient Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(4), pages 457-466, November.
    3. Huff, Gregg & Majima, Shinobu, 2013. "Financing Japan's World War II Occupation of Southeast Asia," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(4), pages 937-977, December.
    4. Fratianni,Michele & Spinelli,Franco, 2005. "A Monetary History of Italy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521023450, September.
    5. Frey, Bruno S. & Kucher, Marcel, 2000. "World War II as reflected on capital markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 187-191, November.
    6. Oosterlinck, Kim, 2003. "The bond market and the legitimacy of Vichy France," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 326-344, July.
    7. Maria Rosa Borges, 2011. "Random walk tests for the Lisbon stock market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 631-639.
    8. David, Géraldine & Oosterlinck, Kim & Szafarz, Ariane, 2013. "Art market inefficiency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 23-25.
    9. Kim Oosterlinck & Filippo Occhino & Eugene N. White, 2006. "How occupied France financed its own exploitation during WW2," Working Papers CEB 06-012.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Richard Sicotte & Catalina Vizcarra & Kirsten Wandschneider, 2010. "Military conquest and sovereign debt: Chile, Peru and the London bond market, 1876–1890," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 4(3), pages 293-319, October.
    11. Fama, Eugene F, 1991. "Efficient Capital Markets: II," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1575-1617, December.
    12. Frey, Bruno S. & Kucher, Marcel, 2000. "History as Reflected in Capital Markets: The Case of World War II," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(2), pages 468-496, June.
    13. Daniel Waldenstr�m & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "How Government Bond Prices Reflect Wartime Events - The Case of the Stockholm Market," IEW - Working Papers 102, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    14. Abraham Abraham & Fazal J. Seyyed & Sulaiman A. Alsakran, 2002. "Testing the Random Walk Behavior and Efficiency of the Gulf Stock Markets," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 37(3), pages 469-480, August.
    15. Keim, Donald B. & Stambaugh, Robert F., 1986. "Predicting returns in the stock and bond markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 357-390, December.
    16. Carmen M. Reinhart & M. Belen Sbrancia1, 2015. "The liquidation of government debt," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 30(82), pages 291-333.
    17. Liu, Christina Y & He, Jia, 1991. "A Variance-Ratio Test of Random Walks in Foreign Exchange Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 773-785, June.
    18. Bruno Frey & Marcel Kucher, 2001. "Wars and Markets: How Bond Values Reflect the Second World War," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(271), pages 317-333, August.
    19. International Monetary Fund, 1998. "Structural Reforms in Government Bond Markets," IMF Working Papers 1998/108, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    21. Andrew W. Lo, A. Craig MacKinlay, 1988. "Stock Market Prices do not Follow Random Walks: Evidence from a Simple Specification Test," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 41-66.
    22. Richard C. K. Burdekin & Leroy O. Laney, 2008. "Financial market reactions to the overthrow and annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom: evidence from London, Honolulu and New York," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 2(2), pages 119-141, July.
    23. Bariviera, A.F. & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B., 2012. "A comparative analysis of the informational efficiency of the fixed income market in seven European countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 426-428.
    24. Huff, Gregg & Majima, Shinobu, 2013. "Financing Japan's World War II Occupation of Southeast Asia," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(04), pages 937-977, December.
    25. Kim Oosterlinck, 2012. "Sovereign Debts and War Finance in Belgium, France and The Netherlands," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/142712, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    26. Gallais-Hamonno, Georges & Hoang, Thi-Hong-Van & Oosterlinck, Kim, 2015. "Informational efficiency of the clandestine and official gold markets in Paris," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 28-30.
    27. Occhino, Filippo & Oosterlinck, Kim & White, Eugene N., 2008. "How Much Can a Victor Force the Vanquished to Pay? France under the Nazi Boot," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 1-45, March.
    28. Willard, Kristen L & Guinnane, Timothy W & Rosen, Harvey S, 1996. "Turning Points in the Civil War: Views from the Greenback Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 1001-1018, September.
    29. Giuseppe Della Torre, 2001. "La finanza di guerra e il "circuito dei capitali" in Italia, 1935-1943: una valutazione quantitativa," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 173-200.
    30. repec:bla:econom:v:69:y:2002:i:276:p:655-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Edith S. Hotchkiss & Tavy Ronen, 2002. "The Informational Efficiency of the Corporate Bond Market: An Intraday Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(5), pages 1325-1354.
    32. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1989. "Business conditions and expected returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 23-49, November.
    33. Zunino, Luciano & Fernández Bariviera, Aurelio & Guercio, M. Belén & Martinez, Lisana B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "On the efficiency of sovereign bond markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(18), pages 4342-4349.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. B. Jirasakuldech & Riza Emekter & Unro Lee, 2008. "Business conditions and nonrandom walk behaviour of US stocks and bonds returns," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 659-672.
    2. Christoph A. Schaltegger & Lukas A. Schmid, 2021. "Public perceptions and bond markets during the Great War: the case of a neutral country," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 537-561, March.
    3. Olga Christodoulaki & Haeran Cho & Piotr Fryzlewicz, 2011. "A Reflection of History: Fluctuations in Greek Sovereign Risk between 1914 and 1929," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 50, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    4. Christodoulaki, Olga & Penzer, Jeremy, 2004. "News from London: Greek government bonds on the London Stock Exchange, 1914-1929," Economic History Working Papers 22335, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Bruno S. Frey & Daniel Waldenstrom, 2007. "Using Financial Markets to Analyze History: The Case of the Second World War," CREMA Working Paper Series 2007-19, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    6. Hiremath, Gourishankar S & Bandi, Kamaiah, 2009. "On the random walk characteristics of stock returns in India," MPRA Paper 46499, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Christodoulaki, Olga & Cho, Haeran & Fryzlewicz, Piotr, 2011. "A reflection of history: fluctuations in Greek sovereign risk between 1914 and 1929," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 38378, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Kim Oosterlinck, 2004. "La bourse de Paris sous l'occupation 1940-1944," Working Papers CEB 04-002.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Kim Oosterlinck & John Landon-lane, 2006. "Hope Springs Eternal – French Bondholders and the Soviet Repudiation (1915–1919)," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 10(4), pages 507-535, December.
    10. Grossman, Richard S. & Imai, Masami, 2009. "Japan's return to gold: Turning points in the value of the yen during the 1920s," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 314-323, July.
    11. Waldenström, Daniel & Frey, Bruno S., 2008. "Did nordic countries recognize the gathering storm of World War II? Evidence from the bond markets," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 107-126, April.
    12. Lars Tegtmeier, 2021. "Testing the Efficiency of Globally Listed Private Equity Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, July.
    13. Marc Flandreau, Kim Oosterlinck, 2011. "Was the Emergence of the International Gold Standard Expected? Melodramatic Evidence from Indian Government Securities," IHEID Working Papers 01-2011, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    14. Daniel Waldenstrom & Bruno S. Frey, 2006. "Using Markets to Measure Pre-War Threat Assessments: The Nordic Countries facing World War II," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-27, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    15. Felix Schindler, 2013. "Predictability and Persistence of the Price Movements of the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Indices," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 44-90, January.
    16. Helmut Herwartz & Leonardo Morales-Arias, 2009. "In-sample and out-of-sample properties of international stock return dynamics conditional on equilibrium pricing factors," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 1-28.
    17. Kim Oosterlinck, 2003. "The bond market and the legitimacy of Vichy France," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 40(3), pages 326-344, July.
    18. Daniel Waldenstr�m & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "How Government Bond Prices Reflect Wartime Events - The Case of the Stockholm Market," IEW - Working Papers 102, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    19. Fernando Rubio, 2005. "Eficiencia De Mercado, Administracion De Carteras De Fondos Y Behavioural Finance," Finance 0503028, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2005.
    20. Tsai, Hui-Ju, 2014. "The informational efficiency of bonds and stocks: The role of institutional sized bond trades," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 34-45.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    WWII; Bond Markets; Efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N24 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: 1913-

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sol:wpaper:2013/186361. 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: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebulbe.html .

    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.