International Stock Market Cointegration Under the Risk-Neutral Measure
35 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2016
Date Written: July 28, 2016
Abstract
This paper investigates international cointegration and financial integration among equity market indexes using index option data, providing an ex-ante analysis through investor anticipations. Daily time series of risk-neutral variance, skewness, and kurtosis are constructed for five major indexes for three sub-periods between 2003 and 2013.
Fractionally cointegrated VAR models are estimated at the international level, accounting for persistence in risk-neutral moments. Our results show that there exist international equilibria in risk-neutral moments defined by several cointegrating vectors. During the 2007-2009 global crisis period, these equilibria are characterized by an increase in persistence and in the speeds of adjustment. Moreover, for risk-neutral variance and skewness, all markets are included in the equilibria and none are weakly exogenous. Outside the global crisis period, the cointegration relationship is more fragmented, especially for higher-order moments. In particular, crash and tail risks are segmented during the European debt crisis.
Keywords: financial markets cointegration, financial integration, option-implied distribution
JEL Classification: F36, G13, G14
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