Download or read book Market Integration and Contagion written by Geert Bekaert and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contagion is usually defined as correlation between markets in excess of what would be implied by economic fundamentals. However, there is considerable disagreement regarding the definitions of the fundamentals, how the fundamentals might differ across countries and the mechanisms that link the fundamentals to asset returns. Our research takes as a starting point, a two-factor model with time-varying betas that accommodates various degrees of market integration between the different markets. We apply this model to stock returns in three different regions, Europe, South-East Asia and Latin America. In addition to providing new insights on contagion during crisis periods, we document patterns through time in world and regional market integration and measure the proportion of volatility driven by global, regional, as well as, local factors.