This paper examines the roles of country and industry effects on international equity returns using a comprehensive database covering 50 industry groups and 34 countries over the period 1992 to 2001. The study focuses on the evolving process of those effects over time and on geographical differences. The main results are as follows: although the country effects still dominate the industry effects in the full sample period, there has been a major upward shift in industry effects since 1999. The degree of this shift varies across regions and is prominent in Europe and North America, while in Asia Pacific and Latin America, country effects still dominate. The increasing industry effects are not found to be confined to the Technology, Media and Telecommunications sectors and thus are not considered a temporary phenomenon. The above developments have implications for international portfolio diversification.

The study examines the effects of security transaction tax on volatility. It focuses on whether the tax has a greater effect on highly traded stocks since it penalizes entering and exiting the market and on whether it depends on the state of the stock market. The results highlight the differential effect of transaction tax on volatility during bear and bull periods casting doubts on the findings of previous studies, which did not allow for that. The effects are stronger for highly traded stocks and during bull periods but volatility increases instead of falling as intended by the proponents of transaction taxes.

The paper examines the impact of economic integration on the relationship between the currency and equity markets for a group of Asian emerging economies using both linear and non‐linear frameworks. We first derive the dynamic conditional correlations between the two markets and then examine the impact of economic integration on their relationship. Our main results are: (a) there is a negative correlation between real exchange rate changes and equity return differentials for all countries apart from China, which becomes deeper during the global financial crisis (GFC) for some of the countries; (b) economic integration, both real and financial, has an asymmetric impact on the relationship between the two markets both in the short‐run and in the long‐run; and (c) applying a linear framework does not bring out the impact of financial integration.

We study the long-run and short-run dynamics between stock prices and exchange rates and the channels through which exogenous shocks impact on these markets. We apply the analysis to a group of Pacific Basin countries and examine whether foreign exchange controls and the Asian financial crisis of mid 1997 affected the links between the markets. The evidence shows that the US stock market acts as a conduit through which the foreign exchange market and the local stock markets are linked. It also provides support for a close relationship between financial and economic integration. Finally, the evidence shows that the financial crisis had a temporary effect on the long-run comovement between the various markets.