The Internationalization of Equity Markets

This introduction to a forthcoming NBER volume on 'The Internationalization of Equity Markets' argues that the existing finance literature has in some respects not kept pace with world trends. Most empirical studies fail to take due account of the diversity of assets offered by countries around the world, the diversity of locales in which investors live, and the diversity of institutional peculiarities that characterize the markets in which assets and investors are brought together. Four of the papers in the volume are econometric studies of asset pricing and home-country bias in internationally integrated equity markets. The other four examine such issues as emerging markets, country funds, trading volume, location, taxes, controls, and other imperfections in international markets.