Mean Reversion in International Equity Markets

Abstract

Mean reversion is a phenomenon that has been consistently observed and refuted in several studies over the last decades. This study first aims at shedding further light on this unsettled issue by assessing mean reversion on recent data in a broad range of international equity markets including developed and emerging markets and international indices provided by MSCI. Variance ratio computations and a novel distribution-free statistical tests based on randomization are used on dollar denominated nominal, real and excess returns of these equity markets. The results indicate that mean reversion exists in both developed and emerging countries, albeit its statistical significance is occasionally dubitable. Moreover, firm size and return type exhibit significant effects on the degree of mean reversion.