International transmission of financial crises : how much contagion is responsible ?-evidence from MENA countries

Abstract EN

This study shall discuss the phenomenon of international transmission of financial shocks, with a special focus on distinguishing between contagion and other similar mechanisms causing the simultaneous occurrence of crises.

After an attempt to review the related analytical and empirical literature, we try to test for the presence of contagion from the US financial market towards a selected sample of Middle East and North African markets during the 2008 mortgage crisis, using correlation analysis methodology proposed by (Forbes and Rigobon-2002).

The main findings of the study reveal the existence of contagion towards only one market in the sample that is Qatar SE when adjusting for heterskedasticity.

Although study results confirm the existence of a spillover effect between the US market and all other markets in the sample, Qatar SE was the most affected, and this can be explained by a high-level of financial integration.