CAPITAL MARKET, SEVERITY OF BUSINESS CYCLE, AND PROBABILITY OF AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

This paper investigates the relationships of capital market, severity of economic contraction, and probability of an economic downturn. The finding supports a theoretical prediction that countries with more advanced capital markets would face less severe business cycle output contraction, and a lower chance of an economic downturn. The results hold even after controlling for other relevant variables, country specific effects, and state dependences. However, the marginal effects are small. Results are generated using panel estimation technique with panel data from 44 countries covering the years 1975 through 2004.