Handbook of Frontier Markets: Evidence from Middle East North Africa and International Comparative Studies

Handbook of Frontier Markets: Evidence from Asia and International Comparative Studies provides novel insights from academic perspectives about the behavior of investors and prices in several frontier markets. It explores finance issues usually reserved for developed and emerging markets in order to gauge whether these issues are relevant and how they manifest themselves in frontier markets.

Frontier markets have now become a popular investment class among institutional investors internationally, with major financial services providers establishing index-benchmarks for this market-category. The anticipation for frontier markets is optimistic uncertainty, and many people believe that, given their growth rates, these markets will be economic success stories. Irrespective of their degrees of success, The Handbook of Frontier Markets can help ensure that the increasing international investment diverted to them will aid in their greater integration within the global financial system.

Presents topics in the contexts of frontier markets and uses tests based on established methodologies from finance researchFeatures contributing authors who are established university academics Emphasizes financial institutions and applications of financial risk modelsExplores finance issues usually reserved for developed and emerging markets in order to gauge whether these issues are relevant and how they manifest themselves in frontier markets

Section A: Middle East North Africa (MENA)-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) 1. Herding in Middle Eastern Frontier Markets: Are Local and Global Factors Important? 2. An Application of Style Analysis to Middle East and North African (MENA) Hedge Funds 3. Stock Prices and Crude Oil Shocks: The Case of GCC Countries 4. Signaling and Lifecycle Theories in the Banking Sectors of GCC Frontier Markets: An Empirical Assessment

Section B: Risk and Diversification 5. Are Frontier Markets Worth the Risk? 6. Nuances of Investing in Frontier Equity Markets 7. Measuring Market Risk in the Light of Basel III: New Evidence From Frontier Markets 8. Investing on the Edge: Exploring the Opportunities for Diversification in Frontier Markets 9. The Portfolio Diversification Benefits of Frontier Markets: An Investigation Into Regional Effects 10. Stock Index Return Predictability in Frontier Markets: Is It There?

Section C: Comparative Studies 11. Impact of US Federal Reserve Policies on Frontier Markets 12. Is Quality Investing Feasible in Frontier Markets Based on Publicly Available Financial Information? 13. Frontier Market Investing: What’s the Value Add? 14. Empirical Assessment of the Finance–Growth Nexus in Frontier Markets 15. Mergers and Acquisitions in Frontier Markets: A Comparative Analysis 16. Impact of Remittances on Frontier Markets’ Exchange Rate Stability