Freedom of the Press and Equity Returns: Empirical Investigation in Emerging Markets

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between freedom of press and equity returns in emerging markets. While research has shown that asymmetric information is one reason for high volatility and one type of risk in financial markets, the role of press in reducing that risk has not yet been studied thoroughly. The article attempts to bridge that gap and investigates how a free and unbiased press affects excess returns in stock market. Using the International Capital Asset Pricing Model (ICAPM), Fama-MacBeth’s methodology, and dataset from16 emerging economies from 1986 to 2000, this research is able to show that cross-country excess returns are significantly related to the degree of press freedom.