Appropriate lag specification for daily responses of international stock markets

This paper explores the international linkage of stock prices, using daily stock price indices of the four major economies (USA, UK, Germany, and Japan) from June 1974 to December 1997. It is argued that previous studies have not estimated the structural equation system reflecting the sequential occurrence of market closing, which is crucial in investigating the characteristics of daily responses among international stock markets. By estimating the structural equation system, it is found that the most recent market has the strongest effect, except for the case of Japanese effects on the German market.