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Handbook of
Frontier Markets
The African, European and Asian Evidence
Edited by
P. Andrikopoulos
Coventry Business School
Coventry, United Kingdom
G.N. Gregoriou
State University of New York (Plattsburgh)
School of Business and Economics
Plattsburgh, NY, United States
V. Kallinterakis
University of Liverpool Management School
Liverpool, United Kingdom
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
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This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher
(other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broad-
en our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may
become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and
using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information
or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom
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or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in
the material herein.
ISBN: 978-0-12-803776-8
xi
xii List of Contributors
xiii
xiv About the Editors
xv
xvi About the Contributors
Durham University. His research interests are mainly in the area of empirical
finance, modeling, and forecasting the volatility of stock markets with applica-
tions to risk management and socially responsible investing.
Epameinondas Katsikas is lecturer in accounting at Kent University
Business School, United Kingdom. His research interests are in financial and
management accounting, the effect of change in management accounting sys-
tems, performance measurement, accounting innovations, public sector man-
agement, institutional change, benchmarking, stock markets, and investment
banking. He has published his work in international peer-reviewed journals and
presented parts of his work at international conferences.
Lechedzani M. Kgari works in the finance department of the Bank of Bo-
tswana. She holds an MSc in financial forecasting and investment from Glasgow
University, United Kingdom.
Gabriel Komba is a PhD candidate at the University of Hull Business
School. For the past 15 years, he has been a lecturer in accounting and finance
at the School of Business, Mzumbe University, Tanzania. He holds an advanced
diploma in certified accountancy (ADCA) from the Institute of Development
Management (IDM) in Tanzania, and an MSc in international banking and fi-
nance from Salford University (United Kingdom). He also holds a certified pub-
lic accountant (CPA) professional qualification.
Mohammad K. Newaz is a Lecturer in Finance at Coventry Business School,
Coventry University. His research interest includes international finance, cor-
porate finance and behavioural finance especially in the areas of frontier and
emerging markets. Mohammad is a frequent contributor to a wide range of local
and international conferences.
Cornelia Pop is a full professor at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania.
She received her PhD in finance in 1997 from the same university. The core
of her research focuses on the Romanian security market, considering aspects
related to its status as a frontier market, the internal growth potential of the
equity market, and the development of its bond market segment. On these
topics she published numerous papers in English and Romanian. She also
has a collateral research interest in the hospitality industry and is coauthor of
an international book, Romania as a Tourist Destination and the Romanian
Hotel Industry, published in 2007 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, United
Kingdom.
Timothy Rodgers is a principal lecturer in economics and finance at Coven-
try University in the United Kingdom. He is currently academic course director
of the MSc Investment Management program and also supervises a number of
PhD students in the finance area. His personal research interests include finan-
cial contagion, portfolio theory, corporate capital structure, and Islamic finance,
as well as, in the area of education, quality, ethnicity, and student performance
in higher education.
Susan Maina Wangeci is an MSc financial risk management graduate from
Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow. Economics is a
field that intrigues her, especially in the African context.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Dr J. Scott Bentley, Susan Ikeda, and Jason Mitchell at
Elsevier for all their help and support throughout this process. In addition, we
thank several anonymous referees in the selection of the papers for this book.
Neither the publisher nor editors can guarantee the accuracy of each chapter in
this book; each author/coauthor(s) is/are responsible for their own work.
xxi
Chapter 1
Chapter Outline
1 Introduction 3 6 Analyses and Presentation
2 The Random Walk Theory of the Results 14
and the Efficient Market 6.1 Descriptive Statistics
Hypothesis 5 and Diagnostics 14
3 Empirical Literature 6.2 Augmented
Review on Weak-Form Dickey–Fuller
Market Efficiency 6 Test Results 15
4 Data Sources 9 6.3 Variance Ratio
5 Methodology 9 Test Results 16
5.1 Augmented 6.4 Ranks- and
Dickey–Fuller Test 9 Signs-Based Variance
5.2 The Variance Ratio Tests 20
Ratio Test 10 6.5 Summary of the Findings 22
5.3 Ranks- and 7 Conclusions and
Signs-Based Variance Recommendations 23
Ratio Tests 12 References 25
1 INTRODUCTION
As a prominent theory in finance, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) pos-
its that if prices are determined rationally, then the arrival of new information
will cause them to change. This means that the price of a security at any time
reflects investors optimal use of all available information. By definition, though,
information is understood to arise instantly, in an unpredictable manner, and
ubiquitously to all investors. It follows that no single individual has a chance to
Handbook of Frontier Markets. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803776-8.00001-X
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 3
4 SECTION | A Africa
outperform the market, as the current price of an asset is the best estimate of its
fundamental value (Fama, 1970).
There are three types of efficiency: operational, allocational, and informa-
tional. Operational efficiency is concerned with the cost to buyers and sellers of
securities on the exchange markets. Allocational (economic) efficiency refers to
the supply of scarce resources to the most productive sectors of the economy.
And finally, informational (pricing) efficiency is about the extent to which mar-
ket prices accurately and instantly reflect all available and relevant information,
hence implying a true representation of the fundamental value of the underlying
asset. This is what the term “efficient” market hypothesis implies.
The EMH is normally defined and tested in three different forms, namely
the weak form, the semistrong form, and the strong form (Fama, 1970, 1991).
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the weak-form efficiency of the Dar
es Salaam Stock Exchange. A stock market is described as being weak-form
efficient if market participants cannot predict the prices of securities and hence
cannot generate abnormal returns (except by chance) by analyzing movements
of past information (eg, prices and trading volumes). This means that various
mechanical investment strategies such as technical analysis or fundamental
analysis are of no value, since all investors already know any signal conveyed by
the historical information about future performance. Therefore, security prices
will always be at equilibrium.
Most of the research on market efficiency over the past decades has cen-
tered on the world’s developed and emerging equity markets. Little attention is
given to the African frontier markets despite their offering higher rates of return
than mature markets and significantly attracting the interest of foreign investors.
More specifically, in spite of their economic potential for efficient allocation
of scarce resources, the weak-form efficiency studies of the East African stock
exchanges are sparse. The evidence from the relatively few known studies is too
old to explain the prevailing states of market developments that can be attributed
to the benefits of globalization, industrialization, and technology. Moreover, the
results offer contradicting conclusions (Dickinson and Muragu, 1994; Smith
et al., 2002).
To the best of our knowledge, we offer for the first time an extensive exami-
nation of the behavior of stock prices and returns of the Dar es Salaam Stock
Exchange (DSE) since its inception. The market was established in 1996 and
started listing companies in 1998, when only one company was listed. Since
then the total number of listed companies has increased to 21 by the end of
2014. Of these, 14 are domestic while the others are crosslisted, six from the
Nairobi Stock Exchange and one from the London Stock Exchange. The DSE
was also declared the best bourse in Africa in the same year in terms of market
capitalization.
In this chapter, we extend the evidence on the weak-form efficiency in fron-
tier markets by examining the data from the DSE in Tanzania. We use the All
Share Index (DSEI), which includes both domestic and foreign firms, and the
Testing for the Weak-Form Market Efficiency Chapter | 1 5
Tanzania Share Index (TSI) covering only domestic firms, as well as the indices
covering banks, finance, and investment companies (BI); commercial services
(CS); and industrial and allied sectors (IA). We employ the augmented Dickey–
Fuller test, variance ratio test, and ranks and signs test to determine whether the
results are consistent. We find that returns series based on price indices for DSEI,
BI, and CS indeed follow a random walk (RW), whereas the returns series for
TSI and IA do not follow this pattern. However, findings on the same tests for the
returns based on the return indices show that they are all not efficient.
The remainder of this chapter is organized as follows. In Section 2, we pro-
vide an overview of the random walk theory and the EMH. In Section 3, we
present the empirical literature review on the random walk. Sections 4 and 5
describe the data and research methodology, respectively. Section 6 presents
empirical findings. Section 7 concludes the chapter and provides some recom-
mendations.
market efficiency for Latin American emerging equity markets. The findings
from the runs test fail to reject the null hypothesis that the markets are weak-
form efficient. However, consistent with those obtained by Lo and MacKinlay
(1988), the variance ratio test rejects the null hypothesis, and the patterns of the
test’s rejection do not support the mean-reverting process.
Investigations on weak-form market efficiency in African markets have also
attracted the interest of many researchers, but with inconclusive findings. One of
the earliest studies on the efficiency of African stock markets was carried out by
Dickinson and Muragu (1994). The results obtained from using the serial correla-
tion and runs tests suggest that small markets may conform to the weak-form ef-
ficiency notion. Magnusson and Wydick (2002) carried out weak-form efficiency
tests using 1989–98 data on eight African markets (including South Africa) listed
in the International Finance Corporation (IFC) global composite index. The find-
ings reveal that six out of the eight analyzed stock market indices are weak-form
efficient. In contrast, Smith et al. (2002) used multiple variance ratios to examine
the informational efficiency in stock indices of a group of the eight largest African
markets covering 1990–98. Except for South Africa, the results in seven of these
markets reject the random walk hypothesis due to autocorrelation. Despite using a
different approach for a group of seven African markets, Jefferis and Smith (2005)
obtained similar results to those of Smith et al. (2002).
In another study, Ntim et al. (2011) tested the efficiency of a set of 24 African
continent-wide stock price indices and eight individual African national stock
price indices using ranks and signs tests. The results show that, in comparison
to the national indices, the African continent-wide stock price indices exhibit a
reasonable normal distribution and have superior weak-form efficiency.
Another multi-country study was carried out by Mlambo and Biekpe (2007).
They find sufficient evidence to conclude that the markets for Namibia, Kenya,
and Zimbabwe are generally weak-form efficient. In all other markets, the ma-
jority of stocks rejected the random walk. In a recent study, Smith and Dyakova
(2014) examined the weak-form efficiency of eight African markets. The results
of variance ratio tests show that Kenya’s and Zambia’s markets are the most
predictable and least informationally efficient. They further reveal that the least
predictable stock market is that of Egypt, followed jointly by the South African
and Tunisian markets.
In summary, the empirical evidence from the African stock markets is not
only small but also still offers contradictory conclusions. Many of these stud-
ies, however, indicate that the South African and Egyptian stock markets are
weak-form efficient (Jefferis and Smith, 2005; Smith and Dyakova, 2014). The
Kenyan market is the most studied from the Eastern Africa region (Dickinson
and Muragu, 1994; Ntim et al., 2011; Smith and Dyakova, 2014). The main rea-
son could be that it is among the oldest markets in Africa, established in 1954.
In comparison, the Tanzanian market, the DSE, is relatively new and small.
The conflicting results from past studies in other markets make it appealing to
undertake an empirical work for the DSE.
Testing for the Weak-Form Market Efficiency Chapter | 1 9
4 DATA SOURCES
The data used in this study are daily closing prices of the five DSE indices (ie,
DSEI, TSI, BI, CS, and IA) in local currency, the Tanzanian shilling (TZS). All
indices are value-weighted market capitalization. Given the small size and new-
ness of the market, it was thought that daily stock prices would yield sufficient
observations for meaningful statistical analyses and be representative of the true
distribution characteristics of the market. The data set for testing the random
walk hypothesis covered the period from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2014. This choice of
the starting time was dictated by the moment when the DSE began to compile
electronically and maintain a computerized database. By Dec. 2006, there were
10 listed companies. Therefore, this was when the market had become more
active. All data were provided by the DSE’s market research and development
department.
5 METHODOLOGY
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and the only comprehensive study
to test the weak-form market efficiency of the DSE. It was therefore considered
worthwhile to employ a battery of tests to determine whether the conclusions
obtained confirm the random walk hypothesis or are fragile. The following
sections present the tests that were performed.
where ∆ = the first difference operator; ∆Yt−i = lagged values of the dependent
variable, for example, ∆Yt−1 = (Yt−1 − Yt−2), ∆Yt−2 = (Yt−2 − Yt−3), and so forth;
εt is a white noise error term; β1 is a constant; β2 is a slope coefficient on time
trend t; δ is a coefficient of lagged Yt−1; and Yt is the logarithm of the stock
price or market price index. Recall that under Eq. 1.2 it was asserted that there
is a unit root if β = 1. Econometrically, however, it is argued that this regression
equation cannot be estimated using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. In
addition, the hypothesis β = 1 cannot be tested using the standard t-distribution
since the test is based on the residual terms, which may be highly autocor-
related, and thus can lead to biased estimate of δ (Gujarati and Porter, 2009).
Instead, the ADF test was used. The model in Eq. 1.3 was used to examine the
returns (∆Yt) in order to take into account the autocorrelation problem regarding
10 SECTION | A Africa
the residual terms. In this specification, the tested unit root hypothesis was δ = 0
(where δ = β − 1). As the literature suggests, in order to attain the white-noise
structure in εt and the unbiased estimate of δ, it is important to select the ap-
propriate lag length by including enough terms. The choice of the lag length
was based on the Schwarz information criterion (SIC). Following the previous
discussion, it is hereby hypothesized that:
H0: Stock price/returns indices at the DSE follow a random walk process
(ie, δ = 0).
σ 2 (q)
VR(q) = (1.4)
σ 2 (1)
where σ 2(q) = 1/q times the variance of the q-differences, and σ 2(1) is the
variance of the first differences. Lo and MacKinlay (1988) further provide
the formula for computing the values of the estimator of the variance of
q-period difference and of the first difference, σ 2(q) and σ 2(1), respectively,
as follows:
1 nq
σ 2 (q) = ∑ ( X k − X k −q − qµˆ )2
m k =q
(1.5)
where
q
m = q(nq − q + 1) 1 −
nq
and
1 nq
σ 2 (1) = ∑ ( X k − X k −1 − µˆ )2
nq − 1 k =1
(1.6)
Testing for the Weak-Form Market Efficiency Chapter | 1 11
where
1
µˆ = ( X nq − X 0 )
nq
The null hypothesis is VR(q) = 1. In principle, two reasons may lead to the
rejection of the null of the RW. It could be due to either heteroscedasticity or
autocorrelation in the asset’s series (Lo and MacKinlay, 1988). Additionally,
the authors point out that since volatilities do change over time, a rejection of
the RW due to heteroscedasticity would have marginal interest. The VR(q) is
formulated with two test statistics to examine the null hypotheses of random
walk under the homoscedastic and heteroscedastic assumptions about the error
term. The homoscedasticity-consistent test allows for the strict RW hypothesis,
that is, εit ∼i.i.d.; N(0,∂ 2). The heteroscedasticity-consistent test, in contrast,
relaxes the strict Gaussian assumption by considering that time-varying volatili-
ties that might exist in a series. Put differently, the test statistic allows for some
forms of conditional heteroscedasticity and dependence. It follows that the Lo
and MacKinlay (1988) variance ratio is widely employed to test the RW and
MDS hypotheses of the weak-form market efficiency (Urrutia, 1995; Buguk
and Brorsen, 2003; Ntim et al., 2011). The homoscedasticity test statistic Z(q)
is expressed as:
VR(q) − 1
Z (q) = ~ N (0,1) (1.7)
[∅ (q)]1/2
where
2(2q − 1)(q − 1)
∅ (q) = (1.8)
3q(nq)
If we assume heteroscedastic increments, then the test static Z^(q), that uses
overlapping intervals, is more robust. This is expressed as:
VR(q) − 1
Z ^ (q) = ~ N (0,1) (1.9)
[∅ ^ (q)]1/2
where
q −1 2
2(q − 1) ˆ
∅ ^ (q) = ∑ δ ( j) (1.10)
j =1 q
and
∑ k = j+1( X k − X k −1 − µˆ )2 ( X k − j − X k − j−1 − µˆ )2
nq
δˆ = (1.11)
∑ k =1[( X k − X k −1 − µˆ )2 ]2
nq
12 SECTION | A Africa
It should be noted, however, that the two test statistics derived by Lo and
MacKinlay (1988) focus on testing individual variance ratios for a specific ag-
gregation interval, q, and not for all periods (Smith et al., 2002). A procedure
that Chow and Denning (1993) developed provides a means of comparing mul-
tiple sets of variance ratio estimates with unity. The decision criterion to reject
the null hypothesis against the alternative hypothesis is based on whether any of
the estimated variance ratios are significantly different from unity.
T + 1 (T − 1)(T + 1)
r1t = r ( yt ) − (1.12)
2 12
r2 t = Φ −1[r ( yt ) / (T + 1)] (1.13)
where φ is the standard normal cumulative distribution. Wright (2000) defines
the series r1t as a simple linear transformation of the ranks, standardized to have
a sample mean 0 and sample variance 1. The same applies to series r2t (the in-
verse normal or van der Waerden scores); it has a sample mean 0 except that it
has a sample variance approximately equal to 1.
The ranks-based ratio tests are calculated by substituting r1t and r2t for yt in
the Lo and MacKinlay (1988) definition of variance ratio test statistic. Wright
(2000) therefore proposed the following test statistics:
1 (r + r +…+ r1t − k )2
Tk ∑ t = k +1 1t 1t −1
T
−1/2
2(2 k − 1)( k − 1)
R1 = − 1 (1.14)
1 T 2
∑ r
T t =1 1t
3kT
TABLE 1.1 Descriptive Statistics and Diagnostics
Mean Std. dev. Skewness Kurtosis Jarque–Bera N
DSEI Price index 1,373.053 388.374 1.709 5.390 1,439.677** 1,986
Returns index 7.192 0.243 1.203 3.809 533.388** 1,986
Notes: The double asterisks (**) represent statistical significance at the 1% level.
13
14 SECTION | A Africa
1 (r + r +…+ r2 t − k )2
Tk ∑ t = k +1 2 t 2 t −1
T
−1/2
2(2 k − 1)( k − 1)
R2 = − 1 (1.15)
1 T 2
∑ r
T t =1 2 t
3kT
According to Wright (2000), the tests based on ranks are exact under i.i.d.
assumption. The rank r(yt) is a random permutation of the numbers 1, 2, …, T,
each with equal probability. The proposed modified test statistics based on the
signs are as described hereafter. Wright (2000) shows that, for any series yt, if
u(xt, q) = 1(xt > q) − 0.5, then u(xt, 0) is 0.5 if xt is positive and −0.5 otherwise.
Also, if St = 2u(yt, 0) = 2u(εt, 0) and St is an i.i.d. series with mean 0 and vari-
ance 1, then each St is equal to 1 with probability 0.5 and is equal to −1 other-
wise. The test statistic (St) is defined as:
1 (s + s …+ st − k )2
Tk ∑ t = k +1 t t −1
T
−1/2
2(2 k − 1)( k − 1)
S1 = − 1 (1.16)
1 T 2
T
∑ t =1
st
3kT
As with the ranks, Wright (2000) points out that the exact sampling distri-
bution of S1 can be simulated for different levels of T and k. Moreover, he also
demonstrates in a Monte Carlo experiment that the tests based on ranks are con-
sistent with the homoscedasticity assumption, while the signs are robust under
the conditional heteroscedasticity assumption.
results reveal that the CS has the highest standard deviation. This is followed
closely by the BI and IA indices.
The measures of skewness and kurtosis for the perfectly normal distribution
are supposed to be zero and 3, respectively. Considering the results for the log
price index in Table 1.1, it is found that CS has extremely high negative skew-
ness. Likewise, the returns for BI and CS are negatively skewed. This kind of
returns distribution implies that the returns are characterized by regular small
gains and few excessive losses. On the contrary, the returns for the remaining
indices are positively skewed, suggesting that they are experiencing frequent
small losses with lesser chances of extreme gains. The results for kurtosis tests
show that the values for the price indices and percentage returns for all indices
are positive and greater than 3. This means that the distributions are leptokurtic
relative to the normal distribution. In other words, there is strong evidence that
the data are highly concentrated around the mean because the variation within
the observations is low. This observation signifies that the market exhibits un-
expected moments of very low and high returns. It is therefore plausible to ar-
gue that these indices are more likely to attract risk-averse investors who avoid
large return surprises that cause high variation in their stock holdings. This is
supported by the fact that the annualizeda daily returns appear to be reasonably
high. The returns range from a low of 12.5% in the case of DSEI to a high of
22.5% in the case of IA. Correspondingly, the Jarque–Bera test statistic strongly
rejects the normality hypothesis for all indices. This observation is consistent
with the evidence in prior studies that nonnormality is a common phenomenon
in African stock market price and return series (Jefferis and Smith, 2005; Ntim
et al., 2011).
a. We calculate the average daily return for each index and then multiply it by the number of trading
days in a year (ie, 250 in our case) to obtain the annualized return.
16 SECTION | A Africa
root and confirm the contention in Gujarati and Porter (2009) for the four series.
Hence, we can verify that all series under consideration satisfy the necessary
condition for the random walk to hold.
Panel A in Table 1.2 also presents the results of the ADF test for the returns
based on return indices. The examination of the findings provides strong evi-
dence against the null of a unit root. Hence, we can confirm that all series under
consideration are stationary in levels.
17
18
TABLE 1.3 Lo and MacKinlay Variance Ratio Test Results
SECTION | A Africa
Sampling interval (q-days)
2 4 8 16 2 4 8 16
Series Returns based on price indices Returns based on return indices
Panel A: variance ratios assuming homoscedasticity
DSEI VR(q) 0.9683 0.9991 1.0052 0.9863 0.4499 0.2373 0.1140 0.0490
Z(q) a 0.0770 a
−1.3857 −0.0202 −0.1364 −23.5185** −17.4313** −12.8066** −9.2369**
BI VR(q) 0.5638 0.3807 0.2889 0.2168 0.3321 0.1560 0.0942 0.0436
Z(q) a a
−19.0518** −14.4589** −10.5009** −7.7717** −28.5776** −19.3041** −13.1029** −9.2976**
CS VR(q) 0.8324 0.9085 0.9392 0.9975 0.3419 0.4120 0.2395 0.0852
Z(q) a a
−7.3099** −2.13409* −0.89729 −0.0253 −28.1066** −13.4236** −10.9804** −8.8756**
IA VR(q) 0.5644 0.3873 0.3057 0.2734 0.3292 0.1338 0.0980 0.0456
Z(q) a a
−19.0173** −14.2984** −10.2468** −7.2067** −28.6783** −19.7951** −13.0372** −9.2707**
TSI VR(q) 0.9543 1.1368 1.5088 2.1505 0.3936 0.2182 0.1131 0.0549
d a
Z(q) −1.9947* 3.1945** 7.5136** 11.4172** −25.9491** −17.8806** −12.8297** −9.1876**
Panel B: heteroscedasticity-consistent variance ratios
DSEI VR(q) 0.9683 0.9991 1.0052 0.9863 0.4499 0.2373 0.1140 0.0490
Z^(q) −0.6471a −0.0104 0.0469 −0.0970 −3.6069**a −3.2777** −3.1914** −3.1038*
BI VR(q) 0.5638 0.3807 0.2889 0.2168 0.3321 0.1560 0.0942 0.0436
Z^(q) −1.1604a −1.0984 −1.0811 −1.1077 −1.6250a −1.3332 −1.2062 −1.1790
Sampling interval (q-days)
2 4 8 16 2 4 8 16
Series Returns based on price indices Returns based on return indices
CS VR(q) 0.8324 0.9085 0.9392 0.9975 0.3419 0.4120 0.2395 0.0852
Z^(q) −1.0972a −0.3995 −0.2276 −0.0089 −5.23440a −2.4726 −2.4590 −2.6416
IA VR(q) 0.5644 0.3873 0.3057 0.2734 0.3292 0.1338 0.0980 0.0456
Z^(q) a a
−1.2245 −1.1482 −1.1152 −1.0893 −1.5157 −1.2770 −1.1245 −1.1036
TSI VR(q) 0.9543 1.1368 1.5088 2.1505 0.3936 0.2182 0.1131 0.0549
Z^(q) −0.7608 1.3171 3.4315* 5.7070**d −6.2750** a
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19
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beheld it in a sombre hue. The heavens were overcast, the mist, once of a
dazzling whiteness now took a dusky tint, and hung over the cataract like a
mourning veil. It was more in accordance with my feelings than to have
bade her adieu while she was smiling in the ‘bright garish eye of day’—one
might fancy she was sad at losing such true worshippers. But you cannot
understand such feelings now, they no doubt seem ridiculous—come here,
and you will experience the truth of such emotions. At two o’clock, soon
after dinner, we sat out on the rail road for Buffalo. The road for some time
is laid along the river bank, and gives us a fine view of the islands, rapids,
and other objects of interest, as Fort Schlosser, and Chippewa,—and then a
long low wooded island floating upon the bosom of the broad stream was
shown, as Navy island, the head quarters of the Canadian revolutionist in
’37 and ’38. The band have however now dispersed, and the island has
returned to its parent, promising never to do so any more. It contains 700[5]
acres of good land. The river now begins to expand from one mile to eight,
including Grand Island in the centre. This is twelve miles in length, and
contains 17,384 acres of rich land and stately timber. A neat village called
White Haven stands upon its shore, containing among other buildings, a
steam saw mill which furnishes ship stuff from 20 to 70 feet in length. A
fine situation, for such an establishment, as there is plenty of the raw
material for this manufacture in sight all around.
There are 15 or 20 islands between the falls and Lake Erie, some of them
very pretty, adorned with clumps of maple, oak, or cedar. Upon one of
them, Tonawanda isle, is a fine mansion with cultivated grounds and fields
around it. Our road lay through a village of the same name situated upon
Tonawanda creek, a small place through which runs the Erie canal. We had
sufficient time to survey the beauties of Rattle-snake Island at our leisure,
for, when just opposite, a part of our engine gave way, and we came to a
sudden pause. The male passengers were soon out, to discover the cause,
and came back with a report that we could proceed no farther, as the injury
was very great. We were declared to be ‘in a pretty fix.’ A horse was
procured from a house in sight, and a man was despatched upon it to
Buffalo about eight miles distant. Many of the passengers sat out to walk to
Black rock 4 miles a head, where they could procure carriages to take them
to Buffalo. The rest of us remained seated in the coaches, with a hot July
sun streaming through the windows. What should we do—scold at the road,
or the train, or the engineers? No, an American never vexes himself about
such things—he is calm and indifferent under every circumstance. Some of
us fell to reading, some to napping and some to rambling. We undertook the
latter, but as we were only surrounded by ploughed fields soon returned to
the coach, where I busied myself in writing the above. Pray read on if it is
only to repay me for my sufferings those two hours in the heat. I think I had
better abuse this rail road a little, for it deserves it. Do not, however,
suppose I am vexed at being left thus ‘sitting on a rail!’ The iron is ripped
up in several places, causing a jolt when we strike against these land snags,
and a man rides beside the engineer with a hammer to nail them down. It is
the worst rail road I ever travelled over: however, as it is only used a few
months in the year when Niagara is fashionable, perhaps it may not yield
sufficient profit to allow much expense upon it. Something is seen coming
up the road—all heads are out, and we hope to be released from our captive
state—it turns out to be the return train which had been waiting for our
engine and cars, and now has been obliged to take horses instead. As it was
impossible to pass us, the passengers and their baggage were turned out,
and placed in our coaches, to the Niagara end of which their horses were
fastened. They looked very sourly at us while this was passing, thinking
perhaps of the maxim of Pythagoras to his scholars—Do not remain in the
highway. They wondered at us for sitting in their highway, depriving them
of their engine, and condemning them to the loss of a fine afternoon at
Niagara. Some of them perhaps might have been of that whisking class of
tourists who intended to return the next morning early, and to them it would
be quite a loss.
A joyous shout announced the appearance of our horses, and we were
soon on our way again. We passed through Black Rock, a considerable
village, and then followed the Erie canal for some distance. The last two
miles were upon the borders of Lake Erie which stretched away a mighty
mass of green waters, to the horizon. As this was our first view of our great
‘inland seas, we gazed upon it with much interest. There are many
handsome villas in the vicinity of the town commanding fine views of the
lake and city; one of them, a large Gothic stone mansion, promises to be
quite an ornament to the country if ever finished. At Buffalo we drove of
course to the American Hotel, as its fame had reached us at home. It is a
large stone building, well kept, and elegantly furnished. The drawing room
is as handsome as any in the country, and the dining room is a large airy
commodious apartment lighted with five large gilded chandeliers. The
staircases and halls are of oak covered with copper in some places—the
bedrooms, private parlors, table and attendance as good as we could find in
our boasted city. There is here also a public room, hired sometimes, for
concerts and lectures, which is well lighted with chandeliers and set round
with green silk couches. In fact every thing is good and neat.
June 29.—This morning we sent for a carriage and sat out to see the city
and make some visits. Buffalo, although suffering with all our cities in the
stagnation of trade, seems to be doing a great deal of business. The rows of
shops, and handsome ware-houses, seem to contain every article necessary
for comfort or luxury. It is a larger city than Rochester, but has not its air of
elegance and neatness. The town was burnt by their neighbors, the
Canadians, in 1814, but has since been rebuilt. The streets are wide and
airy, Maine street, the principal avenue, is more than a mile in length. The
churches are neat buildings, one of them, a catholic, promises, when
finished, to be handsome. The court house is a solid well built edifice
having pillars up to the roof. The markets are very good also. The city is
well situated upon ground rising gently from the lake, the upper part being
covered with handsome private dwellings, which thus obtain fine views of
the lake and surrounding country, and secure for themselves room for their
gardens which are very prettily laid out. There is here also a military station
for the United States troops, whose barracks, comfortable brick buildings,
are built around the parade ground and surrounded by a good wall. Our
friend’s cottage was upon elevated ground looking down upon the green
Niagara river, and enjoying a view of the lake in front, and behind an extent
of country covered with the untamed forest. It was the first time I had seen
a forest landscape, and I looked with much interest upon this vast plain of
green leaves reaching to the distant horizon; a smoke curled in one spot
telling of some settler clearing his way through the green wood. The
handsomest private dwellings here do not affect the Gothic or Grecian,
which had prevailed along our road, but were substantial square stone or
brick buildings, having a marble portico in front, an cupola upon the top,
surrounded by a fancy railing. Our drive around Buffalo was very
interesting, and we wondered, as we marked such a mass of solid buildings,
and depots of articles from every region in the world, and such throngs of
human beings deposited in a wilderness, but a few years redeemed from the
Indian, the buffalo, and the bear. What industry, what energy, has been
employed to bring hither all these materials. Buffalo is a frontier town, and
grand portal of the west, through which is flowing a constant stream of
travellers and emigrants. This mixture of all nations in the streets, give them
an unique appearance. Here you see the Indian beau with his tunic bound
with a crimson sash, his hat surrounded by a circle of feathers; his deer skin
pantaloons richly embroidered in barbaric patterns, while ribbons and
tassels swing out from his dress at every step. After him will pass a band of
United States soldiers; then a rough back-woodsman, upon a horse looking
as wild as himself, its uncut mane and tail waving in the wind as he gallops
violently through the streets. Then follows a party of comical German
emigrants; a scarlet clad British officer; a Canadian; a Frenchman; a wild
looking son of Erin; a sturdy ruddy, gaiter legged English farmer; a
Tonawanda squaw with her papoose upon her back; and lastly the dainty
lady traveller with her foreign abigal, and fantastically dressed children.
Among the crowd I observed a curious figure—a one legged negro, wearing
an old uniform coat with ruffled cuffs, ringing a bell most energetically. The
old English custom of sending a bell-man to proclaim the loss of any
article, prevails here, as in some of our other towns, I believe. ‘What is lost,
Sambo?’ inquired a person. ‘Your wits, massa,’ he replied quickly, setting
his juvenile train off in a fit of laughter. To another inquirer, he replied, ‘My
leg is lost, don’t you see’ holding up the stump. He is, I suppose a
privileged wit, who, if he cannot set the table, no doubt does the street in a
roar. The Buffalonians are a gay social people. The unamiable fashion of
exclusiveness being very little known here, for, living where the population
is continually changing and where strangers are constantly claiming their
hospitality, they have acquired an easy unsouciant manner, and are ever
forming social meetings to entertain the stranger. Our letters procured for us
much kind attention, and we had an opportunity of witnessing this free
hospitable spirit. In the afternoon one of our friends called, and we drove
down where a fanciful yacht awaited us, and a pleasant party of ladies and
gentlemen, for the purpose of taking us over to the ruined fort opposite the
city. This is a favorite picnic haunt of the young citizens. Fort Erie is upon
the Canadian shore, opposite Buffalo, just at the point where the Niagara
river runs out of lake Erie. It was destroyed during the war of 1812.
I have scarcely enjoyed any thing so much as that sail over Lake Erie.
The lake is here five or six miles broad. The water rushes swiftly past, as if
eager to accomplish its glorious destiny of plunging over the rocks of
Niagara, there to be a spectacle which nations come from afar to gaze upon.
We caught the excitement which seemed to animate the water, as we were
tossed upon its wavelets with quick, gay, tilting motion; and gazed with
much delight at the novel objects around us. The city, with its numerous
domes and spires; the bright Niagara rushing and gurgling at a rapid rate
over the ledge of rocks which once was Erie’s barrier ere the waters burst
their bounds—the gulls wheeling above us, or floating upon the waves; and
above all, that immense lake, that mighty mass of sparkling emerald water,
stretching far into the mysterious west. The air, breathing from the fresh
forest and cool lake, was so refreshing that I was almost sorry when we
reached the shore. Landing upon a sandy beach, we repaired to the fort,
where under the shadow of a ruined wall, we seated ourselves upon the
green sward, and while refreshing ourselves with the contents of our
provision baskets, our discourse fell upon the hapless fate of those whose
blood had dyed the fair turf around us; or upon other scenes which occurred
during that border war. But now all this is over; conqueror and vanquished
are both beneath the ‘clod of the valley’; the echo of the war trump has died
away; the green earth smiles again as peacefully as if it had never drank the
blood of the dying, and wall, and bastion, are fast crumbling into their
parent elements. The lake, the sky, the shore, are no longer vexed with
sights and sounds of strife. Alas! whence come wars and fighting among
us? Must these things always be? Must earth’s children ever thus hack and
tear each other? And we who are brethren, whose homes are in sight upon
either shore of this bright lake, can we not dwell in unity? They who have
opposite creeds, who differ in dress, in manner, in language, may and will
rival, dislike, detest, fight and exterminate each other; but we, who are sons
of the same father, who speak the same tongue, Oh, must we be ever thus at
enmity?
[7] Though ages long have passed
Since our fathers left their home;
Their pilot in the blast
O’er untravelled seas to roam,—
Yet lives the blood of England in our veins!
I have said this is a favorite place of resort, and here a party of gay
young people came to avoid the noise of the city, and spend a quiet day
with their books and work, upon the fourth of July. Their little feast was
spread under the shade of the fortress, and they were in the act of drinking
to the day, when they were suddenly taken captive by a band of English
soldiers. It was at that unhappy time when Canada was disturbed by
revolutionary projects, and it was naturally imagined they had come there
purposely to insult them. It was an imprudent frolic, and they paid dearly
for it; they were marched off three miles to a military station, where, after
being fully examined and no signs of revolution being found upon them,
they were suffered to depart and return as they best might. I relate the
anecdote to show how easily we may mistake each other’s motives, and
how soon ill-blood may be brewed between those who are suspicious of
each other, and ready to take offence.
While we were thus discoursing, the sky grew gradually dark, and a veil
of blackness was let down over the lake, giving token of a thunder shower.
We were soon in the boat which tossed very much, but we had able young
seamen who landed us safely just as the sun, bursting forth, smiled at our
idle fears. An evening of social pleasure ended our agreeable day.
June 30th.—This morning we were again employed in rambling about
the city. The situation of Buffalo is calculated to make it a great commercial
mart. It is upon the high road to the west, and will command much of the
business of the lakes, while the great Erie canal connects it with the
Atlantic. This canal is indeed a ‘herculean achievement.’ It is three hundred
and sixty-three miles in length, forty feet wide, and four deep; contains six
hundred and eighty-eight feet of locks; is crossed by several fine aqueducts;
and all this was completed in eight years. There are other canals connected
with it. This great artery, bringing up the produce of Europe to the west,
through this city, must increase its prosperity[8] and population.
At twelve o’clock this morning embarked in the steamboat Constellation
for Chicago, through lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Michigan, a distance
of twelve hundred miles, for which we are to pay twenty dollars, ten each.
The wharves as we left them presented a busy scene. We counted forty
steamboats and canal boats, beside several large vessels. Among the latter
was the Queen Charlotte, a stately ship of war belonging to Canada, but
degraded to the ignoble fate of a Buffalo trader. She had, it is true, lost some
of her original brightness ere thus fallen, for she had been twenty-three
years under water, having been sunk in a naval fight on Lake Erie, and
lately raised. The wharves were loaded with produce and merchandize,
while carts, boats, and men, were loading and being unloaded.
We left Buffalo with regret. Its majestic river and noble lake—its back
ground of forests, gay streets, and social people, have left a vivid and
pleasing picture upon our memories. A fine pier, or breakwater as they call
it, of solid mason work extends 1100 feet, protecting the wharves from the
waves. A light house stands upon the end of the pier. When the city had
completely faded into the distant horizon we turned our gaze on our
companions. Upon one corner of the deck was a promiscuous heap of
chairs, children, pots, kettles, men and women, being a family moving west.
That old man with a cocked hat, and large metal buttons, the young man in
a blue frock, and women with embroidered stomachers and indescribable
caps, sitting upon a pile of strange looking articles of husbandry, and huge
unwieldy chests, is a band of emigrants from central Europe. A party of
English gentleman from Canada were there, bound upon a hunting
expedition to Wisconsin—another of Buffalo young men, were going to
while away the summer months in a fishing excursion upon Lake Superior,
a long light skiff being part of their travelling luggage. There were also
tourists for pleasure, information and health like ourselves, and some few
going to inspect lands which they had bought unseen. Our steamboat is a
very fine one although not of the first class. There is a handsome saloon for
the ladies surrounded by a circle of state-rooms opening upon the deck—
below are the eating rooms and gentlemen’s cabin, the whole fitted up with
comfort and elegance. There are about 53 steamboats upon lake Erie, some
of them of six hundred tons, and fitted up with every luxury and elegance,
many costing from $15,000 to $120,000 each. They are built upon a fine
model, and are well finished. The upholsterer’s bill sometimes amounts to
$4,000. They are generally built very strong to resist the waves that run
high here. The complement of men for one of these boats amounts to 40;
the captain receiving $100 a month. After an excellent dinner we ascended
to the promenade deck which, like our Hudson river boats is the uppermost
deck, surrounded with seats. We were out upon lake Erie, and gazed around
us with wonder and delight. The water was a fine dark green, which as the
wind was high, was tossed in waves crested with white foam, or sparkling
spray. The shores were in some places low and wooded, alternating with
gentle elevations, at whose foot ran a line of yellow sand—a sky of purest
azure dotted with fleecy clouds was above. What a lovely scene—
asks Sir Walter. This lake however is rather larger than his Scottish lake, it
being 290 miles long. It has the character of being the most tempestuous of
all the lakes, a fact we were soon able to verify, for in the afternoon the
wind increased to a gale, and the waves dashing against our vessel gave us
each time a shock as if she had struck a rock.
The ladies soon began to feel the effects of such tossing, and one after
another retired to their berths quite ill. Forty-five miles from Buffalo we
stopped at the town of Dunkirk, which is the termination of the New York
and Erie rail road. It commences at Hudson river 25 miles above the city of
New York, a distance of 450 miles from its end. This town, under these
circumstances, is rising rapidly. It has a fine circular bay having two
projecting points which protect it, one and a half miles across—and is one
of the best harbors upon the lake. There is also a pier within the shelter of
which five large schooners were moored. We observed a rail road depot
ready for the future engines and train—a church, tavern and a few stores.
Several little boys came on board with pails of cherries for sale, which they
disposed of at four cents a quart. Here we landed a passenger, an inhabitant
of Dunkirk, who, during the voyage, had been vaunting the advantages of
his town. The day would soon come, he said, when he should no longer
resort to Buffalo for his goods, as the new rail road would bring all the trade
to Dunkirk. Darkness drove us to our state room, which we found replete
with every convenience—a circumstance much to our satisfaction as we
were to spend a week in it ere we reached our destined haven. I would
recommend you if you ever travel this way, to choose, as we did, a state
cabin looking towards the shore, for these boats stop at every considerable
town, and of course keep near the coast. In consequence of this
arrangement, we could, if inclined, sit in our cabin, and through the open
door, or window, behold the scenery at our ease; while those upon the
opposite side, gazed out upon an uniform waste of waters without a shore. I
thus obtained a sight of the town of Erie where we stopped during the night.
Aroused by the noise, I looked from my window and saw the town
distinctly by clear starlight. This town is in Pennsylvania, and is the
termination of the Pittsburg and Erie canal. In the canal basin, beside canal
boats, I saw a large steamboat and several schooners. Presque Isle defends
the harbor. There was a large hotel brightly illuminated, and some stage
coaches, awaiting the arrival of passengers. Erie stands upon a high mass of
Schistose rock surmounted by a stratum of clay—the whole forty feet above
the lake.[9] There is said to be here a neat court house, and several pretty
houses surrounded by trees—the streets are at right angles, and the trade
considerable. There was a bridge spanning the canal, which I hoped was the
one where the revered La Fayette was feted. It was formed into a large tent
by sails and flags, which had waved in the battle upon the lake, under which
was a fine collation. Several ships of war have been built here. You will
surely give me credit of being a first rate correspondent when I leave my
slumbers to collect items for your amusement and edification.
This man’s history interested us much, and I will relate it for your
edification. He was a native of our city of New York, one of a large family
straightened for means. While quite young he had married, and struggled
for years to support his family respectably, but sickness and ‘bad times’
rendered his lot a gloomy one. Hearing so often of the happiness and
prosperity of ‘the west,’ he resolved to remove thither, and accordingly
bought a tract of land upon St. Clair river, then farther west than it now is.
He came here twenty years since, with a wife and several young children,
and a mere trifle in money. A little village has now risen around him, of
which he is the owner. He has built a good tavern for travellers, which he
rents out; has erected a saw-mill; a few shops and houses, and a little
church. His children are married and settled around him; and he is, as he
expressed himself, ‘independent of the world.’ Once a year he goes to New
York or Buffalo, to purchase goods for his shop. How much better is this
state of things than to remain, struggling for a morsel, among the hungry
crowd of a large city. I asked him if he never repented renouncing a city
life. ‘No, indeed!’ he answered—‘I go there once or twice a year to transact
business, but hurry away, for I feel as if in prison. I want elbow room, and
never breathe free until threading my green lakes and vast forests again. I
am glad to leave such fictitious existence, where each man models his
conduct upon that of his neighbor, and dare not act as his spirit prompts
him.’ We had passed into St. Clair river, and about sun-down dropped this
man and his goods at his little village, which was seated upon a green slope,
cut out of the forest, upon the Michigan shore. The houses were surrounded
by little gardens and seemed comfortable.
The sign of the village inn was swinging in the summer breeze; a
traveller had just alighted from his horse in front of the piazza, and the
steam from his mill was rising high above the trees tinted purple in the
evening light. From a shop door a young man, probably his son,
accompanied by a neighbor, stepped forth to greet him; while, from the
honeysuckle-covered porch of a neat cottage a woman, whom I fancied his
wife, was looking eagerly out to watch his approach. Every thing denoted
industry, cheerfulness, and independence.
Soon after leaving the village of Clay, we observed a ship at anchor near
the shore, quite a picturesque object. It proved to be the Milwaukie, a ship
of three hundred tons burthen, bound from Buffalo to Chicago. It was
waiting for wind, or steam, to enable it to enter lake Huron, as this lake
pours into the river St. Clair with so strong a current, that vessels can
seldom stem it without a strong wind. She was soon attached to our
steamboat, and we both passed swiftly along. What a superb western sky!
The sun has long left us, and yet we scarcely miss its light, so golden and so
brilliant is the mantle he has left behind him. It is nearly nine o’clock, and
yet I can see to write this, but fatigue drives me to my cabin, and forces me
to say adieu until to-morrow.
July 3d.—Still in the river St. Clair. We stopped some hours in the night
at Newport, to take in a supply of wood. The captain purchased eighty cords
at $1,50 a cord. He told us it was his opinion the steamboats upon these
waters would soon be obliged to burn coal, although surrounded by such a
world of trees, as there is so much time wasted in stopping for it. I did not
regret our detention, as I was anxious to lose no part of a scenery to me so
novel and pleasing. This is a beautiful river about sixty miles long, and half
a mile broad, having several little towns upon it. Cotrelville and Palmer we
had also passed in the night; the latter a thriving place, from which a rail
road is contemplated to Romeo, twenty-six miles, there to meet the Shelby
and Detroit rail road. A communication will thus be continued with Detroit
through the winter. The country upon the Canadian shore is wild and
uninhabited, while the Michigan side of the river is frequently adorned with
fields of grass or wheat, or thrifty orchards. The houses are plain, but
seemed surrounded by every comfort. Our course ran quite near this shore,
so close, that I might fancy myself transported into the midst of a farm yard,
with all its morning business going on. A pretty white wood house is before
me now, surrounded by fields and barns, having a row of cherry trees in
front whose fruit is glistening red in the morning sun. In the barn yard a
man is chopping wood, to cook the breakfast, I suppose—another is busy
hoeing in a potatoe field—a boy is leading a horse down to the river for
water, while numerous other children are arrested in their play and stand
open mouthed gazing at us—ducks are dabbling in the wavelets—pigs are
rooting up the turf—a flock of geese are running down the bank at us with
beaks and wings extended in a warlike attitude—while a sober cow chews
her cud under a large hickory nut tree. The next moment all is gone, to give
place to the silent groves of oak, maple and ash. Upon a long narrow island
near the Canadian shore, my eyes were attracted by what seemed a row of