Stock Market Volatility and Recent Crises

Abstract

We study the volatility of the US stock market and its sectors as defined by S&P before and after four recent crises: the Mexican crises, the Asian crises, the Dotcom crises and the Great Recession. We compare the increase in daily volatility with the increase in the implied daily volatility (derived from the monthly volatility) to determine if there was a lasting economic effect of each crisis or the increase in volatility was due to financial transitory components. We find that for each crisis the effect was different even though the increase in volatility was present for most of the crises in the post crises period. The paper helps investors and economic policy makers understand what the response to each crisis should be to stabilize the economy.