Volatility Spillovers and Contagion in Emerging Europe
Volatility Spillovers and Contagion in Emerging Europe

Summary/Abstract: What is the relationship between the two largest emerging financial markets of Eastern Europe, Russia and Poland, and how do they impact the region’s stock markets? The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of these two countries in regional volatility by examining their effect on two separate phenomena: financial volatility, defined here as long- term interrelations, and contagion, a more short- term phenomenon. Utilizing bivariate DCC- GARCH modeling, this paper estimates long- term volatility spillover effects and short- term contagion effects and their origins during several periods of financial crisis in the Central and Eastern European region. Our results show that the long- term impact of volatility in the Russian market is much more substantial than that of Poland in Central and Eastern Europe, with this disparate impact corresponding to each country’s level of market capitalization. Additionally, our results show that Russia served as a source of short- term contagion for neighboring countries during its banking crisis in 2004 and during the Russian stock market fall in 2008. Poland had comparatively less effect on the region during the Global Financial Crisis. Moreover, the entrance of Poland into the European Union in May 2004 had no impact on stock markets in the region in terms of enhancing contagion.

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