Southern African Development Community Free Trade Agreement Impact on South Africa Stock Returns

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Southern African Development Community free trade agreement on the stock returns on South Africa Stock returns. The free trade area was officially implemented on August 18th 2008. The available literature shows that free trade areas create positive returns for investors. In this study, the author examined daily data and used an OLS regression. The Event Window covered 90 days. The results showed that the free trade area had a positive impact on the stock returns in South Africa.

Keywords: South Africa, Event Studies, Free Trade Agreement

JEL Classification: F13, F15, F36