Market Efficiency and Empirical Approaches to Test for it

A review and discussion of market efficiency

A financial market is efficient with respect to information item, if the new information has fully influenced the market prices. In an efficient market, when a new information is made available its impact is said to be instantaneous or rapid and unbiased to the financial assets' current market prices.

There are three different hypotheses that have been formulated to try and explain market prices, in respect to what kind of information is availed to the market. The weak version of efficient market hypothesis suggests that the changes in market prices are in respect to all the information that the public has had in the past. The semi-strong form of hypothesis suggests that the current prices in the financial market is a reflection of all the information that the public, and that the introduction of...
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