A larger initial budget deficit is correlated with less depreciation. This implies that countries with a larger budget surplus (or smaller budget deficit) at the end of 1996 had worse stock market performance in the crisis. For example, a 1% “better” budget implies a 5% lower stock market from the end of 1996 to the lowest point in 1998.
6.2. Corporate governance
In contrast, the results using our legal variables are much stronger (see Table 7). The judicial efficiency variable is not significant, but the other legal environment variables are significant in most specifications.