We consider three plausible explanations for our "nding. First, "rms in
low-income countries might have more correlated fundamentals, and this correlation
might make their stock prices move more synchronously. For example,
if low-income economies tend to be undiversi"ed, "rm-level earnings may be
highly correlated because industry events are essentially market-wide events.
Second, low-income economies often provide poor and uncertain protection of
private property rights. Political events and rumors in such countries could, by
themselves, cause market-wide stock price swings. Moreover, inadequate protection
for property rights could make informed risk arbitrage in their stock
markets unattractive. According to De Long et al. (1989, 1990), a reduction in
informed trading can increase market-wide noise trader risk, which we would
observe as increased market-wide stock price variation unrelated to fundamentals.
Third, in countries that provide poorer protection for public investors