Definition of Research Questions and Hypotheses

As discussed in the previous chapter, the areas of emerging market finance and market integration have received attention in previous research. Despite this existing research, there are areas which have not been fully explored. This section serves to introduce the unexplored research questions and associated research hypotheses that will be empirically tested within the scope of this study. The research questions are derived from the current basis of theory and empirical evidence.

This study aims to extend the existing market integration research by applying an approach that focuses on an event which occurs at a later stage in the market integration process but that is nevertheless likely to have a significant impact on the level of market integration. Understanding the effects on emerging equity markets as a consequence of accession to the EU provides an important complement to the existing academic findings. If it can be shown that emerging economies where liberalisation has already occurred, experience additional integration as a result of accession to an established economic trade union, conclusions about the market integration process in general can be derived.