Local and global illiquidity effects in the Balkans frontier markets

We study market illiquidity across 11 national markets of the Balkans. In general, the EU member countries are more liquid than the nonmember countries. Turkey, however, has the most liquid market, while Serbia and Bosnia are the least liquid. Global illiquidity sourced from the US has a strong and positive impact on pricing in eight of the Balkans markets. In contrast, illiquidity transmitted from the EU impacts expected returns in only two instances, while local illiquidity is significant for just one market. Croatia and Slovenia are most susceptible to transmissions of regional illiquidity, each receiving illiquidity spillovers from four sources.