Tests of Random Walk and Market Efficiency for Latin American Emerging Equity Markets

Variance‐ratio methodology is used to test the hypothesis that Latin American emerging equity market prices follow a random walk. The data are monthly index prices in local currency from December 1975 to March 1991 for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. The variance‐ratio tests reject the random walk hypothesis. However, runs tests indicate that Latin American equity markets are weak‐form efficient. These empirical findings suggest that domestic investors might not be able to develop trading strategies that would allow them to earn excess returns.