THE LONG-RUN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ICT INDICATORS AND STOCK MARKET INDEXES FOR G7 AND E7 COUNTRIES

Since the late 1990s, information and communication technology (ICT) has caused changes in all fields, particularly in the stock markets. By using ICT technology, stock market investors had a chance to get information, reduce the trading cost and make optimal investing decisions. This study aims to examine the long-run relationship between stock market indexes and ICT indicators for G7 and E7 countries. The stock market indexes are taken as dependent and ICT indicators as independent variables, for the period between 2003 and 2019. We included three ICT indicators which are fixed telephone subscriptions, mobile telephone subscriptions, and internet users (individuals using the internet percentage of population). The panel cointegration tests which are Pedroni and Kao, and the Fully Modified Least Squares (FMOLS) method are used in this paper. The results imply that ICT indicators which are mobile telephone subscriptions and individuals using the internet have a positive impact on stock markets and their significance.