Regime switching: Italian financial markets over a century

The frequency of crashes and the magnitude of crises in international financial markets are growing more severe over time. Recent financial crises are not singular events portrayed in recent accounts, rather, they erupt in circumstances that are very similar to the economic and financial environments of the earlier eras. This paper analyzes the Italian stock market in two very peculiar periods (1901–1911 and 1993–2004): the “Second” and the “Third industrial revolution”. We use Markov Switching Models to test whether the Italian stock market volatility has increased in the long run and whether it can be represented by different regimes. We find that volatility regimes exist; that Banking sector has a central role and “New economy” sectors perform quite well while traditional sectors do not, in both periods.