Electronic trading and stock market participation in Africa: does technology induce participation?

This study examines the effect of migrating to electronic trading platforms on stock market partici pation among African stock exchanges. Using Bayesian estimations, we demonstrate that transitioning from a physical to an electronic stock exchange decreases trading activity on the stock exchange whilst increasing listing. Our findings further reveal that the impact of migration is more pronounced for non Sub-Saharan African countries relative to Sub-Saharan countries. In terms of policy, the results imply that African exchanges cannot optimise the efficiency of their stock markets simply by migrating to electronic trading platforms.