STOCK MARKETS IN TRANSITION - THE WARSAW EXPERIMENT

This paper investigates the development from 1991 to 1994 of the Warsa w Stock Exchange, which opened on April 16th, 1991. An overview is pre sented focusing first on the deepening of the equity market, with a st ill limited but increasing number of listed companies, and then on the high trading activity and price dynamics with their impressive outbur st in 1993. Three important dimensions are thereafter analyzed: the re levance of organizational and regulatory choices, the degree of market inefficiency and the origin of the discrepancy between IPO prices and first quoted market prices. Concluding remarks concentrate on the mar ket's ability to fulfil its fundamental tasks.