Date of Award

5-2021

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Economics and Finance

Committee Chair(s)

Tyler Brough (Committee Chair)

Committee

Tyler Brough

Committee

Benjamin Blau

Committee

Todd Griffith

Abstract

On January 1, 2006 Medicare part D expanded, giving prescription coverage to many Americans. This event offers an interesting question regarding market efficiency, specifically because Medicare expansion was introduced into congress as far back as 1999. Because Medicare part D affected pharmaceutical drug coverage, this study focuses specifically on securities in the pharmaceutical industry. Following an efficient market hypothesis, we would expect to see significant abnormal returns in the post event window, anticipating the legislations effect on demand within the industry. Results showed significant abnormal returns in post-event window, but not in the pre-event window. The returns in the post-event window were both statically and economically significant. This suggests that most of the abnormal returns stemmed from a reaction after the implementation instead of anticipating the implementation.

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