Against the backdrop of expanding retail participation, rising passive ownership, and evolving market microstructure, understanding the links between trading, pricing, and the real economy has renewed importance. This review examines how equity markets function, what determines stock prices, and how those prices shape macroeconomic outcomes. The study’s theme is integrative: it synthesizes theory and evidence on four core market functions (price discovery, risk sharing, capital formation and governance, and liquidity provision), organizes pricing determinants across present-value logic, risk-based factor models, and demand- or constraint-driven mechanisms, and traces macroeconomic transmission through household wealth, firm investment, credit conditions, and monetary policy. This study connects canonical models with recent empirical findings and institutional observations, highlighting points of agreement and contention. The significance of this study lies in providing an integrated framework for researchers and policymakers: it clarifies when prices primarily reflect cash-flow news versus pressures driven by discount rates or order flows; it highlights how ownership composition and intermediation capacity shape price impacts; and it identifies practical implications for estimating the cost of capital, designing markets, and monitoring financial stability.
Research Article
Open Access