Interest Rate Liberalization and Economic Growth in Zambia: A Dynamic Linkage

Abstract: This paper examines the dynamic impact of interest rate reforms on economic growth in Zambia—using two models in a stepwise fashion. In the first model, the efficacy of interest rate liberalization is examined by regressing the interest rate on the level of financial deepening. In the second model, the causal relationship between financial depth and economic growth is examined by incorporating savings as an intermittent variable in the bivariate setting, thereby creating a simple trivariate model. Using the cointegration‐based error correction model, the study finds strong support for the positive impact of interest rate liberalization on financial deepening. In addition, the study finds that financial deepening, which results from interest rate liberalization, Granger causes economic growth. The results apply irrespective of whether the causality is estimated in the short run or in the long run. Other results show that: (1) lagged financial depth leads to further financial deepening; (2) savings and economic growth Granger cause each other; and (3) financial development Granger causes savings in the long run.     

Re‐Visiting Financial Development and Economic Growth Nexus: The Role of Capitalization in Bangladesh

This paper revisits the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Bangladesh by incorporating trade openness in production function using quarter frequency data over the period of 1976‐2012. We applied combined Bayer–Hanck cointegration approach to examine cointegration among the series. Our empirical evidence suggests that development of financial sector facilitates economic growth but capitalization impedes it. In addition, trade openness stimulates economic growth. Labour is also positively linked to economic growth. The vector error correction model Granger causality results divulge that financial development causes real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and resultantly, real per capita GDP growth causes financial development in a Granger sense. The results also show that trade and labour Granger cause economic growth. The findings of the paper provide insights for policymakers to use financial development and trade openness as a tool for sustained economic growth in the long run. The paper also suggests policymakers to utilise capitalization in a way that is beneficial for economic growth of Bangladesh.     

Testing the nexus between renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Nigeria: The role of broad‐based financial development

This study investigates the nexus between renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Nigeria, accounting for the role of financial development, and re‐examines the validity of the environmental Kuznet curve (EKC) hypothesis for Nigeria covering the period 1990 to 2016. To cover financial development more adequately, the current study uses the broad‐based financial development index constructed by the International Monetary Fund. The study employs second generation econometric approaches of Lee and Strazicich, and Bayer and Hanck combined cointegration tests to check for stationarity and cointegration among the variables, and then applies autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and vector error correction model (VECM) Granger causality tests to explore the effect and causal relationship respectively. The results divulge that renewable energy consumption improves environmental quality, while financial development hurts the environment. Further, the results validate an inverted U‐shaped association between economic growth and environmental degradation in Nigeria. The VECM Granger causality results indicate a long‐run effect of the independent variables on CO₂ emission, while the short‐run causality reveals a mixture of unidirectional and bidirectional causality among the variables. This study therefore recommends that policy makers consider the important roles of renewable energy and financial development in reforming energy policies to achieve environmental sustainability.     

Export performance and economic growth causality: An empirical analysis

The cointegration and causal relationship between export growth and economic growth is investigated for the Nordic economies. On the basis of Johansen's technique and the augmented Granger causality tests, the evidence shows that these macroeconomic aggregates are causally related in the long run for each economy. Granger causality is unidirectional, running from economic growth to export growth in Denmark, and bidirectional in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The established bidirectional causality suggests that the expansion of exports is an integral part of the economic growth process.     

WAGNER'S LAW: AN ECONOMETRIC TEST FOR SOUTH AFRICA, 1960‐2006

The main objective for this paper is to test Wagner's law by analysing the causal relationships between real government expenditure and real income for South Africa for the period 1960‐2006. The paper tests the long‐run relationship between the two variables using the autoregressive distributive lag approach to cointegration suggested by Pesaran et al. We use the Granger non‐causality test procedure developed by Toda and Yamamoto, which uses a vector autoregression model to test for the causal link between the two. Evidence of cointegration is sufficient to establish a long‐run relationship between government expenditure and income. However, support for Wagner's law would require unidirectional causality from income to government expenditure. Therefore, cointegration should be seen as a necessary condition for Wagner's law, but not sufficient. This research does find a long‐run relationship between real per capita government expenditure and real per capita income. Results for the short‐run causality find bidirectional causality. On the basis of empirical results in this paper, one may tentatively conclude that Wagner's law finds no support in South Africa.     

LONG‐RUN DETERMINANTS OF SAVINGS RATES IN WAEMU COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT FROM ARDL BOUNDS TESTING APPROACH

In this paper, we examine the long‐run determinants of savings rates for seven member countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union over the period 1970–2006. We use the bounds testing approach to cointegration developed by Pesaran et al. This methodology has several advantages with respect to other cointegration tests. The long‐run determinants of savings rate vary across countries. Results reveal that the financial liberalization process undertaken at the end of 1989 and the existing monetary policy have not been effective to increase the domestic savings rates within the area.     

Saving dynamics in the Asian countries

This paper investigates empirically the factors that have influenced the savings behavior in the fast growing Asian economies—Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Both the short and long-run movements of savings are modeled during the 1960–1997. The empirical results of the analysis based on time series data may be summarized as follows: (i) foreign savings deters domestic saving both in the short and long run; (ii) savings does not Granger cause economic growth, except for Singapore; (iii) the effect of interest rate on saving in Asian countries is inconclusive and it reflects the extent of financial liberalization adopted in these countries; and (iv) in the long run the causality runs from foreign to domestic savings.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Trade: A Causality Analysis

In this article, we analyze the relationship between outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports, using Spanish quarterly data for the period 1977–1998, by means of Granger causality tests in a cointegration framework. Our results point to the existence of a relationship of complementarity between both variables, with Granger causality running in the short run from outward FDI to exports, and bilateral Granger causality in the long run.     

Electricity Consumption–Economic Growth–CO2 Emissions Nexus in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from Panel Cointegration

This study explores the causal relationship among electricity consumption, economic growth and CO₂ emissions for a group of 14 sub‐Sahara African (SSA) countries from 1980 to 2009 using panel cointegration and panel vector error correction modelling methods. The findings demonstrate that in the long run electricity consumption has a statistically significant positive impact on CO₂ emissions. The results also reveal that the inverted U‐shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis exists in the SSA countries' case. The panel causality tests indicate that there is short‐run unidirectional causality running from economic growth to CO₂ emissions and electricity consumption respectively. Simultaneously, there is long‐run bidirectional causality between electricity consumption and economic growth, electricity consumption and CO₂ emissions, economic growth and CO₂ emissions. Depending on the results, relevant policies can be initiated without negatively affecting economic growth.     

Banking Sector Development and Energy Consumption in Nigeria: Exploring the Causal Relationship and its Implications

This study examines the causal relationship between banking sector development and energy consumption in Nigeria over the period 1971–2013 incorporating crude oil price and indicators of economic performance. An autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach to cointegration provides evidence of long‐run relationship among the variables. The long‐run and short‐run estimates suggest that a non‐linear inverted U‐shaped relationship exists between banking sector development and energy consumption in Nigeria, indicating that initially, energy consumption increases as the banking sector develops and then declines as the banking sector matures to generate efficiency in energy consumption. In addition, this study explores the direction of causality between the variables using the Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality test procedure. The results suggest that a unidirectional causality runs from crude oil price to banking sector development, from banking sector development to energy consumption and from energy consumption to economic growth. It may therefore be necessary for policy makers in Nigeria to incorporate banking sector development in the energy and sustainable economic policies.     

福建省税收负担对经济增长影响的计量分析

回顾了经济增长理论中政府税收对经济增长影响的分析和国内学者对我国税收和经济增长关系所进行的研究,利用福建省1979—2008年经济增长和宏观税负的数据进行协整分析和Granger因果检验。实证分析的结果表明:福建省的人均GDP和财政收入存在长期稳定的均衡关系,不存在Granger因果关系。本文进一步提出了政策建议。     

对外贸易与经济增长的协整及因果关系检验——对安徽省1981～2005年数据的实证分析

为了研究区域经济发展中对外贸易与经济增长的关系究竟是怎样的,选取了安徽省1981～2005年进口、出口和GDP的数据,利用协整和Granger因果关系检验进行了实证分析,结果发现三者之间在长期存在着唯一的动态均衡关系,进、出口贸易与经济增长之间存在单向的因果关系,而出口与进口存在着互为因果关系。然后,在实证分析的基础上提出了相应的政策建议。     

Public Revenue‐Expenditure Nexus in South Africa: Are there Asymmetries?

This paper re‐examines the government revenue and expenditure relationship in South Africa using Enders and Siklos' Threshold adjustment and Granger causality tests. The paper allows for structural breaks in the unit root and cointegration tests. The results indicate the absence of any asymmetries in both the threshold autoregression and momentum threshold autoregression specifications of adjustments in the South African's budgeting process. The estimated symmetric error‐correction models provide support for the fiscal synchronization hypothesis of government revenues and expenditures for long‐run and short‐run dynamic equilibrium. These findings indicate that the South African fiscal authorities should try to maintain or even improve the control of their fiscal policy instruments to sustain the prudent budgetary process.     

EXPORT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NAMIBIA: A GRANGER CAUSALITY ANALYSIS

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the causality between exports and GDP of Namibia and to evaluate the relationship of these variables for the period 1970 to 2005. Time‐series econometric techniques (Granger causality and cointegration) are applied to test the hypothesis of a growth strategy led by exports. It tests whether export Granger causes GDP, or whether the causality runs from GDP to exports, or if there is bi‐directional causality between exports and GDP. The results revealed that exports Granger cause GDP and GDP per capita. This suggests that the export‐led growth strategy through various incentives has a positive influence on growth.     

EXPORT‐LED GROWTH HYPOTHESIS: FURTHER ECONOMETRIC EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH ASIA

This paper examines the export‐led growth (ELG) hypothesis for five South Asian countries through cointegration and multivariate Granger causality tests. Strong support for a long‐run relationship among exports, imports, and real output for all the countries except Sri Lanka were found. Feedback effects between exports and GDP for Bangladesh and Nepal and unidirectional causality from exports to output in the case of Pakistan were found. No causality between these variables was found for Sri Lanka and India, although for India GDP and exports did induce imports. A feedback effect between imports and GDP was also documented for Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as unidirectional causality from imports to output growth for Sri Lanka. These and other findings are discussed from the standpoint of the export‐led growth hypothesis.     

FDI与中国经济增长:1998-2003年的实证检验

文章通过对我国1998-2003年FDI与经济增长的协整分析和Granger因果关系检验,得出结论:FDI与中国经济增长之间存在稳定的正向均衡效应以及单向因果关系,FDI的增长是GDP增长的Granger原因,但由于利用FDI过程中存在外资利用结构引发的对国内投资的挤出以及国内储蓄的低效利用,削     

关于我国货币理论的实证研究

本文通过建立向量自回归模型,采用协整研究、脉冲响应及格兰杰因果性检验等计量经济学方法,就国内生产总值、居民消费物价水平、名义利率和货币供给量之间的关系进行了实证检验。结果表明,在我国的经济条件下,上述因素之间并不存在长期稳定的均衡关系。通过差分变换,对M2增长率、GDP增长率、CPI及利率等变量进行实证研究,并得出它们之间的协整关系。     

我国经济水平与管道物流水平之间的作用研究——基于向量误差修正模型的应用

基于1990年到2014年国内生产总值、管道货运量、管道里程数的时间序列数据。在通过平稳性检验和协整检验后建立向量误差修正模型,并进行格兰杰因果分析和脉冲响应分析,对我国经济增长和管道物流之间的关系进行实证研究。通过协整检验可以得到,各变量之间确实存在着长期的均衡关系。格兰杰因果检验分析表明：在10%的显著性水平下,国内生产总值与管道货运量之间存在着单向格兰杰因果关系,管道货运量不是经济增长的格兰杰原因,其他变量之间在5%的显著性水平下都通过了格兰杰因果检验。脉冲响应函数得出：给GDP和管道里程数一个正向冲击,长期来看都会促进管道货运量的增长,而给管道货运量一个正向冲击,没有表现出拉动经济增长的效果,可以说明管道物流发展水平还处于初级阶段,有关部门应该调整管道货运政策,更好的发挥管道这一运输方式的作用。     

福建省经济发展和进出口贸易的研究

回顾了国内外学者对经济增长与对外贸易的关系所进行的研究,利用福建省1981-2007年国内生产总值、出口总额、进口总额的数据进行协整分析和Granger因果检验。实证分析的结果表明：①福建省国内生产总值、出口总额、进口总额之间存在长期稳定的关系。②福建省的经济增长、出口增长、进口增长之间不存在Granger因果关系。     

China's economic development: does exchange rate and FDI nexus matter?

This study aims to investigate the relationship between China's exchange rate, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, and economic development. We applied the bound testing approach on aggregate level data from 1981 to 2013. The results showed that the Chinese economy benefitted from a lower exchange rate over this period, and that there was a direct link between FDI inflows and economic development on an aggregate level both in the long and short run. The results of the Granger causality test identified a long‐ and short‐run association among these variables. The GMM estimations with dummies for financial crises and RMB exchange rate policy fluctuations also confirmed the growth enhancing impact of the exchange rate and FDI inflows. To promote sustainable economic development in the future, China should focus on improving the levels of domestic investment and human capital, as well as supervising the level of openness and capital controls.