Do Energy Prices Affect U.S. Investor Sentiment?

The current literature has examined the effect of investor sentiment on energy prices, but no study ever has explored the validity of the reverse question. Therefore, this article explore whether energy prices (i.e., crude oil and natural gas prices) affect U.S. investor sentiment, using the methodology of quantile regression. The empirical results document that controlling for a number of U.S. macroeconomic and financial factors, there exists a statistically significant association between oil and natural gas prices and investor sentiment. However, only natural gas prices appear to retain their statistical significance over the majority of quantiles. These findings received robust support under alternative measures of the investor sentiment index.     

The role of the government in financial sector development

This study examines the impact of two dimensions of the government, namely, size and quality, on two dimensions of the financial sector, size and efficiency, in a cross section of 71 economies. The study finds that increased quality of the government as measured by governance and legal origin positively influences both financial sector size and efficiency. The size of the government proxied by government expenditure and the government ownership of banks has a negative effect on financial sector efficiency, and a positive impact on financial sector size, particularly in the low income economies.     

Does female human capital formation matter for the income effect of remittances? Evidence from developing countries

The existing literature has focussed extensively on the development outcomes resulting from international migrant remittances. Yet, the human capital channel promoting remittance effectiveness has received little attention. Given the multilateral policy drive to promote female literacy in recent decades, it is relevant to examine whether female human capital formation improves the effectiveness of remittances in terms of its impact on per capita income. Using a panel of 103 developing economies over the period 1970–2012, this paper attempts to answer this question empirically. The paper finds that female human capital affects the remittance-growth relationship differently according to whether it is the primary, secondary or tertiary level of human capital. Our estimates of the marginal impacts of remittances show that while higher levels of skilled human capital (secondary and tertiary enrolments) enhance the marginal impact of remittances on per capita income, low-skilled human capital (primary enrolments) fails to do so. Our conclusion stresses the need to encourage female human capital beyond the promotion of literacy rates in developing countries.     

Bayesian estimators of the lognormal–Pareto composite distribution

In this paper, Bayesian methods with both Jeffreys and conjugate priors for estimating parameters of the lognormal–Pareto composite (LPC) distribution are considered. With Jeffreys prior, the posterior distributions for parameters of interest are derived and their properties are described. The conjugate priors are proposed and the conditional posterior distributions are provided. In addition, simulation studies are performed to obtain the upper percentage points of Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Anderson–Darling test statistics. Furthermore, these statistics are used to compare Bayesian and likelihood estimators. In order to clarify and advance the validity of Bayesian and likelihood estimators of the LPC distribution, well-known Danish fire insurance data-set is reanalyzed.     

The Impact of Migrant Remittances on Economic Growth: Evidence from South Asia

Incorporating migrant remittances among other variables into a growth model, and employing panel data over the 1970–2008 period, this study investigates the impact of migrant remittances on economic growth in South Asia. Migrant remittances are found to have a significant positive effect on economic growth. A significant positive interactive effect of remittances on economic growth is detected through education and financial sector development.     

Is the adjustment to real interest rate parity asymmetric?

Threshold cointegration is employed in this study to test the real interest parity condition between the UK and the US. Evidence supports the asymmetric adjustment of real interest rates. The threshold error correction models indicate that negative deviations from long run real interest parity are eliminated faster than positive deviations.     

Who Remits? An Examination of Emigration by Education Level and Gender

Employing data on emigration rates by education level, this study finds that primary and secondary qualified emigrants contribute positively and significantly to remittances. Tertiary qualified emigrants, however, do not contribute significantly to remittances. Remittances in turn contribute significantly to home country income. There is some evidence of both an altruistic and self‐interested motive to remit. Gender‐disaggregated results suggest that females remit more than males and are more altruistic.     

Nothing to hide: Commitment to,compliance with,and impact of the special data dissemination standard

Understanding why states voluntarily cede power to international institutions, and if those institutions fulfill their stated goals, remain a pressing question in international relations. In order to evaluate the material and normative logics that may drive this type of behavior, this paper considers state commitment to and compliance with the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) initiative launched by the IMF in 1996. This effort seeks to enhance the availability of comprehensive economic data based on best dissemination practices to facilitate pursuing sound macroeconomic policies. Using panel data on 120 countries during the 1996–2011 period, we find that commitment to the SDDS occurs when costs for states are low, and that compliance with the SDDS initiative is associated with increased data transparency after controlling for self‐section bias. Our results are robust to controlling for endogeneity, alternative sample, and estimation methods.     

The Feldstein–Horioka model re-visited for African countries

We study the relationship between the saving and investment rates for 20 African countries using a long period of data. A high correlation between saving and investment is often taken as evidence of capital immobility. We use the new Ng–Perron unit root tests to examine the stationarity of saving and investment rates. Both Johansen cointegration tests and fractional cointegration tests are used. The results are mixed. The Johansen cointegration tests show that the saving and investment rates are cointegrated only for Rwanda and South Africa. This implies that for the other 18 countries, there is evidence of capital mobility. The fractional cointegration test results are different. The two rates are found to be fractionally cointegrated for the following 12 countries: Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tunisia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. For Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho and Sierra Leone there is some evidence of capital mobility while the results for Ethiopia, Malawi, Mauritius and Nigeria are mixed.     

Debt uncertainty and economic growth: evidence from five highly indebted Eurozone countries

The goal of this study is to examine the relationships between economic growth and debt uncertainty by applying the threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity modelling methodology in five Eurozone countries spanning the period 2001–2013. The results document that during the European fiscal crisis period, debt uncertainty exerts a significant negative effect on economic growth across all five Eurozone countries that experienced the deterioration of their fiscal positions.