Oil Prices and Monetary Policy in Emerging Markets: Structural Shifts in Causal Linkages

This study tests the causal relationships between oil prices and monetary policy for the emerging markets (Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey). In particular, we explore the role of exchange rates, inflation, and interest rates. First, we utilize the commonly used Toda–Yamamoto causality framework and later augment the model to account for structural shifts—including gradual/smooth shifts. The empirical findings show that (i) accounting for gradual structural shifts matter for the causal linkages between oil prices and the monetary policy variables and (ii) employing a bivariate or multivariate frameworks is not important (with few exceptions) as much as controlling for structural breaks in these causal linkages.     

Exchange Rates and Turkish Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Trade with the EU Countries: Bilateral Trade Data Analysis

This study examines the role of exchange rate on Turkey's fresh fruits and vegetables bilateral trade balance with 14 trading partners in the European Union. Because dynamic effects of exchange rate changes on trade balances have been hypothesized as the J-curve effect, special attention is paid to investigate whether or not the J-curve hypothesis is observable. To this end, we apply the bounds testing cointegration approach to the trade balance model for the period of 1995:q1–2007:q2. Results support evidence of the J-curve effect in 2 cases in the short run. In the long run, the exchange rate has a positive impact on the trade balance in 7 out of 14 cases.     

Exchange rate volatility and Turkish industry-level export: Panel cointegration analysis

The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of the exchange rate volatility on Turkey's export. To this end, the panel cointegration analysis is applied to the data from Turkey's top 20 export industries to major 20 trading partners for the period 1980–2009. Special attention is paid to test for whether employment of country-level trade data instead of industry-level data is subject to the aggregation bias problem in the estimation of long-run cointegration parameters. The results indicate that employing country-level trade data suffers from the aggregation bias in estimating the cointegration parameters for the level of exchange rate and for the exchange rate volatility. The findings imply that (i) the impact of the exchange rate volatility on Turkish exports differs across industries, (ii) Turkey benefits from the depreciation of Turkish lira, and(iii) the foreign income plays a key role in determining the Turkish industry-level exports. The findings increase our insights to explain therecent dynamics of Turkish exports and provide some policy implications.     

Volatility transmission between Islamic and conventional equity markets: evidence from causality-in-variance test

This study examines whether a volatility/risk transmission exists between the Dow Jones Islamic stock and three conventional stock markets for the United States, Europe and Asia during the pre- and the in- and post-2008 crisis periods. It also explores the volatility spillover dynamics between those markets and US Monetary policy, oil prices, global financial risk and uncertainty factors. The recently developed Hafner and Herwartz (2006)’s causality-in-variance test provides evidence of risk transfers between these seemingly different equity markets, indicating a contagion between them during the full sample and the subperiods. The volatility structure of these markets is dominated by short-run volatility in the first period and by high long-run volatility in the second period. The volatility impulse response analysis indicates a similar volatility transmission pattern although it is characterized by a more volatile and short-lived structure in the second period. It also appears that the Islamic equity market responds to shocks from the risk factors and not from the oil price and the US economic policy uncertainty index during both periods.     

Entrepreneurial Brokers in Disaster Response Network in Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

Abstract

Entrepreneurial brokers play a major role in governance networks in a disaster response setting. By identifying patterns of interactions between members in a network of embedded ties, we can explore the strategic use of brokers to mobilize an effective coordination system in the case of the 2013 Philippines disaster. Empirical data were gathered from reported interactions beginning 2 days after Typhoon Haiyan for the following 4 weeks. This paper concludes with practical-based recommendations for international and local agencies to enhance their organizational competencies to serve as entrepreneurial brokers in emergency management.     

Exchange rate uncertainty and agricultural trade: panel cointegration analysis for Turkey

This study addresses the impact of exchange rate levels and uncertainty on bilateral agricultural trade between Turkey and 20 major trading partners, using panel cointegration analysis for annual data covering the period 1980–2005. Results show that (i) the exchange rate level is less robustly linked to trade volumes than is exchange rate uncertainty, (ii) exchange rate uncertainty is associated with smaller trade volumes in both directions, but more so for imports than for exports, and (iii) income growth in Turkey is associated with greater imports, just as income growth among trading partners is associated with greater exports. These findings provide some clues for understanding the recent patterns of Turkish agricultural trade, and suggest directions for future research.     

Stochastic convergence analysis of US state economic freedom sub-components: Evidence from unit root tests for bounded processes

This study tests for convergence of the three main sub-components of economic freedom (government spending, taxation, and labor market freedom) for the 50 US states from 1981 to 2019. In particular, we test for stochastic convergence using unit root tests that account for structural breaks and bounded processes. By controlling for these sources of parameter instability, we find limited evidence in favor of stochastic convergence across the three sub-components of economic freedom. However, we find more evidence of stochastic convergence with respect to the sub-components than in the case of the overall economic freedom at the US state level. Our results highlight the distinct nature of the institutional quality across states as represented by government spending, taxation, and labor market freedom.     

The convergence dynamics of economic freedom across U.S. states

This study tests for convergence in economic freedom across the 50 U.S. states from 1981 to 2019. In particular, we test for stochastic convergence in overall economic freedom using unit root tests that account for structural breaks and bounded processes, two sources of parameter instability. We find limited evidence of stochastic convergence. Further analysis of relative (club) convergence and weak σ-convergence rejects the presence of overall convergence in the panel of the U.S. states, but the emergence of two convergence clubs with respect to state-level economic freedom. The logit analysis of the determinants of the convergence clubs reveals that more prosperous states and states with a higher initial level of economic freedom have a higher probability of being in the club with more economic freedom. However, more racially diverse states have a lower probability of being in the club with more economic freedom.