Threshold Effects on the Relationship Between Inflation Rate and Economic Growth in Tunisia

Using an econometric technique suggested by Hansen [(2001). The new econometrics of structural change: Dating breaks in U.S. Labor productivity. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15, 117–128], this paper studies the inflation–economic growth nexus in the case of Tunisia for the 1993-01–2012-11 period. The results show that there is one inflation threshold value that does exist for Tunisia. This evidence strongly sustains the view that the relationship between inflation rate and economic growth is non-linear. The estimated threshold regression model suggests that a threshold value of inflation rate below 3.48% fosters economic growth. In addition, above this threshold level, there is a statistically significant negative relationship between inflation rate and economic growth. These results have important implications to policy-makers who should pay attention to the inflation phenomena. Therefore, a new policy that takes into account such a threshold should be set up.     

Exchange Rate Regimes and Inflation: Evidence from India

Abstract

Exchange rate stability is crucial for inflation management as a stable rate is expected to reduce domestic inflation pressures through a ‘policy discipline effect’ – restricting money supply growth, and a ‘credibility effect’ – inducing higher money demand and reduced velocity of money. Alternatively, the ‘impossibility trillema’ of Mundell (1961a Mundell, R. A. (1961a). Capital mobility and stabilization policy under fixed and flexible exchange rates. Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 29, 475–485. doi: 10.2307/139336[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1961b Mundell, R. A. (1961b). Flexible exchange rates and employment policy. Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 27, 509–517. doi: 10.2307/139437[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) predicts that in the presence of an open capital account, a stable exchange rate may lead to lack of control on monetary policy and, hence, higher inflation. Using a monetary model of Inflation, this paper investigates the impact of the ‘empirically-claimed’ de facto stable exchange rate regime on inflation in India during different sub-periods of exchange rate stability. The results show that the impact of exchange rate regime on inflation is not visible in the Indian case, which could be because of the offsetting sterilization policy undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during expansionary money supply growth resulting from its large-scale intervention to even out exchange rate volatility.     

中国经济增长与通货膨胀间非对称关系的实证分析

利用1985—2012年中国主要宏观经济变量数据,采用门限自回归模型实证检验了通货膨胀对经济增长的非线性影响。研究结果表明,通货膨胀门限效应明显存在;在门限值以上,通货膨胀对经济增长起阻碍作用;在门限值以下,通货膨胀对经济增长起促进作用。在此基础上,利用平滑转换回归模型进一步检验了通货膨胀与经济增长之间的非线性关系,不同模型的实证结果都支持通货膨胀门限效应存在。     

The causality between FDI and sector-specific production in Turkey: evidence from threshold cointegration with regime shifts

This article considers bidirectional nonlinear cointegration relation between FDI and industrial output in Turkey. The data cover the monthly period 2005:1–2013:10 for the time series of total industrial production, 36 sub-industrial sectors’ production and FDI. Following nonlinear threshold cointegration and VECMs, the article yields that (i) total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions have positive long-run impact on FDI with significant error corrections, (ii) six sub-industrial productions have short-term influence on FDI, (iii) FDI has long-run positive impulse on total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions with some significant error corrections and (iv) FDI affects four sub-industrial productions in the short run as well as in the long run. The results of VECMs from (i) also reveal that the all short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in 10 typical regimes (Regime-1s) and in 5 extreme regimes (Regime-2s). Finally, the outcome of VECMs from (iii) yields that short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in two typical regimes and in four extreme regimes. Eventually, considering FDI’s positive impact in the short and long run, this article suggests that policymakers promote specifically the FDI inflows to the sectors of intermediate goods, manufacture of beverages, manufacture of rubber and plastic and manufacture of other nonmetallic mineral products.     

The growth effect of trade openness on African countries: Evidence from using an instrumental variable panel smooth transition model

This paper assesses the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Africa by accounting for the heterogeneity of African countries. In addition, the paper contributes to the literature on trade openness and economic growth nexus by applying the instrumental variable panel smooth transition regression, a methodology that accounts for nonlinearity and endogeneity in the relationship between the two variables. The results of the empirical analysis reveal that the investment ratio is a channel through which trade openness affects economic growth in the African continent. In addition, the relationship between trade openness and economic growth varies according to the degree of a country's development in Africa. The study finds a negative relationship between openness and growth in low-income countries. Conversely, for upper-income countries, the coefficients of trade indicators are positive and statistically significant. The results indicate that African countries are not homogeneous, especially concerning trade openness and economic growth nexus.     

The Threshold Effect of Exchange Rate Volatility on Trade Volume: Evidence from G-7 Countries

Abstract

This paper uses a threshold model to examine a possible threshold effect in the impact of exchange rate volatility on trade volume for the bilateral trade volumes between the US and other G-7 countries. A grid-searching method is used to obtain the threshold points, and time-series econometric techniques are applied to estimate the long run stable relationships as well as short-run dynamics. The results support the existence of nonlinearity in the effect of exchange rate volatility, and indicate that trade volume tends to increase when exchange rate volatility surpasses a certain threshold point.     

The effect of VAT rate on inflation in Latvia: evidence from CPI microdata

This article evaluates the inflation effect of recent value added tax (VAT) rate changes in Latvia by using consumer price index (CPI) microdata. Our findings suggest that the pass-through of the tax rate to consumer prices is strong in case of upward tax adjustments, especially when there are no demand restrictions, while the pass-through is weaker for tax reductions. The frequency of price changes peaks at the moment of VAT adjustment, which, however, is partially compensated by lower average size of price revisions. The level of pass-through exhibits a high degree of heterogeneity with higher pass-through for goods, especially food, and lower for services.     

食品与非食品价格的长期均衡关系与短期非线性调整——基于两区制门槛协整模型的实证研究

食品通胀率与非食品通胀率之间的测量缺口近期持续扩大,引起了市场广泛关注。文章根据1994年1月至2010年8月的食品价格与非食品价格数据,运用两区制门槛误差修正模型研究两者的长期均衡关系和短期价格调整以及传导机制中的非线性特征。结果发现,食品通胀率与非食品通胀率存在门槛协整关系,而且估计缺口稳定,这表明测量缺口夸大了两者的真实偏离。文章还发现了食品价格传导的新信息内涵,即食品价格对非食品价格具有非线性的价格传导性:短期内偏离主要是食品价格上升造成,尤其是在高通货膨胀区制,偏离速度有加快趋势。两区制的Granger因果关系检验发现,在极端区制,食品价格通胀与非食品价格通胀具有双向的短期Granger原因,即两者相互领先;而在正常区制,食品价格通胀与非食品价格通胀具有双向的长期Granger原因。     

对中国国际贸易与FDI相互关系的重新检验

This paper studies the long-term relationship between FDI and imports and exports through evidence from China by using cointegration technology, and the Granger causality test shows that FDI had an obvious effect on imports and exports activities of foreign firms, and in the meantime, the imports and exports of foreign firms greatly promoted FDI. However, there is not a stable equilibrium between FDI and international trade in the long run for all firms in China. This paper provides some explanations for the possible reasons that cause the above difference in estimation results from the perspectives of both location and industry factors.      

Causes of Inflation in Europe, the United States and Japan: Some Lessons for Maintaining Price Stability in the EMU from a Structural VAR Approach

Price stability being among the primary goals of EMU monetary policy,it should be interesting to analyse thefactors that led to the disinflationarydevelopments of the last years. Using a structural VAR approach withlong-run identifying restrictions derived from an open-economy macromodel, various factors of inflation for Austria, Germany, Italy, the UnitedKingdom, the United States and Japan and the extent to which they havecontributed to inflation are analysed. These factors are energy price shocks, supply shocks, wage setting influences, demand and exchange rate disturbances and money supply surprises. The latter three are also used to calculate core inflation. Within a smaller model for aggregate EMU data, supply and demand influences are analysed. While supply and demand factors have generally contributed to the inflation decline, monetary policy, enhanced competition, low energy prices and moderate wage setting are featuring most prominent in the recent disinflation process.     

Nonlinear predictability of stock market returns: Evidence from nonparametric and threshold models

Recent empirical evidence suggests that stock market returns are predictable from a variety of financial and macroeconomic variables. However, with two exceptions this predictability is based upon a linear functional form. This paper extends this research by considering whether a nonlinear relationship exists between stock market returns and these conditioning variables, and whether this nonlinearity can be exploited for forecast improvements. General nonlinearities are examined using a nonparametric regression technique, which suggest possible threshold behaviour. This leads to estimation of a smooth-transition threshold type model, with the results indicating an improved in-sample performance and marginally superior out-of-sample forecast results.     

Testing the demand regime hypothesis in the Euro Area. Evidence from a VAR approach

The article brings new evidence that intra Euro Area trade imbalances should be thought of as the outcome of the interaction of opposing growth strategies between northern/surplus countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands) and southern/deficit countries (France, Italy, Portugal, Spain). By using a vector autoregression model, econometric evidence clarifies that the demand regime in the southern region is wage-led, while profit-led in the northern region. Moreover, a downward-wage adjustment in the northern region (negative wage shock) contributed to increasing the intra-EA trade surplus vis-à-vis the southern region by far more than an upward-wage adjustment in the southern region (positive wage shock).     

Illegal trade in the Iranian economy: Evidence from a structural model

This study investigates the causes and consequences of import and export smuggling and estimates its relative size in Iran from 1970 to 2002. Multiple Indicators–Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling and trade misinvoicing are used to compute the latent variable of smuggling. The results indicate that the penalty rate for smuggling and the quality of economic and political institutions reduce smuggling, while tariffs and black market premia increase the incentives for illegal trade. More trade openness is associated with greater illegal trade in the case of Iran. On average, smuggling in Iran has been approximately 13% of total trade.     

Convergence clustering in the Chinese provinces: New evidence from several macroeconomic indicators

In this paper, the convergence clustering in 31 Chinese provinces regarding several important economic indicators over the period 1952 to 2016 was empirically investigated. Several provincial clusters were identified in the per capita (real) gross domestic product (GDP), consumption–income ratio, retail price, and consumer price inflation rates, using a club convergence and clustering procedure. The empirical findings are as follows. First, it was found that all series of the original data contain a significant nonlinear component. Second, it was observed that there are five significant clusters for the per capita income in China. Third, it was found that there are four significant clusters for the consumption–income ratio. Fourth, it was observed that there are four significant clusters for the retail inflation rates and two significant clusters for the consumer inflation rates in China. These results will enable local and central planners to implement economic growth, savings and price adjustment policies for different groups of provinces.     

贸易开放与发展中国家收入差距扩大——基于中国的理论与实证分析

文章将人力资本结构因素纳入到贸易开放与发展中国家内部收入差距关系的分析框架之中,通过理论推理和实证检验考察了贸易开放、人力资本结构对发展中国家收入差距扩大的影响机制、条件与力度.研究表明,贸易开放对发展中国家收入差距扩大的影响不但与其所带来的技术进步类型有关,还与该国的产业发展战略和人力资本(人才供给)结构密切相关.就我国而言,人力资本结构升级速度慢于贸易产品结构升级速度,是贸易尤其是出口导致收入差距扩大的重要条件.     

Stock prices,inflation and inflation uncertainty in the U.S.: testing the long-run relationship considering Dow Jones sector indexes

We test for the long-run relationship between stock prices, inflation and its uncertainty for different U.S. sector stock indexes, over the period 2002M7–2015M10. For this purpose we use a cointegration analysis with one structural break to capture the crisis effect, and we assess the inflation uncertainty based on a time-varying unobserved component model. In line with recent empirical studies we discover that in the long run, the inflation and its uncertainty negatively impact the stock prices, opposed to the well-known Fisher effect. In addition we show that for several sector stock indexes the negative effect of inflation and its uncertainty vanishes after the crisis outburst. However, in the short run the results provide evidence in favour of a negative impact of uncertainty, while the inflation has no significant influence on stock prices, except for the consumption indexes. The consideration of business cycle effects confirms our findings, which proves that the results are robust, both for long- and short-run relationships.     

Effect of trade openness on regional economic growth in China: revisiting the discussion

Increasing openness contributes to economic growth in developing countries, but the endogeneity problem impedes drawing this conclusion. This paper uses the constructed trade share to circumvent the effects of endogeneity according to a method proposed by Frankel and Romer. The results demonstrate that increasing openness has a positive impact on provinces’ GDP and GDP per capita. In addition, an increase in lagged openness is beneficial for present economic growth, and even openness gained many years ago, which is measured by the number of treaty ports, makes a difference in present economic growth.     

地方政府消费支出与经济增长非线性门限关系研究——来自我国省级面板数据的经验证据

以我国31个省(市、自治区)1998~2008年间平衡面板数据为样本,运用面板门限模型,以实际GDP中政府消费支出所占的比重作为衡量指标进行门限测试,对地方政府消费支出与经济增长的关系进行实证研究。结果表明存在单一门限效果,其门限值为19.93%,门限值两边影响系数分别为正相关、负相关,并且都显著,即存在一正一负的非线性关系。因此,我国各级政府要合理安排政府消费支出,实现经济健康稳定增长。     

The Relationship between Interest Rates and Inflation: Examining the Fisher Effect in China

This study revisits the Fisher effect using a different empirical method that considers a potential nonlinear relationship between interest rates (treasury bond rates) and inflation in China. The rising uncertainty and asymmetric information in financial markets between bond holders and bond issuers suggest such a potential nonlinear relationship. To this aim, we apply Shin et al.’s (2014) nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model with asymmetric dynamic multipliers for the sample period 2002M7–2018M4. The empirical findings reveal symmetric and asymmetric partial Fisher effects for all sample bond rates in China. Furthermore, we find that 20-year bond rates experience the lowest partial Fisher effect.     

政策可信性变动对菲利普斯曲线稳定性的影响——来自中国的经验证据

文章以1994年前后的价格冲击下人民银行将适应性政策转变为非适应性政策这一事件为背景,考察了公众对政策可信性的变动及其对通胀预期形成方式和菲利普斯曲线稳定性的影响。我们首先在理性预期假定下设定引入政策可信性变量的菲利普斯曲线模型。通过对"产出-物价"曲线的判断,SVAR模型中通胀冲击下通胀和产出缺口的响应函数以及菲利普斯曲线模型的递归最小二乘法检验,得出我国公众对政策的可信性增加,进而导致其通胀预期形成方式中的前向参照政策信息的成分增加,菲利普斯曲线发生改变。这就意味着,如果人民银行试图维持通胀预期形成方式和菲利普斯曲线的稳定,就应该保证政策可信性具有稳定性,而且,从长期实现价格稳定目标的角度来看,人民银行还应不断提高这一政策的可信性。