Volatility of real GDP: some evidence from the United States,the United Kingdom and Japan

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the volatility of real growth rates for the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Three ARCH-type models (GARCH, T-GARCH and E-GARCH) were estimated utilizing the maximum likelihood method. The GARCH version provided the best statistical fit, suggesting that volatility is variable and is symmetric than asymmetric to real growth rates in GDP.     

Output Growth and its Volatility: The Gold Standard through the Great Moderation

This study examines the relationship between U.S. output growth and its volatility over the period 1876:I to 2012:II. We adjust the data for outliers and structural breaks. We employ generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and exponential GARCH (EGARCH) specifications. Normality and homoskedasticity appear only in the GARCH or EGARCH model that corrects for the outliers. When including the break in the mean equation, high volatility persistence remains. After also accommodating the breaks in the variance equation, the integrated GARCH effect proves spurious, either for the symmetric or the asymmetric model. Finally, our empirical results suggest that the finding of higher output growth volatility stimulating output growth and higher output growth reducing its volatility obtained from the symmetric GARCH‐in‐mean (GARCH‐M) model also proves spurious as a result of the emergence of an asymmetric effect. Our more appropriately specified asymmetric EGARCH‐M model suggests positive volatility‐in‐mean and level effects in the long‐period real gross national product series.     

The Great Moderation and the Relationship between Output Growth and Its Volatility

This study examines the effect of the Great Moderation on the relationship between U.S. output growth and its volatility over the period 1947 to 2006. First, we consider the possible effects of structural changes in the volatility process. We employ generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity in mean (GARCH-M) specifications, which describe output growth rate and its volatility with and without a one-time structural break in volatility. Second, our data analyses and empirical results suggest no significant relationship between the output growth rate and its volatility; this favors the traditional wisdom of dichotomy in macroeconomics. Moreover, the evidence shows that the time-varying variance falls sharply or even disappears once we incorporate a one-time structural break in the unconditional variance of output starting in 1982 or 1984. That is, the integrated GARCH effect proves spurious. Finally, a joint test of a trend change and a one-time shift in the volatility process finds that the one-time shift dominates.     

Analysis of real GDP growth rates of greater China: An asymmetric conditional volatility approach

Most empirical studies of real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates exclude the dimension of conditional volatility shocks. In this paper, we search for evidence of conditional volatility in the quarterly real GDP of greater China, which comprises the economies of Mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and Taiwan. The widely accepted exponential GARCH model of Nelson [Econometrica 59 (1991) 347–370] is employed to capture the possible existence of asymmetric conditional volatility in real GDP. It is found that negative real GDP shocks may induce a greater impact on future volatilities compared with positive shocks of the same magnitude. Policy implications from our findings are discussed.     

Asymmetric volatility of real GDP: some evidence from Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States

The recent empirical investigation of conditional volatility in real GDP growth rates of Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States by Hamori [Jpn. World Econ. 12 (2000) 143] finds no evidence of asymmetry. This paper re-visits the issue of asymmetric volatility using a similar approach with some modifications. We find statistically significant evidence of asymmetric volatility in the real growth rates of the United States and Canada. As such, it may be premature to conclude that business cycle indicators generally do not exhibit volatility asymmetry.     

Can IT be Japan's savior?

This paper constructs a multi-sector model to take explicit account of the very sharp change in the relative price between non-IT and IT goods. The model is calibrated to the Japanese economy, and its solution path from 1990 on is compared to Japan's macroeconomic performance in the 1990s. Compared to the one-sector analysis of Japan in the 1990s [Hayashi, F., Prescott, E.C., 2002. The 1990s in Japan: A lost decade. Rev. Econ. Dynam. 5, 206–235], our model does slightly better or just as well in accounting for Japan's output slump and does worse in accounting for the capital–output ratio. We also show that, to revive a 2% long-term growth in per capita GDP, Japan needs to direct 10% of private total hours to the IT sector. J. Japanese Int. Economies 19 (4) (2005) 543–567.     

The Impact of US Uncertainty Shocks on Small Open Economies

In this paper, we investigate the impact of US uncertainty shocks on GDP growth in nine small open economies: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. We compare the impact of two types of shocks: i) stock market volatility shocks and ii) policy uncertainty shocks. Using quarterly data from 1986Q1 to 2016Q1, this issue is analysed using Bayesian VAR models. Our results suggest that policy uncertainty seems to matter more than stock market volatility. Stock market volatility shocks appear to robustly have significant effects on Danish GDP growth. Policy uncertainty shocks, on the other hand, reliably lowers GDP growth in all five Nordic countries in a statistically significant manner. Statistically significant effects of policy uncertainty shocks on the Anglo-Saxon countries in our sample are harder to establish and are, in our preferred specification, only found for the United Kingdom.     

Volatility Relationship between Crude Oil and Petroleum Products

This paper utilizes calculated historical volatility and GARCH models to compare the historical price volatility behavior of crude oil, motor gasoline and heating oil in U.S. markets since 1990. We incorporate a shift variable in the GARCH/TARCH models to capture the response of price volatility to a change in OPEC’s pricing behavior. This study has three major conclusions. First, there was an increase in volatility as a result of a structural shift to higher crude oil prices after April 1999. Second, volatility shocks from current news are not important since GARCH effects dominate ARCH effects in the variance equation. Third, persistence of volatility in all commodity markets is quite transitory, with half-lives normally being a few weeks.

Evidence of panel stationarity from Chinese provincial and regional income

The aim of this paper is to examine whether Chinese provincial and regional real GDP and per capita real GDP are panel stationary for the period 1952–2003. We allow for multiple structural breaks based on a technique developed by Carrion-i-Silvestre et al. [Carrion-i-Silvestre, J. L., Barrio-Castro, T, D., & Lopez-Bazo, E. (2005). Breaking the panels: An application to the GDP per capita. Econometrics Journal, 8, 159–175]. Allowing for at most five structural breaks, we find that for 67% of the provinces, per capita real GDP is stationary; while we only find stationarity of real GDP for 17% of the provinces. However, when we extend the analysis to panel data models, we find statistically strong evidence of panel stationarity of Chinese provincial and regional income.     

The Effect of Recessions on the Relationship between Output Variability and Growth

This paper investigates the relationship between output volatility and growth using postwar real GDP data for the United States. We expand on recent research by Beaudry and Koop (1993), documenting the asymmetric effect of recessions on output growth. The results presented in this paper suggest that output volatility is highest when the economy is contracting. While we find that the economy expands most rapidly following a recession, this expansion is offset by the negative impact of output uncertainty.     

Why is the forecast error of quarterly GDP in Japan so large? – From an international comparison of quarterly GDP forecast situation

We examined the accuracy of prediction of Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States from the viewpoint of forecast errors. Compared with the forecast error of each country at the around same time, the forecast error of Japan is about 2 times larger. In case of Japan, even immediately before release of quarterly GDP, the forecast error is over 1 %, which is the same level of forecast error as 94 days before in the United States and 135 days before in Canada.Evaluating the characteristics of forecast errors, it can be pointed out that Japan's forecasts are as efficient as those of other countries, and the addition of major economic statistics is unlikely to improve forecast errors. The reason for Japan's large forecast errors is the fluctuations in the GDP growth rate. These results provide evidence that volatile GDP may make the outlook worse.Large fluctuations in Japan's quarterly GDP have already been pointed out. It is necessary to examine the factors behind the large fluctuations in the rate of change in Japan's quarterly GDP.     

Output volatility of five crisis-affected East Asia economies

A decade has passed since the Asian financial crisis (AFC) in 1997, and attention is drawn to the output performance of the crisis-affected economies in East Asia. Using the Hodrick–Prescott (HP) filter, this paper examines the growth volatility of GDP, its components and the stock market of five East Asia economies of Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Empirical evidences based on quarterly data show that output volatility for both Singapore and South Korea has increased after the AFC. For the GDP components, trade is a major factor in lowering GDP volatility in Chinese Taipei. The Hong Kong SAR economy has experienced an increase/decrease in the volatility of investment/private consumption. Among the five East Asia economies, government intervention is obvious in Singapore. The stock markets in both Hong Kong SAR and Chinese Taipei showed stronger ability in absorbing shocks.     

“Miracle Growth” in the Twentieth Century––International Comparisons of East Asian Development

Using Maddison’s data, we compare levels and growth rates of real GDP per capita between Korea and Taiwan, along with Japan, and 53 other countries in the world, covering the prewar and postwar periods (1901–92). Both countries, along with Japan, experienced very rapid growth in both periods, especially Korea, whose growth rates ranked third or fourth in the prewar period. After WWII, however, Korea fell steadily below Taiwan, and both fell continuously behind Japan until 1970 when they simultaneously began to catch up. Finally, using Perron’s test, we analyze structural changes or continuity between the two periods. Both domestic and international economic conditions are examined to explain the findings.     

Stock market rationality and price volatility: Tests using Japanese data

This paper tests the stock market rationality hypothesis, which implies that a stock price is determined as the discounted sum of optimally forecasted future dividends. Mankiw-Romer-Shapiro volatility tests and new volatility tests which do not use the unobservable “ex post rational price” are applied to the data from a stock market in Japan. A Hausman type specification test of the market rationality hypothesis is also developed and applied to the data. The results suggest that we cannot reject the hypothesis that the Japanese stock market is rational. A couple of variance inequalities are violated by the data but the violation does not seem to be significant. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1987, 1(4), pp. 441–462. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.     

蔬菜价格波动特征研究——基于ARCH类模型分析

利用ARCH类模型研究蔬菜价格波动特征问题。结果表明:18种蔬菜具有价格波动集簇性和异方差性,其中冬瓜等6种蔬菜的价格具有显著的异方差效应和波动集簇性。GARCH模型表明6种蔬菜的价格波动都具有显著地集簇性,按价格波动持续性强弱比较,冬瓜、大白菜、土豆、洋葱的价格波动持续性强于青椒和生姜;GARCH-M模型表明只有土豆和生姜具有高风险高回报的特征;TARCH和EARCH模型表明6中蔬菜都具有显著的非对称效应,其中除洋葱和青椒以外,其他4种蔬菜两个模型的非对称效应都使得价格波动减小。     

Symmetric and asymmetric persistence of labor market shocks

Within the insider-outsider paradigm, this paper examines persistence of shocks in the labor market. We distinguish “symmetric persistence” where the extent of persistence is independent of the initial direction of the shock, and “asymmetric persistence” where beneficial and adverse shocks of equal magnitude have effects of different size. The paper offers a theoretical rationale for how the symmetry or asymmetry may depend on the extent to which the shock was anticipated in wage setting and then develops a framework in which the possibility of asymmetric persistence can be tested empirically. Using annual UK data, we obtain empirical evidence of significant asymmetry in the response of employment (and wages) to shocks. Small beneficial shocks are reflected entirely in wage increases, although sufficiently large favorable shocks also elicit increases in employment. In contrast, adverse shocks lead to reductions in both wages and employment. Evidence from Japan and West Germany provides some evidence of the presence of asymmetry, although this is less marked than in the United Kingdom. The policy implications are discussed.     

Budgetary Consolidation in Europe: Quality, Economic Conditions, and Persistence

In this article we study the importance of the quality of fiscal adjustments and macroeconomic conditions for the persistence of budgetary consolidations. In contrast to previous work in this area, we do not arbitrarily predefine a measure of persistence to evaluate consolidation “success.” By employing duration analysis techniques, the length of a consolidation spell is rather determined endogenously. Our results based on a sample of industrialised OECD countries show that “consolidation fatigue” and the quality of fiscal consolidations are indeed important determinants of their longevity. Moreover, high debt–GDP ratio and fiscal tightening in other OECD countries raise the likelihood of consolidations to persist. Applying our results to European countries in the 1990s provides only weak evidence suggesting that the Maastricht process contributed much to the fiscal consolidations observed in Europe during the 1990s. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2002, 16(4), pp. 512–535. ZEI, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and CEPR; Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland; and CEPR; and ECB, Kaiserstrasse 29, D-60311 Frankfurt a.M., Germany; and ZEI. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: E61, E62, E65.     

Nonlinear income variance profiles and consumption inequality over the life cycle

In contrast to many other countries, consumption inequalities in Japan are not constant over household age but increase from around middle age—a fact first highlighted by Ohtake and Saito [Ohtake, F., Saito, M., 1998. Population aging and consumption inequality in Japan. Rev. Income Wealth 44, 361–381]. Given this information, we examine whether this phenomenon is consistent with the standard precautionary saving model developed by Carroll [Carroll, C.D., 1997. Buffer-stock savings and the life cycle/permanent income hypothesis. Quart. J. Econ. 62, 1–56]. Specifically, we investigate: (1) the degree of age dependence of idiosyncratic income risks; and (2) the importance of age dependence for the evolution of inequalities in consumption predicted by the household model of Carroll (1997). We find a strong age dependence of income risks, which creates a nonlinear age–variance profile of income, and the standard precautionary saving model is consistent with the observed consumption inequalities as long as we take the nonlinearity in age–variance profiles of income into account.     

Government Deficit, Public Investment, and Public Capital in the Transition to an Aging Japan

This paper examines the effects of government deficits, public investment, and public capital on welfare in the transition to an aging Japan by applying a simulated general equilibrium growth model. One of the main results of this paper is that targeting only high economic growth would mislead us as to economic policies, and that a policy to reduce future government deficits is most preferable for almost all generations, even though a cut in future deficits must be followed by a decrease in public investment, thus a decrease in public capital in the future. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2002, 16(4), pp. 462–491. Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Japan; and Management School, Imperial College, United Kingdom. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: H55, H54, H62, C68, J10.