Is the uncertainty-investment link non-linear? Empirical evidence for developed economies

Is the Uncertainty-Investment Link Non-linear? Empirical Evidence for Developed Economies. — This paper examines whether the impact of uncertainty on aggregate investment differs for low and high values of uncertainty. I present two types of estimates on the impact of uncertainty, measured by the volatility of stock market returns, for a group of developed economies. First, I estimate investment models in which I include a linear and a quadratic term for uncertainty. Second, I estimate investment models in which uncertainty is a threshold variable. Both types of estimates provide evidence on the empirical relevance of a non-linear effect of uncertainty on investment.     

MACROECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY AND AGGREGATE PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper investigates the effects of time varying uncertainty on aggregate private fixed investment in South Africa. The GARCH generated measures of volatility of selected macroeconomic variables indicating five measures of uncertainty are used in the analysis. These are output growth uncertainty, uncertainty about changes in the real effective exchange rate, uncertainty about changes in the real interest rate, producer inflation uncertainty, and terms of trade uncertainty. The results of the estimation by an empirical ECM model of conventional investment determinants controlling for the effects of uncertainty indicated that, over all, time varying macroeconomic uncertainty significantly reduces private fixed investment.     

金融波动性变化对投资率的影响——来自地级市层面的证据

文章先是通过理论分析发现金融波动通过影响企业投资项目成功概率的途径来影响投资率的高低。进而基于2001-2015年中国286个地级市数据对金融波动性和投资率之间的关系进行了实证检验。通过分析我们发现：第一，金融波动性与投资率之间负相关。第二，金融波动对投资率的影响呈非线性：随着金融波动剧烈程度的增加，金融波动对投资率的抑制效应逐渐减弱。第三，无论是在东部地区还是在非东部地区，金融波动对投资率的抑制效应都很显著。但是金融波动对投资率的非线性影响在东部地区显著，在非东部地区则不显著，这可能是由东部地区和非东部地区经济发展不平衡所致。     

Foreign Direct Investment in R&D and Exchange Rate Uncertainty

The current practice in the literature on the impact of exchange rate uncertainty on foreign direct investment is to consider exchange rate volatility. In this paper, we demonstrate the importance of considering also covariances and apply the theoretical arguments to a UK industry panel of FDI in R&D. An increase in the covariance of the euro and sterling, which would be a certain consequence of the UK’s entry into European Monetary Union, will increase foreign R&D into the UK. Increased volatility of the euro-dollar exchange rate tends to relocate R&D investment from the Euro Area into the UK.     

Investment and institutional uncertainty: A comparative study of different uncertainty measures

Investment and Institutional Uncertainty: A Comparative Study of Different Uncertainty Measures. — There is ample empirical evidence of a negative relationship between aspects of institutional uncertainty and investment. Most studies, however, do not allow a comparison between different dimensions of such uncertainty because they focus on specific indicators, particular regions or different periods. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the quantitative effects of the significant uncertainty indicators on investment finding that a lack of rule of law, high corruption, and volatility in real exchange rate distortions are the most detrimental for investment.     

RISK–RETURN TRADE‐OFF AND BEHAVIOUR OF VOLATILITY ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN STOCK MARKET: EVIDENCE FROM BOTH AGGREGATE AND DISAGGREGATE DATA

The study analyses the nature and behaviour of volatility, the risk–return relationship and the long‐term trend of volatility on the South African equity markets using aggregate level, industrial level and sectoral level daily data for the period 1995‐2009. By employing dummy variables for the Asian and the sub‐prime financial crises and the 11 September political shock, the study further examines whether the long‐term trend of volatility structurally breaks during financial crises and major political shocks. Three time‐varying generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models were employed: one of them symmetric, and the other two asymmetric. Each of these models was estimated based on three error distributional assumptions. The findings of the study are as follows: First, volatility is largely persistent and asymmetric. Second, risk at both aggregate and disaggregate level is generally not a priced factor on the South Africa (SA) stock market. Third, the threshold autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (TARCH) model under the generalised error distribution is the most appropriate model for conditional volatility of the SA stock market. Fourth, volatility generally increases over time, and its trend structurally breaks during financial crises and major global shocks. The policy and investment implications of the findings are outlined.     

Explaining Heterogeneity in the Effect of the Exchange Rate and Exchange Rate Volatility on Foreign Direct Investment: A Meta‐Analysis Approach

This study examines the effect of exchange rate and exchange rate volatility on foreign direct investment (FDI) by using a meta‐analysis. We filter out publication bias within the 1,329 estimates, pooled from 101 studies and employ Bayesian Model Averaging to reduce model uncertainty and explain the existing heterogeneity. The results reveal that the exchange rate system, estimation characteristics, and the modeling approach have an important and noticeable influence on the statistical significance and direction of the estimates. On one hand, the impact of exchange rate volatility is relatively lower in countries with higher trade openness, human capital and better protection of intellectual property rights. On the other hand, greater geographical distance and technology gap between the host and the home economy are associated with greater uncertainty and thus accentuate the negative causality between exchange rate volatility and FDI. Such sensitivities suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on reporting estimates of the impact of the exchange rate and its volatility on FDI across a variety of methodological characteristics and specification and estimation choices.     

Chinese exchange rate and price effects on G3 import prices

This paper explores the degree of price and exchange rate interdependence between China and the G3 (US, Japan and the Euro-zone) by undertaking a VAR based shock analysis. A GARCH framework is also employed to derive the conditional variances to uncover the extent of volatility transmission. We address two key issues. First as there have been concerns about low value-added cheap Chinese goods flooding G3 markets, we attempt to measure the impact of Chinese prices on G3 import prices. Second, we focus on the transmission of exchange rate shocks – a subject which we approach by examining shocks in China's bilateral exchange rate with each of these major trading partners (the US, Japan and the Euro Area). Our results indicate that reduced import prices from China are the channel through which aggregate domestic prices in the G3 remain depressed, while the impact of the RMB exchange rate with G3 currencies appears less powerful. This finding implies that the Chinese authorities’ RMB exchange rate policy is relatively unimportant and, in particular, that a revaluation of the RMB would not do much to reduce the US trade deficit. In terms of volatility spillover, the relatively flexible RMB exchange rate against the Euro results in RMB-EUR volatility having a stronger influence than the more tightly controlled RMB-USD rate on the volatility of Chinese export prices.     

Empirical study on intra-regional bond investment: an application to East Asia

Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, bond market development has been one of the central pillars of financial cooperation in East Asia, with concerted efforts made by the East Asian economies to integrate regional bond markets. As a result, aggregate intra-regional bond investment expanded from US$49.56 billion in 2003 to US$352.18 billion in 2017. This paper examines the pattern and determinants of intra-regional bond investment in East Asia. We analyse regional foreign holdings of long-term and short-term bonds in eight East Asian economies. Bond market size turns out to be the main concern of regional foreign investors participating in East Asian long-term bond markets. This analysis also highlights the importance of bond issuance and bond yield volatility in attracting regional foreign short-term bond investment. Therefore, initiatives to improve regional bond market development may be crucial to stimulating intra-regional bond investment and in turn enhance East Asian financial stability.     

Remittance,Institutions and Investment Volatility Interactions: An Intercontinental Analysis

Generating massive investment for growth and development has been one of the main policy goals of most economies around the globe. Countries, most especially developing ones, are highly susceptible to investment volatility owing largely to the fragile nature of their economies as well as weaknesses in terms of dysfunctional institutions. Therefore, sound economic management suggests the need to better understand possible sources for mitigating the adverse effects of investment volatility. Remittances have been identified as important capital flows which do a good job of dousing macroeconomic volatilities. It is on this basis that the study sought to uncover the causal relationship between remittances and investment volatility via the intermediating role of institutions. Using a panel of 70 countries and the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, three insightful outcomes come to the fore. First, remittances played countercyclical roles across the estimated regressions. Second, institutional quality had no significant role in mitigating investment volatility and lastly, the interactive terms of both remittances and institutions significantly mitigated the negative impacts of investment volatility with the exception of the political component of the institutional architecture. Policy suggestions are drawn based on our results.     

Exchange rate volatility and first-time entry by multinational firms

The model and related empirical examination in this paper demonstrate one reason why previous studies document both positive and negative correlations between exchange rate volatility and observed levels of foreign direct investment. Using a simple model of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, it argues that the source of the volatility is important in resolving the puzzle. An empirical analysis of mergers and acquisitions by individual firms reveal that first-time foreign direct investment is discouraged by monetary volatility originating from the source-country, but can be encouraged by monetary volatility originating in the host country, especially when compared to domestic investment or expansion by existing multinationals. The regressions also reveal a large and positive “euro effect” on the number of first-time cross-border mergers within the European Monetary Union, even when controlling for domestic merger activity.     

THE CHANGING VOLATILITY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY

During the last decade economic literature explored the presence of and reasons for what became known as “the great moderation” in the US and other G7 countries. “The great moderation” describes the decrease in economic volatility experienced in many of the G7 countries. This paper finds that in South Africa volatility is also not constant (it even finds that there are autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic effects present) and that volatility also decreased, particularly since 1994. Following the literature, the paper explores several reasons for this decrease and finds that smaller shocks, better monetary policy and improvements in the financial sector that place less liquidity constraints on individuals and allow them to manage their debt better are some of the main reasons for the reduction in the volatility of the South African economy. The literature on the G7 also suggests that better inventory management contributed to the lower volatility. However, this seems not to be true for South Africa.     

Do contagion effects exist in capital flow volatility?

The cross-border transmission of a financial shock has been a subject of rich literature. While a large number of studies have focused on the phenomenon of strong co-movements of asset prices and capital flows in the event of financial stress, very few discussed the contagion or spillover effects in terms of capital flow volatility. This paper is one of the first attempts to assess, empirically, whether or not there is a global and regional spillover effect in the volatility of capital flows to emerging and developing countries. Based on the sample of 49 emerging and developing countries for the period 1980–2009, the empirical results suggest strong and significant contagion effects in the volatility of capital flows to individual economies. The magnitudes of contagion vary depending on the type of capital flows, whether it is foreign direct investment (FDI) or portfolio and other investment (mostly bank lending). The findings also suggest the volatility dynamics of gross flows is different from that of net flows. The volatility of net inflows is more exposed to intra-regional contagion compared to that of gross inflows.     

China＇s Sovereign Wealth Fund： Weakness and Challenges

The establishment of sovereign wealth funds in large developing countries has generated hot debate among participants in the international financial market. When accumulated foreign exchange reserves surpass a sufficient and an appropriate level, the costs, risks and impacts of holding reserves on the macroeconomy of a country need to be considered. The Chinese Government established China Investment Corporation （ CIC） in 2007 to diversify its investment of foreign reserves and to raise investment income. However, because of certain conflicts of interest and institution-design caveats, CIC possesses some internal weakness, including a vague orientation, mixed investment strategies and an inefficient bureaucratic style. Although the subprime crisis has softened certain regulations and lessened rejection by the USA of ClC potential investments, the increased volatility and uncertainty of the market means that CIC is facing some new challenges in terms of its investment decisions. Moreover, CIC is competing with other Chinese investment institutions for injections of funds from the Chinese Government.     

研发投入能否降低企业产出波动

文章基于内生技术进步的理论框架分析了研发投入对企业产出波动的影响,构建了包含技术种类扩展和质量阶梯升级的内生技术进步理论模型,发现研发投入对企业产出波动的影响同时受到多样化效应和“创新性毁灭”效应两种效应的作用。文章利用工业企业数据实证分析验证,结果表明：企业研发投入与产出波动之间存在非线性关系,当研发强度较低时,研发强度增加将有利于降低企业产出波动;随着研发强度的增大,生产率提升、“创新性毁灭”效应更加明显,企业增加研发强度抑制产出波动的作用逐渐变弱。研发投入带来的技术多样化效应具有抑制产出波动的作用。因此,企业应保持适度的研发强度便于抑制产出波动、保障生产供给侧稳定。     

Real exchange-rate uncertainty and US foreign direct investment: an empirical analysis

This paper empirically analyzes the impact of exchange-rate uncertainty, exchange-rate movements, and expectations on foreign direct investment (FDI). Using data on US outward FDI for the period 1984–2004 we examine two competing measures of exchange-rate volatility. While the standard measure yields a discouraging effect on FDI outflows in all industries the alternative risk specification reveals a clear distinction between manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, with the latter showing a positive correlation with increased exchange risk. A real appreciation of host-country currency was associated with higher FDI flows, while expectations about an appreciation showed a negative result.     

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.     

不确定性风险对企业投资的影响机制分析——基于金融市场摩擦的间接渠道视角

现有研究表明,不确定性风险会通过直接渠道和间接渠道影响企业投资,但着重分析间接渠道的文献较少。文章以1994-2018年中国沪深A股上市公司的财务数据、股票交易数据和中国经济政策不确定性指数为样本,在控制住直接渠道的影响后,实证检验了不确定性风险如何通过金融市场摩擦机制间接影响微观企业的投资行为。研究发现：不确定性风险会通过金融市场摩擦机制来显著增加企业融资成本,降低企业融资数量;且金融市场摩擦机制间接降低企业投资的中介效应显著。在异质性企业的对比中,成本效应对所有企业的影响效果差异不大;而相对于低杠杆、国有化和大规模的企业,数量效应对高杠杆、民营和小规模等高风险企业的影响效果更大。这说明,成本效应和数量效应的影响是系统性的,但数量效应更具结构性特征。     

Exports versus FDI: do firms use FDI as a mechanism to smooth demand volatility?

In this paper, we first develop a simple two-period model of oligopoly to show that, under demand uncertainty, whether a firm chooses to serve foreign markets by exports or via foreign direct investment (FDI) may depend on demand volatility along with other well-known determinants such as size of market demand and trade costs. Although fast transport such as air shipment is an option for exporting firms to smooth volatile demand in foreign markets, market volatility may systematically trigger the firms to undertake FDI. We then use a rich panel of US firms’ sales to 56 countries between 1999 and 2004 to confront this theoretical prediction and show strong evidence in support of the prediction     

Labor adjustment,productivity and output volatility: An evaluation of Japan’s Employment Adjustment Subsidy

This paper provides a quantitative examination of the impact of Japan’s Employment Adjustment Subsidy, a major employment insurance policy since 1975, on labor adjustment, productivity and output fluctuation in the iron and steel sector. A partial equilibrium industry model with heterogeneous establishments and aggregate uncertainty shows that the EAS reduces steady-state labor productivity by encouraging labor hoarding, and in some cases, preventing the exit of least efficient establishments. The EAS also reduces job flows and increases average establishment-level employment. Although the impact on productivity is roughly proportional to the size of subsidized workers in most cases, the effects of the subsidy on output and employment volatility are more than proportional. First, the subsidy can lead to a sizable increase in output fluctuations over business cycles by symmetrically increasing the output response to shocks. This result is achieved through lower output via a subsidy during unfavorable times and higher output via less time and money spent on hiring during favorable times. Second, the subsidy meets its primary objective of reduced employment volatility. The reduction can be considerable when firing costs are high.