Sustainability of current account deficits in India: an intertemporal perspective

This study examines the sustainability of current account deficits (CADs) and the validity of intertemporal budget constraint (IBC) in India. The long-run model is estimated on annual data for the period 1950–1951 to 2009–2010. The optimal single-equation and maximum-likelihood (ML) system estimates of the model provide a consistent support for the long-run relationship between imports and exports. The OLSGH estimates provide no support and that ML system estimates a consistent support for cointegration in both the models estimated with one and two structural breaks in level. The new cointegration breakdown tests generally suggest that the cointegration prevails from 1951 to 2010. The evidence supporting the cointegration between imports and exports overwhelms the evidence providing a mixed or no support for cointegration. The estimates of slope parameter above zero and the dominant support for cointegration between imports and exports vindicate the validity of IBC and the sustainability of CADs. The short-term management strategies need to be accompanied by long-term improvements in productivity to reduce inflation, lever up the competitiveness of exports and ensure the sustainability of the external value of domestic currency.     

The sustainability of the current account in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Slovenia

The aim of this paper is to investigate empirically the sustainability of the current account in three Central European countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia, since their move towards market economy about 15 years ago. The analysis is based on the intertemporal approach to the current account which states that if real exports and real imports are integrated of order one then cointegration between them is a necessary and sufficient condition for the economy to satisfy its intertemporal budget constraint. On the basis of various unit-root and cointegration tests on the shares of real exports and imports in real GDP, this study concludes that the Czech Republic and Slovenia are not in violation of their intertemporal budget constraint and their trade imbalances are sustainable. However, the real exports and imports of these countries, and also the export, import measures of Hungary, do not seem to behave as random walks, excluding the possibility of cointegration between them.      

Imports and exports in 50 countries: Tests of cointegration and structural breaks

This paper provides new evidence on the long-run convergence between imports and exports in 50 countries over the quarterly period 1973:2 to 1998:1. Cointegration analyses are based on the Johansen [Johansen, S. (1995). Likelihood-based inference in cointegrating vector autoregressive models. New York: Oxford University Press.] and the Stock and Watson [J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 83 (1988) 1097.] system approaches. Evidence of stability of the cointegration space is examined using the SupF test developed by Hansen [J. Bus. Econ. Stat. 10 (1992) 321]. Based on the Johansen technique, we find evidence in favor of cointegration in 35 of the 50 countries. In addition, cointegration is confirmed for all countries (except Mexico) using the Stock and Watson test. This finding indicates that macroeconomic policies have been effective in the long-run and suggests that these countries are largely not in violation of their international budget constraint. We find evidence that in most of the countries where the slope coefficient on the export variable is positive, the cointegrating coefficient is also unity. The cointegration space appears stable for most of the countries. Nonetheless, the results suggest that countries in the regions of the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe have cointegrating relations that are more unstable than those in other regions.     

The Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle and structural breaks: Evidence from EU members

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of capital mobility in European Union members using the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle proposed by Feldstein and Horioka (1980) in order to investigate relations between saving and investment flows. In this paper, data for 23 European countries were used over the period of 1995–2009 on the quarterly basis. Two different tests were used to estimate the stationarity of the model variables, which are the Ng and Perron (2001) unit root test procedure and approach proposed by Zivot and Andrews (1992) for unit root test allowing for a structural shift. Then the Kejriwal and Perron (2008, 2010) structural break test was applied to determine the presence of structural breaks in series. In most countries except Belgium and Finland UDmax and WDmax tests rejected the hypothesis of no breaks. To test the cointegration relationships between investment and saving flows of European Union members three different cointegration techniques were applied to the data. Firstly, the Johansen (1988) cointegration approach was used for the case of no cointegration shifts, then the Gregory and Hansen (1996) cointegration test was applied, which allows for one structural shift. Finally, again the Johansen' cointegration approach was used; however, this time with the inclusion of dummy variables related to earlier selected structural break locations. The empirical results provided stronger evidence of cointegration between investment and saving variables in the case of structural break accommodation compared to the case where the presence of structural breaks was ignored. The estimated saving retention coefficient in the presence of structural breaks using the Kejriwal and Perron (2008, 2010) approach appeared relatively low in many cases, illustrating by this the openness of estimated countries. In general, world and European countries with time have a tendency to a higher level of their capital market openness. Estimations of a saving retention coefficient in the presence of structural changes do not support the existence of the Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle in the considered EU countries, except Belgium.     

ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT ACCOUNT POSITION OF FOUR ASIAN COUNTRIES BEFORE THE 1997 CRISIS

Abstract.  The current paper presents an empirical analysis of the current account positions during the pre Asian crisis period, in the four most crisis-hit countries (namely Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea and Indonesia). We have employed the procedures advocated by Husted for the presence of stationarity in current accounts by estimating a cointegration relationship between any country's exports and imports. The results do not substantiate the presence of cointegration between the series, implying that the macroeconomic fundamentals in these countries prior to the crisis were far from robust, at least from the perspective of current account sustainability.     

Export-led Growth and Import Compression: Further Time Series Evidence From LDCs

This paper conducts tests of the export-led growth and the import-compression hypotheses for four less developed countries (LDCs) – India, Nigeria, Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Based on Johansen's multiple cointegration test preceded by unit root tests, we test for cointegration between real output, exports and imports. Non-rejection of cointegration between the variables excludes the possibility of Granger non-causality and suggests at least one way Granger causality. Real output, exports and imports are found to be cointegrated in two of the countries and the resulting error-correction models suggest that Granger causality runs from exports and imports to real output in these cases. Exogeneity tests are conducted for exports with respect to real output. However, while the assumption of weak exogeneity is validated in two of the countries, the null hypothesis of super exogeneity is rejected. The test results therefore cast doubts on policy recommendations for the LDCs based on the export-led growth hypothesis.     

Some international evidence on the stability of aggregate import demand function

This paper empirically analyses the stability of the aggregate import demand function for G7 countries. The standard cointegration test and a test developed by Gregory and Hansen are performed. The results of standard cointegration tests suggest that there is no stable cointegrating relation between real import, real GDP and relative import price for all G7 countries. The cointegrating relation is empirically supported for France and Germany if structural change for cointegrating vector is explicitly taken into consideration. The cointegrating relation is empirically rejected for Canada, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA. Thus, the stimulation of domestic business conditions will not necessarily link the quantity of imports for these five countries.     

MEASURING PRICE ELASTICITY OF SECTORIAL IMPORTS

Previous published studies have estimated the long‐run cointegrating relationship to infer the price elasticity of imports, but a stable long‐run cointegrating relationship might not be detected in the data, especially in the case of sectoral data. This paper develops a method to estimate the price elasticity of imports based on a vector autoregression model, which can be applied when a stable long‐run cointegration relationship does not exist. The methods developed in past studies and our method are applied to Korean sectoral imports data to illustrate the usefulness of our method.     

Correct cointegration tests of the long-run relationship between nominal interest and inflation

The Fisher (1930) hypothesis suggests that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between the non-stationary series: nominal interest and expected inflation. Testing such a cointegrating relationship is complicated by the presence of the unobserved ex antereal rate of interest in residuals from the cointegrating regression. Assumptions concerning the stochastic properties of the expected real rate of interest are examined, and two proxies for the ex antereal rate are employed in multivariate cointegration tests of the Fisher hypothesis.     

Capital mobility and foreign debt sustainabilty: some evidence from Turkey

This paper address the extent of capital mobility and foreign debt sustainability in Turkey over the 1962–2003 period by examining the relationship between saving and investment, and imports and exports, respectively. The empirical investment is based on cointegration, error correction models, and threshold and momentum threshold autoregressive models. Our findings are consistent with the existence of capital mobility and the ‘Strong’ form of foreign debt sustainability.     

Understanding Japan's Capital Goods Exports

Japan is the leading supplier of sophisticated capital goods to East Asian countries. These goods embody advanced technologies and facilitate learning and productivity growth. Capital goods also represent 30–40% of Japan's exports. This paper investigates the determinants of these exports. Results from dynamic ordinary least squares estimation indicate that exports depend on exchange rates, income in the importing countries and downstream countries' exports to the rest of the world. Results from out‐of‐sample forecasts indicate that Japanese exports crashed in 2009 because of the perfect storm of a yen appreciation, a global slowdown and a collapse in Asia's exports.     

Is Fiscal Policy Sustainable in Developing Economies?

This paper investigates fiscal policy sustainability in Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Venezuela using competing methodologies. Standard unit roots and cointegration analyses do not endorse the validity of the intertemporal budget constraint. In contrast, to varying degrees across countries, alternative testing employing a fiscal policy reaction function indicates sustainability defined as surplus adjustments in response to higher debt‐to‐income ratios. Corresponding debt‐dynamics analyses show that corrective measures were put in place to revert non‐sustainable trends in government debt. However, ancillary variables in the debt modeling produce statistically weak evidence of procyclical fiscal behavior in the Latin American countries.     

Assessment of innovation and foreign direct investment: An investigation of OECD countries

Using a panel cointegration method incorporating structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence, this paper explores the long-run equilibrium relationship between innovation and foreign direct investment (FDI) in 30 OECD countries. The results from the panel stationary test show that FDI and innovation variables follow a stationary process with several structural breaks over the period 1999–2018. The results also suggest an equilibrium relationship with structural breaks between FDI and innovation in OECD countries. The panel dynamic OLS model with breaks further reveals that FDI is positively associated with innovation performance and vice versa in OECD countries. Therefore, this paper sheds light on the relationship between FDI and innovation in OECD countries.     

The elusive character of fiscal sustainability

We assess the sustainability of public finances in OECD countries using unit root and cointegration analysis, controlling for endogenous breaks. Results deem fiscal sustainability as rather elusive since we find lack of cointegration – absence of sustainability – between government revenues and expenditures (except for Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden and UK); improvements of the primary balance after worsening debt ratios only for Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and the UK; and Granger causality from government debt to primary balances for 12 countries (suggesting Ricardian regimes).     

The new goods margin in new markets

We analyze the role of the new goods margin in the Baltic countries’ exports and imports growth during the 1995–2008 period. Using the methodology developed in Kehoe and Ruhl (2013), we define the set of least-traded goods as those that account for the lowest 10% of total exports and imports in 1995, and then trace its growth in several markets including the Baltics’ main trade partners, the European Union and Russia. We find that, on average, by 2008 least-traded goods accounted for nearly 50% of total Baltic exports to their main trade partners. Moreover, we find that increases in the share of least-traded exports coincided with the timing of the trade liberalization reforms implemented by the Baltic countries. Least-traded imports also grew at robust rates, but their growth was lower than that of exports, accounting for slightly less than a quarter of total imports, that is, about half of the exports value. Moreover, we find that the shares of least-traded imports from the EU 15 and from Russia started diverging around the time the Baltic countries joined the EU, with the EU 15 share increasing and the Russian one declining. We also find that the Baltics’ share of least-traded exports outpaced that of other economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, exports of new goods from the Baltic countries suffered noticeably during the Global Financial Crisis. After the crisis ended, the restart in new goods exports growth displayed mixed patterns.     

Do Financial and Institutional Variables Enhance the Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean? A Panel Cointegration Analysis

Using recently developed panel unit root and panel cointegration tests and the Fully-Modified OLS methodology (FMOLS), this paper estimates the impact of remittances on the economic growth of selected upper and lower income Latin American & Caribbean (LAC) countries over the 1990–2007 period. Despite the large flow of remittances to the region, there have been relatively few empirical studies assessing the impact of remittances on economic growth in LAC. Panel unit root tests suggest that several of the macro variables included in the model exhibit unit roots, yet, at the same time, Pedroni’s panel cointegration test determined that there is a cointegrating relationship among the variables in the estimated model. The FMOLS estimates suggest that remittances have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in both groups of countries. The estimates also indicate that both the degree of economic freedom and credit provided by the banking system have a positive and significant effect on economic growth in upper (middle) income LAC countries. The sign of the interaction term between remittances and the credit (and EFI) variables suggest that remittances act as substitutes for these variables. Finally, the effect of remittances on both sets of countries is stronger in the presence of a financial (credit) variable.     

Revisiting the Link Between Stock Prices and Goods Prices in OECD Countries

Fisher hypothesis postulates positive relation between stock return and inflation; however early studies document negative relationship between the two and they conclude that stock cannot be used as a hedge against inflation. In this paper we explore long‐run nonlinear relationship between stock price and goods price. Our sample consists of 19 OECD countries; all or some of these countries have been studied before with the findings of linear cointegration between the stock index and goods price index. Based on unit root tests and linear cointegration test, we apply threshold cointegration tests, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration test and panel VAR method. With all these econometric methods we arrive at heterogeneous findings as follows: two countries have linear cointegration, five countries have threshold cointegration, nine countries do not have any cointegration and finally two countries provide inconclusive results. Estimates of Fisher coefficient provided by linear and nonlinear cointegration methods, which range between 1.27 and 1.86, are consistent with previous studies. Impulse response analysis from panel VAR for countries having no cointegrating relation shows that shock to inflation produces negative response in stock return, which supports findings of earlier studies.     

ON EXPORT-LED GROWTH IN AUSTRALIA AND CANADA: COINTEGRATION, CAUSALITY AND STRUCTURAL STABILITY*

This paper uses cointegration and vector-error correction (VEC) modelling to investigate whether the export-led growth hypothesis applies to Australian and Canadian exports and labour productivity. The Johansen (1988) procedure is used to test whether manufacturing and aggregate measures of exports and labour productivity are cointegrated. Exports and labour productivity are found to be cointegrated, suggesting the export-led growth hypothesis holds for the small, open Australian and Canadian economies, although the estimated cointegrating vectors suggest the relationship is of small order. The tests suggested in Hansesn (1992), for parameter stability in relationships with I(1) variables, are estimated to examine if the parameters estimated from the Johansen procedure are unstable and whether the null of cointegration can be rejected in favour of structural change. No evidence is found of parameter instability in either the Australian or Canadian long-run relationships at conventional significance levels. Estimation of VEC models suggests that exports are seen to cause productivity growth, although the quantitative impacts are again small. The reverse causality is rejected for both countries, except for the Canadian manufacturing sector for which there is a small, significant positive effect of labour productivity on manufactured exports.     

The Feldstein-Horioka puzzle in African countries: A panel cointegration analysis

This paper investigates the Feldstein-Horioka coefficients for 37 African countries using the recently developed Pooled Mean Group (PMG), Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) panel cointegration techniques. The empirical findings reported in this paper reveal that savings and investment are non-stationary and cointegrated series. The estimated coefficients using FMOLS, DOLS, and PMG are 0.38, 0.58, and 0.36, respectively, for the sample as a whole for the period from 1970 to 2006. These results confirm previous studies' findings that capital was relatively mobile in African countries compared to OECD countries. In addition, our study shows that there are marked differences in savings retention coefficients for different country groups in Africa (CFA franc zone and non-CFA franc zone countries, oil-producing and non-oil-producing countries, civil law and common law countries). These results have some policy implications.     

Coffee exports and industrialization in Brazil

We investigate the dynamic relationship between coffee exports and machinery imports in Brazil from 1869 to 1939. Our tests reveal cointegration and bidirectional causality in the temporal sense. This evidence suggests that foreign exchange real revenues from coffee exports were important for the onset of industrialization, as machinery imports proxy for real investment demand. Capital growth, in turn, also helped to boost the country’s exports.