UNCERTAINTY AND CONSUMPTION: NEW EVIDENCE IN OECD COUNTRIES

This work analyses the empirical evidence about precautionary saving in OECD countries in the period 1955–2000. Unlike the previous literature, we perform the test using a measure of uncertainty allowing for heterogeneity in stochastic processes which generate data for each country and selecting for each economy the autoregressive moving average process which best describes the series. The results obtained support the main conclusion of precautionary saving theory, showing that a greater degree of uncertainty increases saving. A less clear conclusion is obtained with reference to the effect of uncertainty on consumption growth, which does not seem to be strongly supported by the data.     

CROSS-COUNTRY EVIDENCE ON OUTPUT GROWTH VOLATILITY: NONSTATIONARY VARIANCE AND GARCH MODELS

This paper revisits the issue of conditional volatility in real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates for Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Previous studies find high persistence in the volatility. This paper shows that this finding largely reflects a nonstationary variance. Output growth in the six countries became noticeably less volatile over the past few decades. In this paper, we employ the modified iterated cumulative sum of squares (ICSS) algorithm to detect structural change in the variance of output growth. One structural break exists in each of the six countries after identifying outliers and mean shifts in the growth rates. We then use generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) specifications, modeling output growth and its volatility with and without the break in volatility. The evidence shows that the time-varying variance falls sharply in Canada and Japan, and disappears entirely in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, once we incorporate the break in the variance equation of output for the six countries. That is, the integrated GARCH (IGARCH) effect proves spurious and the GARCH model demonstrates misspecification, if researchers neglect a nonstationary variance. Moreover, we also consider the possible effects of our more correct measure of output volatility on output growth as well as the reverse effect of output growth on its volatility. The conditional standard deviation possesses no statistical significance in all countries, except a significant negative effect in Japan. The lagged growth rate of output produces significant negative and positive effects on the conditional variances in Germany and Japan, respectively. No significant effects exist in Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.     

不确定性、通货膨胀与产出增长

基于中国1952—2004年的数据,通过GARCH-M模型和广义脉冲响应函数对不确定性、通货膨胀与产出增长进行实证分析。结果发现:通货膨胀不确定性与产出增长负相关;产出增长不确定性与产出增长负相关;产出增长不确定性与通货膨胀正相关;通货膨胀不确定性与通货膨胀负相关;产出增长冲击和通货膨胀冲击对产出增长不确定性和通货膨胀不确定性的影响存在滞后性和非对称性;产出增长对产出增长冲击的动态响应最大,通货膨胀对产出增长冲击的动态响应以及产出增长对通货膨胀冲击的动态响应最小,通货膨胀对通货膨胀冲击的动态响应居中。     

A REVISIT TO THE STATIONARITY OF OECD INFLATION: EVIDENCE FROM PANEL UNIT‐ROOT TESTS AND THE COVARIATE POINT OPTIMAL TEST*

This paper re‐examines the stationarity of inflation rates in 19 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries with the use of cross‐sectional information. We employ the panel unit‐root tests that allow for cross‐sectional dependency and the covariate point optimal test. These tests have high power in common due to the exploitation of cross‐sectional information, and they can assist mutually to draw a concrete conclusion on inflation dynamics for all series in the panel. Our empirical results show that allowing for cross‐sectional dependency rejects the null hypothesis that all series in the panel have a unit root, implying that there is at least one stationary series in the panel. With the help of the results of the covariate test, we can distinguish the panel into a group of stationary and a group of non‐stationary series. For robustness, the two groups of series are re‐confirmed by the panel tests. Our results reveal evidence of mean reversion in inflation for 15 of 19 countries, which is significantly stronger as compared to that obtained by the state‐of‐the‐art univariate unit‐root tests.     

EFFECT OF OIL PRICES ON STOCK MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM NEW GENERATION OF STAR MODEL

This paper aims to introduce an evidence of new generations of smooth transition regression model (STAR). It proposes two different forms of STAR model. First: a time varying STAR model (TVSTAR), which identify the estimated coefficients at each point of time. Second: a full specification STAR model (FSSTAR) which provides a consistent estimate even in the existence of some measurement errors, omitted variables and even if the true functional form is unknown. This study will consider the two proposed models and the traditional STAR model to examine the nonlinear relation between oil price and stock market index for two countries (Egypt and Turkey). Our results confirm the existing of a non‐linear relation between oil prices and stock return for both countries. The suggested models gives more accurate information about the time varying effect of oil price changes on stock markets and robust forecasts.     

COSTS OF HOUSING CRISES: INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE

This paper analyses the costs of housing crises in terms of GDP growth and the economic conditions under which crises are particularly costly. Housing crises are often followed by recessions that are longer than other recessions. According to empirical estimates, a housing crisis reduces the GDP growth rate in the following year on average by two percentage points and has still a considerable negative impact in the second year. One important channel through which the effect of housing crises is passed on seems to be the banking sector. In addition, our results suggest that negative wealth effects possibly cause further reductions in GDP growth.     

OUTPUT–EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP ACROSS SECTORS: A LONG‐ VERSUS SHORT‐RUN PERSPECTIVE

This paper investigates the nature of the output–employment relationship by using the Turkish quarterly data for the period 1988–2008. Even if we fail to find a long‐run relationship between aggregate output and total employment, there are long‐run relationships for the aggregate output with non‐agricultural employment and sectoral employment levels for seven of nine sectors that we consider. However, a further investigation for the output and employment relationship within a short‐run perspective does not reveal statistically significant relationships for either total employment or non‐agriculture employment, or eight of the nine sectors that we consider. Although there are various long‐run relationships between output and employment, the short‐run links between demand and employment are weak. The various implications of this for the economy and the labour market are discussed. As a result, maintaining high levels of output in the long‐run creating demand is essential for employment generation.     

THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON GROWTH: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM A HETEROGENEOUS PANEL

This paper investigates the impact of government expenditure on growth, in a heterogeneous panel, for a sample of developing countries. Using generalized method of moments techniques, we show that countries with substantial government current expenditure have strong growth effects, which vary considerably across the nations.     

核心高管特征与公司成长性关系研究——基于中国沪深两市上市公司数据的经验研究

本文以我国沪深两市2004—2006年的上市公司为样本,从核心高级管理人员的人力资本特征视角,对高管特征与上市公司成长性的关系进行了经验检验。本文发现,在其他条件不变的情况下,上市公司成长性与核心高管的平均年龄、平均任职时间显著相关,而与核心高管平均学历的相关性不显著。进一步的研究还表明,在国有控股公司和非国有控股公司中,核心高管特征与公司成长性的关系具有显著差异。本文的研究有助于深化认知人力资本特征在公司发展过程中的重要地位,对强化核心高管遴选、完善人力资源管理具有积极的借鉴意义。     

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH OF VIETNAMESE PROVINCES: THE ROLE OF LOCAL PUBLIC GOVERNANCE

This study offers an insight into the public governance role in the relationship between fiscal decentralization and provincial economic growth in Vietnam. Fiscal decentralization measures are assorted. Applying a sequential (two‐stage) estimation for the panel data of 62 provinces of Vietnam over the 2006–2015 period, we find that first, fiscal decentralization is positively related to the economic growth of Vietnamese provinces. Second, the effects of public governance on economic growth vary across provinces depending on various levels of local public governance. Interestingly, the effect of fiscal decentralization is strengthened when this variable is added along with better quality of public governance. In a region of high public governance quality, fiscal decentralization exerts a positive effect on its economic growth. Our findings imply that the design of fiscal decentralization needs to be associated with local governments’ ability of public governance to improve the local economic growth.     

REGIONAL EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY IN CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA'S PROVINCES

This study examines the provincial effects of monetary policy from 1978 to 2011 in China. We used the SVAR method to measure the magnitude and timing of each province's response to monetary policy shocks when considering the influences of spillover effects among provinces. Then we also explored the regional effects of monetary policy employing multiple linear regressions. The results confirm that provinces respond differently to monetary policy actions. It was found that in the short run, the influence of spillover effects on a province's response is very important, but in the long run, the negative influence of deposit transfers overtake the positive impact of the spillover effect. For the factors causing the regional effects on monetary policy, the results show that the interest rate channel is rather weak at the regional level in China. The bank lending channel can explain the regional effects of monetary policy to some extent. Thus in China, the bank lending channel is more effective than the interest rate channel at the regional level.     

ECONOMIC POLICY UNCERTAINTY EFFECTS ON CREDIT AND STABILITY OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

We examine policy‐related economic uncertainty effects on the availability of credit, non‐performing loans and loan loss provisions using a panel of 18 countries. We provide significant evidence that uncertainty reduces the availability of credit while leading to increases in banks' non‐performing loans and loan loss provisions, distorting sectoral stability. Our findings are economically meaningful.     

FOREIGN AID,TERRORISM AND GROWTH: CONDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM QUANTILE REGRESSION

In this study, we investigate the role of development assistance in reducing a hypothetically negative impact of terrorism on economic growth, using a panel of 78 developing nations with data for the period 1984–2008. The empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions. Domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics are employed while development assistance measurements comprised bilateral and multilateral aid variables. With regard to the investigated hypothesis, we consistently confirm that: (i) In quantiles where terrorism is found to increase (decrease) economic growth, its interaction with foreign aid decreases (increases) economic growth. (ii) Comparing thresholds of the modifying aid variables for which the hypothesis is either rejected or accepted reveals that higher levels of multilateral (bilateral) aid are needed to reverse the negative effect of total (unclear) terrorism on growth, than the quantity needed to reverse the positive impact of transnational (domestic and total) terrorism(s) on growth. (iii) There is scant evidence of positive net effects. Overall the findings broadly indicate that foreign aid is a necessary but not a sufficient policy tool for completely dampening the effects of terrorism on economic growth.     

THE EFFECT OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: TESTING THE NON‐LINEAR HYPOTHESIS

Theoretical models suggest a non‐linear relationship between government size and long‐run economic growth. However, testing this hypothesis empirically in cross‐country studies is complicated by the endogeneity of government spending and the accurate identification of inflexion points. This paper examines the non‐linear hypothesis by incorporating threshold analysis in a cross‐country growth regression. The methodology utilizes a sample‐splitting framework and follows an objective strategy for identifying and testing changes in the slope. The results provide evidence in support of the non‐linear hypothesis for a broad panel of countries.     

THE PERSISTENCE OF INCOME POVERTY AND LIFESTYLE DEPRIVATION: EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

This article estimates poverty persistence over an individual's lifetime, using two definitions: income poverty and a multidimensional index of lifestyle deprivation. We stress the ability of the two definitions to provide a generally consistent characterization of poverty persistence risks faced by various population subgroups, but also the additional insights to be gained by analysing the two definitions in parallel in a longitudinal context. The results of multiple‐spell hazard rate models highlight the weaknesses of the Italian labour market, the insufficiencies of the existing social security system, and the deep territorial dualism in generating persistent poverty for certain groups of the population.     

THE EFFECT OF FDI ON LOCAL EDUCATION EXPENDITURES: EVIDENCE FROM THE UNITED STATES

The intense competition for foreign direct investment (FDI) by state and local governments within the United States has raised concerns among some that this leads to the underprovision of public services and possibly welfare losses for local communities. Economic analysis of this hypothesis yields mixed results. This paper investigates the impact of FDI on local education expenditures both theoretically and empirically. The theoretical model shows an ambiguous impact of FDI on local expenditures for education. Empirically using US state‐level data from 1991 to 2000 and the system‐GMM estimator that controls for fixed effects, times series issues and endogeneity, I find evidence that FDI is positively correlated with increased expenditures on education.     

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND THE PHILLIPS CURVE: A REASSESSMENT OF THE US EXPERIENCE

In this paper, we analyse a new Phillips curve (NPC) model and demonstrate that (i) frictional growth, i.e., the interplay of wage staggering and money growth, generates a non‐vertical NPC in the long run and (ii) the Phillips curve (PC) shifts with productivity growth. On this basis we estimate a dynamic system of macro‐labour equations to evaluate the slope of the PC and explain the evolution of inflation and unemployment in the USA from 1970 to 2006. Because our empirical methodology relies heavily on impulse response functions, it represents a synthesis of the traditional structural modelling and (structural) vector autoregressions. We find that the PC is downward‐sloping with a slope of ?3.58 in the long run. Furthermore, during the stagflating 1970s, the productivity slowdown contributed substantially to the increases in both unemployment and inflation, whereas the monetary expansion was quite ineffective and led mainly to higher inflation. Finally, the monetary expansion and productivity speedup of the roaring 1990s were both responsible for the significant lowering of the unemployment rate.     

ON THE “PRO‐POORNESS” OF GROWTH IN A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONTEXT

This paper represents a first attempt to bring together the issues of multidimensional poverty and growth “pro‐poorness” assessments. More specifically, we suggest the use of sequential dominance procedures to test the “pro‐poorness” of observed growth spells when poverty is measured on the basis of income and another discrete well‐being attribute. Sequential procedures are also used to obtain graphical tools that are consistent with the spirit of Ravallion and Chen's growth incidence curve and Son's poverty growth curve. Contrary to traditional unidimensional tests, our method makes it possible to take into account the importance of deprivation correlations at the individual level and thus may reverse results observed with the traditional tools used to check the “pro‐poorness” of growth. An illustration of our approach is given using Turkish data for the period 2003–05.     

ROLLING REGRESSION VERSUS TIME‐VARYING COEFFICIENT MODELLING: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE OKUN'S LAW IN SOME EURO AREA COUNTRIES

During the last decade, economists have shown that the inverse relationship between economic growth and unemployment rate varies over time. Rolling regression has been the main tool used to quantify such a relationship. This methodology suffers from several well‐known problems which lead to spurious non‐linear patterns in the Okun's coefficient behaviour over time. Here, we take a penalized regression spline approach to estimate the Okun's time‐varying effects. As a result, spurious non‐linearities are suppressed and hence important time‐varying coefficient features revealed. Our empirical results show that the inverse relationship in some Euro area countries is spatially heterogeneous and time‐varying. The findings are complemented by the calculation of the rate of output growth needed for a stable unemployment rate, as proposed by Knotek.