Import instability and LDCs’ response: The destabilization of the inflow of capital and intermediate goods

Zusammenfassung Importinstabilit?t und die Reaktionen der Entwicklungsl?nder: Die DeStabilisierung der Einfuhr von Kapital- und Vorleistungsgütern. — Anhand von modifizierten Importnachfragefunktionen für sieben Entwicklungsl?nder wird empirisch die Hypothese untersucht und best?tigt, da\ instabile Rohstoffimportpreise die Importmengen von Kapitalgütern im Sinne eines Verdr?ngungsvorgangs destabilisieren. Dies ist ebenso festzustellen, wenn die Ausgaben für Nahrungsimporte aufgrund heimischer Erntefluktuationen schwanken. Bezüglich der Instabilit?t von Importpreisindizes und Gesamtimportausgaben reagieren die Importmengen von Kapitalgütern und industriellen Vorleistungen elastisch, w?hrend die Stabilit?t von Rohstoffeinfuhren hiervon wenig berührt wird. Die H?he der Destabilisierangseffekte ist abh?ngig von dem Ausma\ der internationalen Liquidit?t, über welche das betroffene Entwicklungsland verfügt. Diese Ergebnisse werden damit erkl?rt, da\ in den Entwicklungsl?ndern die M?glichkeiten der kurzfristigen Importsubstitution, der Wechselkursanpassungen und der internationalen Finanzierung begrenzt sind und dadurch die Transmission internationaler Preisinstabilit?ten auf die Importstrukturen erleichtert wird.

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Résumé L’instabilité des importations et les réactions des pays en voie de développement: La déstabilisation de l’importation des produits d’investissement et intermédiaires. — Au moyen de fonctions d’importation modifiées pour sept pays en voie de développement l’hypothèse est confirmée que les prix instabiles à l’importation des matières premières déstabilisent les quantités d’importation des produits d’investissement au sens d’un processus de déplacement. C’est constaté également, si les importations alimentaires flottent à cause de fluctuations de récolte locale. Au sujet des prix directs à l’importation et des dépenses totales d’importation les volumes d’importation des produits d’investissement et des produits intermédiaires manufacturiés réagissent souplement, tandis que la stabilité des importations des matières premières est peu touchée. Les effets de déstabilisations dépendent de l’ampleur de liquidité internationale de laquelle les pays concernés disposent. Ces résultats sont expliqués par la possibilité limitée de substitution d’importations, d’ajustements des cours de change et de financement international pour les pays en voie de développement; ainsi la transmission des instabilités des prix internationaux aux structures d’importation est facilitée.

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Resumen Inestabilidad de las importaciones y las reacciones de los países en desarrollo: la desestabilización de la importación de bienes intermedios y de capital. — A través de funciones de demanda de importación modificadas para siete paises en desarrollo se somete empfricamente a test y se confirma la hipótesis que precios de importación inestables para las materias primas desestabilizan los volúmenes de importación de bienes de capital en el sentido de un proceso de desplazamiento. Esto también se puede constatar, cuando el gasto para la importación de productos alimenticios oscila como consecuencia de fluctuaciones en las cosechas domésticas. Los volúmenes de importación de bienes intermedios industriales de capital reaccionan en forma elástica frente a inestabilidades de índices de precios de importación propios y gastos totales en importación, mientras que la estabilidad de las importaciones de materias primas prácticamente no se ve tocada por ello. La importancia de los efectos desestabilizadores que provienen de fluctuaciones en los precios de importación propios y de materias primas, depende de la magnitud de la liquidez internacional de que dispone el país en desarrollo afectado. Estos resultados tienen su explicación en el hecho, que los paises en desarrollo, debido a sus posibilidades limitadas de sustituir importaciones, ajustar las tasas de cambio y obtener financiamiento internacional en el corto plazo, facilitan las transmisiones de inestabilidades de precios internacionales hacia las estructuras de importación.

     

Causal relations between inflation and inflation uncertainty—Cross sectional evidence in favour of the Friedman-Ball hypothesis

We test for causality between inflation and its associated uncertainty by means of both in-sample and out-of-sample modelling. Our findings indicate that the impact of inflation on inflation uncertainty is more pronounced than the reverse causal effect.     

Do Rising Top Incomes Spur Economic Growth? Evidence From OECD Countries Based on a Novel Identification Strategy

We investigate the causal relationship between the growth rate of top income shares and economic growth in 12 OECD economies for the period 1950–2010. To analyze patterns of short- and long-run causality, we build upon recent advances in structural-vector autoregressive modeling of non-Gaussian systems. This framework allows us to discriminate between rival transmission channels by means of dependence tests, since independent shocks are unique for a particular causation pattern. We consider the share of income accruing to the top 1 percent (1), to the next 9 percent (9), and to the top decile (10). While structural models display considerable heterogeneity across countries, mean group and pooled results strongly favor a specific transmission pattern. In particular, 1 has a long-run positive impact on economic development. This result, which is also confirmed by identified impulse-response functions, is particularly evident for the post-1980 period.     

Ausmaß und Dynamik der Sohlerosion der Donau östlich von Wien – flussmorphologische und wasserwirtschaftliche Aspekte

The Danube east of Vienna was originally an untamed, widely branching river with an approximately stable bed elevation. Regulation in the second half of the 19th century changed its morphology fundamentally—initially through upstream regulation and the consequent bedload deposit resulting in heavy aggradation—and subsequently left the bed elevation and water level almost the same until around the 1940s. Only in the second half of the 20th century did the bed elevation and low and mean water levels decrease significantly, and this trend—amplified by the power plant extension—continues today, despite constant bedload dumps to ensure the tailwater supply for the power plant at Vienna Freudenau. Further east from the Austrian-Slovak stretch of border, congestion due to the Gab?íkovo power plant becomes apparent: most of the bedload is again deposited here. This study investigates these processes using hydrographic observations in their spatial and temporal context, and, based on actual bed elevation measurements, creates a bedload balance and compares it with the results of previous studies. Bed erosion in the Danube floodplains and the local national park has far-reaching consequences, especially through siltation and scrub encroachment in the river’s branches, which are further amplified by flat, fine sediment deposits in the foothills and the formation of embankments. In the long term, flood and other water management objectives will also be adversely affected.     

Risk forecasting in (T)GARCH models with uncorrelated dependent innovations

(G)ARCH-type models are frequently used for the dynamic modelling and forecasting of risk attached to speculative asset returns. While the symmetric and conditionally Gaussian GARCH model has been generalized in a manifold of directions, model innovations are mostly presumed to stem from an underlying IID distribution. For a cross section of 18 stock market indices, we notice that (threshold) (T)GARCH-implied model innovations are likely at odds with the commonly held IID assumption. Two complementary strategies are pursued to evaluate the conditional distributions of consecutive TGARCH innovations, a non-parametric approach and a class of standardized copula distributions. Modelling higher order dependence patterns is found to improve standard TGARCH-implied conditional value-at-risk and expected shortfall out-of-sample forecasts that rely on the notion of IID innovations.