Dynamic spillovers and linkages between gold,crude oil,S&P 500, and other economic and financial variables. Evidence from the USA

This paper focuses on the price determinants of gold, and on the challenges associated with gold’s safe haven property. Specifically, it analyses the interlinkages and the return spillover effect among gold, crude oil, S&P 500, dollar exchange rate, Consumer Price Index (CPI), economic policy uncertainty and Treasury bills, by employing a Vector Autoregression (VAR) and the spillover index of Diebold and Yilmaz (2012), Diebold and Yılmaz (2014). Monthly realized return series, covering the period from 2nd of January 1986 to 31st of December 2019 are used to examine the short-run linkages, and the return spillovers rolling-window estimates in analyzing the transmission mechanism in a time-varying fashion, respectively. Our findings identify gold as a strong dollar hedge, while crude oil and Treasury bills appear to drive inflation; they also indicate strong spillover effects between exchange rate and gold returns. In general, co-movement dynamics display state-dependent characteristics. Both total and directional spillovers increase significantly during market turbulence caused by severe financial crises such as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007–2009 and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2010–2012. Net spillovers switch between positive and negative values for all these markets, implying that the recipient/transmitter position changes drastically with market events. Economic policy uncertainty, stock market returns, and crude oil price returns are the main transmitters, while Treasury bills and CPI are the main return shock recipients. Gold and exchange rate act both as receivers and transmitters over the sample period.     

Thirty years on: A review of the Lee–Carter method for forecasting mortality

The introduction of the Lee–Carter (LC) method marked a breakthrough in mortality forecasting, providing a simple yet powerful data-driven stochastic approach. The method has the merit of capturing the dynamics of mortality change by a single time index that is almost invariably linear. This thirtieth anniversary review of its 1992 publication examines the LC method and the large body of research that it has since spawned. We first describe the method and present a 30-year ex post evaluation of the original LC forecast for U.S. mortality. We then review the most prominent extensions of the LC method in relation to the limitations that they sought to address. With a focus on the efficacy of the various extensions, we review existing evaluations and comparisons. To conclude, we juxtapose the two main statistical approaches used, discuss further issues, and identify several potential avenues for future research.     

Noninterest income mix and bank performance: Generalized propensity score fractional dose–response function evidence

This paper investigates the impact of different levels of noninterest income on the risk-adjusted profitability and financial stability of banks in the Middle Eastern and North African banking industry from 1988 to 2020. We apply a program impact evaluation analysis, using the generalized propensity score-fractional dose–response function method, and assess the effect of each level (or dose) of noninterest income mix on bank performance (the dose–response function). Splitting the sample into Gulf Cooperation Council- and non-Gulf Cooperation Council-based banks reveals that while higher levels of revenue diversification are beneficial for the former, a focus on traditional banking activities is preferable for the latter to achieve the best performance. The findings could serve as an early warning flag for bank managers, policy-makers, and regulators in dealing with these strategic shifts.