The macroeconomic consequences of terrorism

We perform an empirical investigation of the macroeconomic consequences of international terrorism and interactions with alternative forms of collective violence. Our analysis is based on a rich unbalanced panel data set with annual observations on 177 countries from 1968 to 2000, which brings together information from the Penn World Table data set, the ITERATE data set for terrorist events, and data sets of external and internal conflict. We explore these data with cross-sectional and panel growth regression analysis and a structural VAR model. We find that, on average, the incidence of terrorism may have an economically significant negative effect on growth, albeit one that is considerably smaller and less persistent than that associated with either external wars or internal conflict. As well, terrorism is associated with a redirection of economic activity away from investment spending and towards government spending. However, our investigation also suggests important differences both regarding the incidence and the economic consequences of terrorism among different sets of countries. In OECD economies, in particular, terrorist incidents are considerably more frequent than in other nations, but the negative influence of these incidents on growth is smaller.     

Credibilistic risk aversion

In the probabilistic risk aversion approach, risks are presumed as random variables with known probability distributions. However, in some practical cases, for example, due to the absence of historical data, the inherent uncertain characteristic of risks or different subject judgements from the decision-makers, risks may be hard or not appropriate to be estimated with probability distributions. Therefore, the traditional probabilistic risk aversion theory is ineffective. Thus, in order to deal with these cases, we suggest measuring these kinds of risks as fuzzy variables, and accordingly to present an alternative risk aversion approach by employing credibility theory. In the present paper, first, the definition of credibilistic risk premium proposed by Georgescu and Kinnunen [Fuzzy Inf. Eng., 2013, 5, 399–416] is revised by taking the initial wealth into consideration, and then a general method to compute the credibilistic risk premium is provided. Secondly, regarding the risks represented with the commonly used LR fuzzy intervals, a simple calculation formula of the local credibilistic risk premium is put forward. Finally, in a global sense, several equivalent propositions for comparative risk aversion under the credibility measurement are provided. Illustrated examples are presented to show the applicability of the theoretical findings.     

Estimating the Equilibrium Effective Exchange Rate for Potential EMU Members

In this study, we attempt to examine the possibility of emergence of significant fluctuations of the exchange rates in the future for the candidate EMU countries. In doing so, we estimate the equilibrium rate of the nominal effective exchange rate for Poland, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Malta through the BEER and PEER approaches. While the PEER-based estimation implies a large misalignment rate for the Hungarian forint, the BEER-based analysis shows that the present exchange rates of the countries considered do not deviate significantly from their equilibrium rates. As a consequence, based on BEER analysis, we do not expect large fluctuations in the effective exchange rates among the currencies considered. Hence, the relevant effective exchange rates are expected to be relatively stable. As a matter of fact, the entry of those countries into EMU is not expected to weaken the stability of Euro.

A Retrospective View on Designation of Origin Labeled Foods in Europe

In the emergence of ethically conscious consumer segments across Europe, the expectation was that foods with a designation of origin–label (DOL) would make a production system of similar logic. Past analysis of the registration history of DOLs showed that the take-up of this European Union (EU) food quality scheme was concentrated in the south, which was attributed to specific food supply-and-demand conditions prevalent in that part of Europe. The authors shed light on DOL product distribution and examine its evolution during a 14-year period (2001–2014). DOLs remain a quality differentiation scheme predominantly for the southern EU agrifood industry. However, the less restrictive requirements for protected geographical indication certification make it a much more popular DOL in northern EU. To promote its food quality policy, the EU must approach the two DOL types differently, as they have a different growth potential among EU countries. DOLs’ specialization in categories with expertise accumulated in specific EU areas can become a DOL promoter across all of Europe.     

Exploring the interaction between stock price index and exchange rates: an asymmetric threshold approach

This article examines the impact of stock market news on the foreign exchange markets of USA, Canada and UK, employing an innovative extension of the asymmetric threshold model of Apergis and Miller (2006). Under this framework we can disentangle the reaction of foreign exchange market to bad or good news and small or large news of stock returns. Our comprehensive daily data-set spans the period from January 1990 to June 2014. Using a cointegration and error correction model, we document the existence of a causal relationship between stock market and foreign exchange markets. Most interestingly, our results derived from the asymmetric threshold model confirm that the relationship between stock and foreign exchange markets is sensitive to short-term good or bad news and short-term small or large news. Our findings entail significant implications for policymakers, governments, risk managers and international investors.     

Discretionary fiscal policy and economic activity in Greece

This paper investigates the effects of discretionary fiscal policy changes on economic activity and its subcomponents in Greece in the period 2000–2011. Changes in government spending and net taxes have Keynesian effects. An increase in government consumption has the most pronounced positive effects on output growth, private consumption and non-residential investment, while it reduces residential investment. Cuts in the public investment programme crowd in private investment, but are associated negatively with the net exports ratio. Both indirect and direct tax hikes lower private consumption, private investment and output growth. However, higher direct taxes by lowering disposable income they reduce import demand, thus, improving the trade balance.     

Nonlinear Exchange Rate Adjustment in the Enlarged Eurozone: Evidence and Implications for Candidate Countries

This paper sheds light on the importance of the validity of PPP hypothesis for the accessing process of the candidate countries towards EMU. The evidence of nonlinear adjustment in real exchange rates suggests the estimation of a nonlinear SETAR model. While linear half‐life estimates are biased upward (five years on average), SETAR half‐life estimates imply a faster reverting process (1.5 years on average). Moreover, we found that TPI‐based real exchange rates are more appropriate than CPI‐based real exchange rates in testing for PPP hypothesis. For the cluster of EMU countries and for the pre‐EMU period, our nonlinear model confirms stationarity for the majority of the TPI‐based real exchange rates with half‐life estimates less than a year.     

Regularity conditions and scope estimates: The case of large-sized U.S. banks

We consider economies and diseconomies of scope for large U.S. banks by employing ordinary and hybrid translog cost functions. We examine the regularity conditions in output space where scope estimates are calculated and reject all models for which these conditions fail. The translog model always possesses violations. For the hybrid translog, violations occur in every case except one. In this one case, we find economies of scope.