Causal relationship between stock returns and real economic growth in the pre- and post-crisis period: evidence from China

This article empirically examines the causality in mean and variance between stock returns and real economic growth in China before and after the outbreak of US subprime crisis. Using a nonuniform weighting cross-correlation approach and the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model, we found no causality in mean or variance between China’s stock returns and real economic growth for the period before the subprime crisis. Interestingly, however, in the period after the crisis, we detected unidirectional causality in mean from real economic growth to stock returns and unidirectional causality in variance from stock returns to real economic growth. These new findings imply that the linkage between China’s stock market and its real economy has become stronger in the post-crisis period. The implication of our results is that Chinese policymakers should continue the deregulation and improve the efficiency of the stock market to sustain high economic growth rate in the future.