The goal of this thesis is to develop a DSGE model that accounts for the key business cycle properties of the Czech labor market. We used standard New Keynesian framework for monetary policy analysis and incorporated an elaborated labor market setup with equi- librium wage derived via an alternating offer bargaining protocol originally proposed by Rubinstein (1982) and follow the work of Christiano, Eichenbaum and Trabandt (2013) in the following steps. Firstly, we calibrated the closed economy model according to values suited for the Czech economy and found that the model can not only account for higher volatility of the real wage and unemployment, but can also explain the contemporaneous rise of both wages and employment after an expansionary shock in the economy, so called Shimer puzzle (Shimer, 2005a). Secondly, we demonstrated that the alternating offer bar- gaining sharing rule outperforms the Nash sharing rule under assumption of using the hiring costs in our framework (more so while using search costs) and therefore is better suited for use in larger scale models. Thirdly, we concluded that after estimating the labor market parameters using the Czech data, our model disproved the relatively low values linked to the probabilities of unsuccessful bargaining and job destruction. JEL...

We propose the analysis of the dynamics of the standard deviation of business cycles across euro area countries in order to evaluate the patterns of cyclical convergence in the European Monetary Union for the period 1960-2008. We identify significant business cycle divergence taking place in the mid-eighties, followed by a persistent convergence period spanning most of the nineties. This convergent episode finishes roughly with the birth of the European Monetary Union. We show that a hypothetical euro area including all the new members of the recent enlargement rounds does not imply a sizeable decrease in the optimality of the currency union. Finally, the European synchronization differential with respect to other developed economies seems to have been diluted within a global cycle since 2004.

This paper investigates the patterns and determinants of the co-movement of economic activity across regions in the European Union. Using a panel data of 208 EU-15 regions over the period 1989-2002 we estimate a system of four simultaneous equations to analyse the impact of regional trade integration, specialization and exchange rate volatility on correlations of regional growth cycles with the Euro area. We find that deeper trade integration with the Euro area had a strong direct positive effect on the synchronisation of regional growth cycles with the Euro area. Industrial specialisation and exchange rate volatility were sources of cyclical divergence. Industrial specialisation had however an indirect positive effect on growth cycles synchronisation via its positive effect on trade integration, while exchange rate volatility had an indirect additional negative effect on growth cycle correlations by reducing trade integration. Industrial specialisation had an indirect negative effect on growth cycle correlations by increasing the exchange rate volatility. The direct impact of trade integration on growth cycle correlations was stronger in the pre-EMU sub-period, while in the EMU subperiod, the negative direct effects of industrial specialisation and exchange rate volatility were stronger than in the pre-EMU sub-period. A distinct result is the positive and significant relationship between exchange rate volatility and growth cycle correlations in the pre-EMU sub-period, suggesting that over this period, country-specific exchange rate fluctuations acted as shock absorbers. Our analysis is relevant in the context of the discussion about the macroeconomic adjustment to region-specific shocks in the European Monetary Union. (authors' abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

L’axe principal de la thèse est centré sur des approches non-linéaires modernes d’analyse des données économiques et financières, avec une attention particulière sur les cycles économiques et les crises financières. Un consensus dans la littérature statistique et financière s’est établie autour du fait que les variables économiques ont un comportement non-linéaire au cours des différentes phases du cycle économique. En tant que tel, les approches/modèles non-linéaires sont requis pour saisir les caractéristiques du mécanisme de génération des données intrinsèquement asymétriques, que les modèles linéaires sont incapables de reproduire.À cet égard, la thèse propose une nouvelle approche interdisciplinaire et ouverte à l’analyse des systèmes économiques et financiers. La thèse présente des approches robustes aux valeurs extrêmes et à la non-stationnarité, applicables à la fois pour des petits et de grands échantillons, aussi bien pour des séries temporelles économiques que financières. La thèse fournit des procédures dites étape par étape dans l’analyse des indicateurs économiques et financiers en intégrant des concepts basés sur la méthode de substitution de données, des ondelettes, espace incorporation de phase, la m´méthode retard vecteur variance (DVV) et des récurrences parcelles. La thèse met aussi en avant des méthodes transparentes d’identification, de datation des points de retournement et de l´évaluation des impacts des crises économiques et financières. En particulier, la thèse fournit également une procédure pour anticiper les crises futures et ses conséquences.L’étude montre que l’intégration de ces techniques dans l’apprentissage de la structure et des interactions au sein et entre les variables économiques et financières sera très utile dans l’élaboration de politiques de crises, car elle facilite le choix des méthodes de traitement appropriées, suggérées par les données.En outre, une nouvelle procédure pour tester la linéarité et la racine unitaire dans un cadre non-linéaire est proposé par l’introduction d’un nouveau modèle – le modèle MT-STAR – qui a des propriétés similaires au modèle ESTAR mais réduit les effets des problèmes d’identification et peut aussi représenter l’asymétrie dans le mécanisme d’ajustement vers l’équilibre. Les distributions asymptotiques du test de racine unitaire proposées sont non-standards et sont calculées. La puissance du test est évaluée par simulation et quelques illustrations empiriques sur les taux de change réel montrent son efficacité. Enfin, la thèse développe des modèles multi-variés Self-Exciting Threshold Autoregressive avec des variables exogènes (MSETARX) et présente une méthode d’estimation paramétrique. La modélisation des modèles MSETARX et des problèmes engendrés par son estimation sont brièvement examinés. / This thesis centers on introducing modern non-linear approaches for data analysis in economics and finance with special attention on business cycles and financial crisis. It is now well stated in the statistical and economic literature that major economic variables display non-linear behaviour over the different phases of the business cycle. As such, nonlinear approaches/models are required to capture the features of the data generating mechanism of inherently asymmetric realizations, since linear models are incapable of generating such behavior.In this respect, the thesis provides an interdisciplinary and open-minded approach to analyzing economic and financial systems in a novel way. The thesis presents approaches that are robust to extreme values, non-stationarity, applicable to both short and long data length, transparent and adaptive to any financial/economic time series. The thesis provides step-by-step procedures in analyzing economic/financial indicators by incorporating concepts based on surrogate data method, wavelets, phase space embedding, ’delay vector variance’ (DVV) method and recurrence plots. The thesis also centers on transparent ways of identifying, dating turning points, evaluating impact of economic and financial crisis. In particular, the thesis also provides a procedure on how to anticipate future crisis and the possible impact of such crisis. The thesis shows that the incorporation of these techniques in learning the structure and interactions within and between economic and financial variables will be very useful in policy-making, since it facilitates the selection of appropriate processing methods, suggested by the data itself.In addition, a novel procedure to test for linearity and unit root in a nonlinear framework is proposed by introducing a new model – the MT-STAR model – which has similar properties of the ESTAR model but reduces the effects of the identification problem and can also account for asymmetry in the adjustment mechanism towards equilibrium. The asymptotic distributions of the proposed unit root test is non-standard and is derived.The power of the test is evaluated through a simulation study and some empirical illustrations on real exchange rates show its accuracy. Finally, the thesis defines a multivariate Self–Exciting Threshold Autoregressive with eXogenous input (MSETARX) models and present an estimation procedure for the parameters. The modeling procedure for the MSETARX models and problems of estimation are briefly considered.

Research paper for the degree of Master of Management in Finance & Investment / With a globalised system, the credit crunch of 2007/2008 rippled through the global economy quickly and turned a global financial crisis into a global economic crisis, vulnerabilities in the economy surfaced when it hit and these still continue to plague South Africa today. According to the World Bank, South Africa’s real GDP growth estimates are 0.8% in 2016/2017 and 1.1% in 2017/2018. Increasing uncertainty in global financial markets and banking systems, sharp declines in commodity prices, subdued global trade, currency pressure, as well as domestic constraints such as a current account deficit, a negative inflation outlook and high levels of unemployment, lead to increased financial stress in South Africa making the country more vulnerable in the event of an adverse scenario. Clearly, being cognizant of determinants of financial stress in South Africa is of paramount importance to policy makers as it allows them to assess potential risks to financial system stability and to consider timely and appropriate counteractions while maintaining a financial system that is resilient to systemic shocks. (South African Reserve Bank Financial Stability Review, 2016) This study aims to construct a financial stress index using Principal Component Analysis to identify key determinants of financial stress in South Africa. Several variables that have been identified in standing literature as being able to capture certain symptoms of financial strain in emerging market economies are estimated then aggregated into an index using the principal component analysis method. The usefulness of the index in identifying past crises is then assessed, moreover its performance is contrasted against the financial stress index constructed by South African Reserve Bank as well as against a South African composite business cycle leading indicator. Finally, the ability of the index to predict economic activity is examined. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management, specialising in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Johannesburg, 2017 / This study examined the relationship between business failure and macroeconomic fluctuations within business cycles of South Africa’s economy for the time period 1980 to 2016. The study also sought to understand where, if any, immediate and lag correlations between fluctuations and business failure could be established. To understand this connection, this study used longitudinal data sets of different macroeconomic factors and studied their influence on business failure. The vector error correction model (VECM) was used to determine the long-term relationship between failure and each of the other variables. Additionally, Granger Causality was applied to establish whether the macroeconomic variables investigated in this study can be constructed to predict the probability of business failures. Three classes of macroeconomic predictor variables were considered. Firstly, well-known international variables in the form of GDP and CPI were used. Secondly, the study incorporated the three Composite Business Cycle indicators- leading, coincident and lagging. Lastly, behavioural indicators were used to incorporate the views of the actual businesses and their customers, which for this the study were the Business and Consumer Confidence Indices. After examining the effects the 7 macroeconomic variables had on business failure, the study found that there is a long-run relationship between the Composite Lagging Business Cycle indicator, the Business Confidence and Consumer confidence, which influenced Business Failure. Additionally, it was noted that Business Failure influence the Composite Lagging Business Cycle indicator in the long-run. The study additionally found that Business Failure may Granger Cause the Composite Leading Business Cycle indicator Outcomes of the study are potentially vital for entrepreneurs to understand the timing of entry into markets based on macroeconomic fluctuations through their cycles in certain industries. Business owners can make proactive financial and strategic decisions vital for survival of their business through the expansion and especially in the contraction cycles of the macroeconomic environments. / MT2017

The first essay intends to answer the following questions: "Has China's economic growth become less volatile in the reform period?" and if it is the case, "What are the sources behind the increasing macroeconomic stability?" The answer to the first question is yes. Using the quarterly data of China, this paper provides robust evidence of the existence of a structural break or regime shift in the variance of the GDP growth process (most likely in 1992 and 1993). Employing decomposition methods from different perspectives, this essay attributes the significant decline in aggregate output volatility to the following factors: the increasing stability of labor productivity growth and TFP growth at the aggregate level, the declined volatility of value-added growth at the sectoral level, the increasing stability of consumption growth and investment growth from the demand side, and the decrease in the covariances between provincial growth contributions from the regional economic perspective. / The second essay attempts to examine the underlying factors accounting for the volatility of China's economic growth. It particularly highlights the role of investment policy volatility in explaining output volatility. The results suggest that investment policy volatility amplifies the growth volatility, whereas fiscal policy volatility has no significant effect. Government size and investment share have opposite, albeit not always significant, influences on growth volatility. The main findings are robust to the inclusion of additional controls, the substitution of initial values for the mean values of control variables, and the alternative estimation specifications of policy volatilities. It suggests that the decline in investment policy volatility accounts for a significant part of the increasing stability of China's economic growth, and that stable policies and a better institutional environment are crucial in sustaining the macroeconomic stability of China. / This thesis consists of three essays, and discusses several issues about volatility, growth and development in the context of the Chinese economy. / Unlike the conventional wisdom that growth and volatility correlate negatively across countries, the third essay finds a significant and positive growth-volatility link across Chinese provinces in the reform period. This link remains significant and positive in several robustness tests. Further analyses from disaggregate perspectives find that the output volatility is correlated with rural consumption growth and urban consumption growth negatively and positively, respectively. At the sectoral level, more volatile sectors command higher investment rate and higher value-added growth. This essay also finds that the expected volatility has positive effect on growth, while both fiscal and investment policy volatilities are significantly harmful to economic growth. However, the significances of policy volatilities vanish once expected volatility is included in the analysis. It partly confirms the analytical argument that the growth-volatility link in China is mainly driven by the positive volatility component. Moreover, a stable policy environment is vital to the economic growth of China despite a positive aggregate growth-volatility link. / pt. 1. Has the Chinese economy become less volatile? structural break detection and volatility decomposition -- pt. 2. What accounts for the volatility of China's economy growth -- pt. 3. On the link between growth and volatility: evidence from China. / Zhang, Ning. / Adviser: Junsen Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-09(E), Section: A. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-260). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Índices de confiança/expectativas são frequentemente utilizados pela mídia e pelo mercado com intuito de projetar o comportamento da economia. As expectativas dos agentes econômicos são peças relevantes, acredita-se, para explicar flutuações de produto e emprego, tanto moderadas como drásticas a exemplo das crises \".com\" e dos subprimes americanos. No Brasil, o tema passou a receber mais atenção devido à crise dos últimos anos.A estimação de um VAR com séries brasileiras de produto, consumo e expectativas sugere que de fato inovações nos índices de expectativas possuirão impactos de médio-longo prazo no consumo agregado e no PIB, além dos próprios índices. A partir dessa evidência, procura-se separar por meio de um modelo DSGE o quanto desses impactos se deve a fundamentos econômicos futuros antecipados pelos agentes e o quanto se deve a alterações momentâneas de humor, isto é, aos animal spirits. Os resultados sugerem que animal spirits e ruídos inerentes aos próprios índices são responsáveis por uma parte considerável da flutuação no período de 1-2 trimestres. Para horizontes iguais ou superiores a 2 trimestres, a antecipação de fundamentos econômicos passa a ser predominante. / Consumer confidence/expectation indexes are frequently used by the media and the market in order to forecast the behavior of the economy. Agents\' expectations are believed to explain output and employment fluctuations, either moderate or drastic as the \".com\" and the american subprime crisis. In Brazil, more attention has been drawn to this topic due to the recent economic crisis.The estimation of a VAR with brazilian data for consumption, output and expectations suggests that innovations to the expectation indexes do have impact on aggregate consumption and GDP in the medium/long-run, as well as the indexes themselves. Inspired by this evidence, a DSGE model is used in order to assess how much of these impacts are due to anticipation of future economic fundamentals and how much are due to animal spirits. The results indicate that animal spirits and index-specific noise are responsible for a non-negligible amount of fluctuations up to 2 quarters, whereas news of future economic conditions prevail on lower frequencies.

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本論文集收錄了三篇有關開放經濟宏觀經濟學的文章。 / 第一篇文章研究了中國從1978年到2010年實際經濟週期。本文首先詳細記錄了中國實際經濟週期三十多年來經驗特征, 我們發現中國的實際經濟週期表現出不同于其他新興市場國家和發達國家的獨特的實際經濟週期經驗特征。再則，我們通過建立實際經濟週期模型和貝葉斯估計方法來檢驗現有新興市場實際經濟週期理論能夠在多大程度上解釋中國實際經濟週期。在我們的估計結果中，我們發現一個包含持久性生產力衝擊的基準模型不能很好的解釋中國實際經濟週期。而在基準模型的基礎上添加了國際金融摩擦的擴展模型（我們稱之為金融摩擦模型）能夠較好的解釋中國實際經濟週期。國際金融摩擦替代了持久性生產力衝擊的作用并優化了模型擬合。 / 第二篇文章研究了發展中國家廣泛使用的財政性油價穩定政策的福利影響。一些評論認為作為發展中國家的主要貿易對象的發達國家，特別是美國，能夠從發展中國家的油價穩定政策中獲利。我們的文章研究了這個論題，我們建立了一個具有美元非對稱性定價特征的兩國家模型。我們發現發展中國家的最優油價補貼率以及它的全球福利影響關鍵性的取決於是否貨幣政策能夠有效的應對油價衝擊。當貨幣政策能夠完全有效並且能夠央行使用最優貨幣政策時， 發展中國家則不需要財政性的油價穩定政策。然而當貨幣政策不能夠完全有效時，即使能夠使用最優貨幣政策，發展中國家還是需要油價補貼來穩定油價。而對美國來說，由於存在非對稱性的美元定價，美國反而受到福利損失。 / 第三篇文章研究了進口中間產品價格衝擊的福利影響和傳遞機制。隨著垂直貿易的快速發展，世界中間產品價格的波動成為了小型開放經濟體國家的主要不確定性衝擊之一。我們建立並且估計了一個兩部門的價格粘性的模型來解釋中間產品價格衝擊如何通過垂直貿易途徑對小型開放經濟體產生影響。我們發現其影響關鍵性的取決于垂直貿易結構和匯率制度。再次，其影響也顯著取決于國際金融市場准入的程度。 / This thesis consists of three essays on Open-Economy Macroeconomics. / The first essay studies real business cycle in Chinese economy. During the past three decades, Chinas economy experienced sizable economic fluctuations along with rapid economic growth. However, the research on Chinese real business cycle is limited. In this paper, we document some stylized facts of Chinese real business cycle from 1978 to 2010. We find that Chinese real business cycle exhibits a mixed pattern that is not consistent with those of developed economies or emerging market economies. Moreover, we investigate to what extent the existing theories of emerging market real business cycle can explain Chinese data using Bayesian estimation of small open economy real business cycle models. Our results show that a benchmark model with permanent pro-ductivity shocks cannot account for stylized facts of Chinese real business cycle very well. Instead, a Financial-Friction model that augments the benchmark with inter-national financial friction significantly improves the model fitness. And international financial friction dominates the role of permanent productivity shocks. / The second essay studies oil price stabilization polices that are adopted extensively in developing countries. Some argue that developed economies, especially the US, may gain from these policies through trade. This paper studies this issue in a two-country model with dollar currency pricing. We find that the optimal level of oil price stabilization chosen by developing countries and its implications for global welfare depend critically on whether monetary policy can eectively respond to oil shocks. In an environment without monetary shocks, when optimal monetary policies are considered, there is no role for oil price stabilization in developing countries. However, to make the oil price stabilization policy redundant, optimal monetary policy is not necessary. Some non-optimal endogenous monetary policies satisfying certain conditions can also make the developing countries choose zero oil price stabilization. The results change when there are monetary shocks. Even with optimal monetary policies, the developing countries will choose a positive level of oil price stabilization. However, due to dollar currency pricing, the US actually loses from the stabilization policy. Our results are well supported by the quantitative analysis in a full-fledged dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. / The third essay studies the welfare implication and transmission mechanism of imported intermediate goods price shock. With the rapid growth of vertical trade in small open economies, the world price fluctuation of intermediate goods has increasingly become one of major uncertainties faced by these economies. This paper develops and estimates a two-sector sticky-price model to show how intermediate goods price shock affects small open economies through vertical trade. We find that the effects depend critically on the structure of vertical trade and exchange rate policy regime. Furthermore, the quantitative eects of intermediate goods price shock also change significantly with the degree of financial integration. / 1. Real business cycle in Chinese economy -- 2. Oil price stabilization and global welfare -- 3. The effects of intermediate good price shocks on small open economy. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wu, Zhouheng. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts also in Chinese.