The principle of effective demand states that given endogenous expenditure patterns, the level of exogenous expenditure determines the level of employment. If investment represents the sole form of exogenous expenditure, employment adjusts to the level of investment. If exogenous expenditure changes, equilibrium is restored via the equilibrating variable, employment. If employment is linked in a unique way to income, we have what is referred to as the income adjustment process. The income adjustment process is investigated in a closed and a small open economy (SOE) which imports consumption and capital goods. If a SOE imports its capital goods, the causal link between investment and employment is weakened. When capital goods are imported, investment adjusts to the balance of payments and animal spirits are constrained. Certain South African data are analysed within the framework of the income adjustment process. / M.A.(Economics)

The goal of this thesis is to identify domestic and foreign shocks that mostly explain variation in the Czech price level. This goal is accomplished by the use of structural vector autoregression. As the Czech Republic is considered to be a small open economy, it is crucial to include foreign variables into the model which are represented by shocks in euro zone. Furthermore, a block exogeneity restriction is imposed because it is unlikely that shocks in the Czech economy can influence macroeconomic development in euro zone. The results of the thesis indicate that foreign shocks explain 70% variability in Czech price level out of which 50% is explained by euro zone's price level shocks. It is likely that in near future Czech economy will experience deflation for a while. Nevertheless, by 2018 Czech inflation rate should be in 1-3% band.

This thesis contains four essays, which studies the macroeconomic effects of fiscal and monetary policy quantitatively. The first essay investigates whether Swedish postwar business cycles have been generated by domestic or foreign shocks and finds that they are about equally important. In the second essay, the effects of government budget deficits on interest rates in Sweden are studied in a small open economy framework. The empirical results, which have high power due to very large swings in deficits and interest rates, provide support that larger deficits produce higher interest rates and thus give support against the ricardian view. The third essay seeks to identify optimal social insurance and redistribution levels in Sweden and the U.S. with respect to temporary and permanent idiosyncratic productivity risks. The results indicate that Sweden should reduce the social security level while the U.S. should approximately maintain the current level. In the last essay, the small sample properties of a well-known statistical test for the Lucas critique - the super exogeneity test - is studied in a general equilibrium environment. The results indicate that the super exogeneity test do not have sufficient power in small samples. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

The principle of effective demand states that given endogenous expenditure patterns, the level of exogenous expenditure determines the level of employment. If investment represents the sole form of exogenous expenditure, employment adjusts to the level of investment. If exogenous expenditure changes, equilibrium is restored via the equilibrating variable, employment. If employment is linked in a unique way to income, we have what is referred to as the income adjustment process. The income adjustment process is investigated in a closed and a small open economy (SOE) which imports consumption and capital goods. If a SOE imports its capital goods, the causal link between investment and employment is weakened. When capital goods are imported, investment adjusts to the balance of payments and animal spirits are constrained. Certain South African data are analysed within the framework of the income adjustment process. / M.A.(Economics)

Thesis is dedicated to Bayesian Estimation of DSGE Models. Firstly, the history of DSGE modeling is outlined as well as development of this macroeconometric field in the Czech Republic and in the rest of the world. Secondly, the comprehensive DSGE framework is described in detail. It means that everyone is able to specify or estimate arbitrary DSGE model according to this framework. Thesis contains two empirical studies. The first study describes derivation of the New Keynesian DSGE Model and its estimation using Bayesian techniques. This model is estimated with three different Taylor rules and the best performing Taylor rule is identified using the technique called Bayesian comparison. The second study deals with development of the Small Open Economy Model with housing sector. This model is based on previous study which specifies this model as a closed economy model. I extended this model by open economy features and government sector. Czech Republic is generally considered as a small open economy and these extensions make this model more applicable to this economy. Model contains two types of households. The first type of consumers is able to access the capital markets and they can smooth consumption across time by buying or selling financial assets. These households follow the permanent income hypothesis (PIH). The other type of household uses rule of thumb (ROT) consumption, spending all their income to consumption. Other agents in this economy are specified in standard way. Outcomes of this study are mainly focused on behavior of house prices. More precisely, it means that all main outputs as Bayesian impulse response functions, Bayesian prediction and shock decomposition are focused mainly on this variable. At the end of this study one macro-prudential experiment is performed. This experiment comes up with answer on the following question: is the higher/lower Loan to Value (LTV) ratio better for the Czech Republic? This experiment is very conclusive and shows that level of LTV does not affect GDP. On the other hand, house prices are very sensitive to this LTV ratio. The recommendation for the Czech National Bank could be summarized as follows. In order to keep house prices less volatile implement rather lower LTV ratio than higher.

The first chapter analizes conditional assistance programs. They generate conflicting relationships between international financial institutions (IFIs) and member countries. The experience of IFIs with conditionality in the 1990s led them to allow countries more latitude in the design of their reform programs. A reformist government does not need conditionality and it is useless if it does not want to reform. A government that faces opposition may use conditionality and the help of pro-reform lobbies as a lever to counteract anti-reform groups and succeed in implementing reforms. The second chapter analizes economies saddled with taxes and regulations. I consider an economy in which many taxes, subsidies, and other distortionary restrictions are in place simultaneously. If I start from an inefficient laissez-faire equilibrium because of some domestic distortion, a small trade tax or subsidy can yield a first-order welfare improvement, even if the instrument itself creates distortions of its own. This may result in "welfare paradoxes". The purpose of the chapter is to quantify the welfare effects of changes in tax rates in a small open economy. I conduct the simulation in the context of an intertemporal utility maximization framework. I apply numerical methods to the model developed by Karayalcin. I introduce changes in the tax rates and quantify both the impact on welfare, consumption and foreign assets, and the path to the new steady-state values. The third chapter studies the role of stock markets and adjustment costs in the international transmission of supply shocks. The analysis of the transmission of a positive supply shock that originates in one of the countries shows that on impact the shock leads to an inmediate stock market boom enjoying the technological advance, while the other country suffers from depress stock market prices as demand for its equity declines. A period of adjustment begins culminating in a steady state capital and output level that is identical to the one before the shock. The the capital stock of one country undergoes a non-monotonic adjustment. The model is tested with plausible values of the variables and the numeric results confirm the predictions of the theory.

[pt] E se o risco fiscal não for desprezível? O Banco Central poderia continuar efetivamente trazendo a inflação para a meta ao ignorar o risco de default? Para responder a essas questões, propomos um modelo DSGE de pequena economia aberta com limite fiscal endógeno, onde o governo pode dar calote em seus títulos domésticos, e a autoridade monetária pode responder por isso. Avaliamos a dinâmica sob duas regras de decisão do Banco Central: quando (i) rastreia erroneamente esse risco e (ii) rastreia perfeitamente o risco de inadimplência. O modelo é calibrado com base em dados brasileiros, dado que a recente deterioração orçamentária do país faz dele um caso ideal a ser estudado. Constatamos que inflação alta e moeda desvalorizada coexistem com uma alta taxa de juros quando a autoridade monetária não leva em conta integralmente o risco de inadimplência. Quanto maior a probabilidade de default, maiores as diferenças entre os efeitos dos dois tipos de regras de política que analisamos. Para uma banqueira central restaurar a meta de inflação, ela deve incorporar perfeitamente toda a dinâmica do risco de inadimplência em sua regra de decisão. Além disso, nosso modelo gera um prêmio endógeno entre as taxas de juros dos países devido às diferenças no risco de default soberano. / [en] What if the fiscal risk is not negligible? Could the Central Bank continue effectively bringing inflation to the target when it ignores the default risk? To address those questions, we propose a small open economy DSGE model with an endogenous fiscal limit, where the government can default on its domestic bonds, and monetary authority may account for that. We evaluate dynamics under two different Central Bank decision rules: when (i) it wrongly tracks that risk, and (ii) it perfectly tracks default risk. The model is calibrated based on Brazilian data, as its recent budgetary deterioration makes the country an ideal case to be studied. We find that high inflation and depreciated currency coexist with a high interest rate when the monetary authority does not fully account for the default risk. The higher the default probability, the greater the differences across the effects of the two types of policy rules that we analyzed. For a central banker to restore the inflation target, she must fully track default risk in its decision rule. In addition, our model generates an endogenous premium across countries’ interest rates due to differences in sovereign default risk.

本論文包括三篇有關「國防經濟」相關議題之研究。此三篇研究建立隨機的內生性成長模型，進行國防經濟的成長與福利分析，整個論文的主軸及行文順序如下： 第一篇文章為「國防支出、隨機成長與福利」，本文主要係延伸Barro (1990)、Turnovsky (1999) 與Gong and Zou (2003) 所提政府支出具生產力的概念，建構一個隨機的內生性成長模型，探討國防支出對於長期經濟成長率與福利水準的影響。我們發現國防支出與長期經濟成長率的關係是非線性的，並且得到使得長期經濟成長率最大時的最適國防支出比例。此外，我們也證明國防支出會透過兩種管道影響福利水準：第一種管道為國家安全效果，第二種管道為經濟成長效果。最後，本文首先提出國防支出波動程度對長期經濟成長率以及福利水準的衝擊會受到生產與國防支出干擾項的共變數以及代表性個人的風險偏好程度所影響。 第二篇文章為「軍事威脅、隨機成長與福利」，本文係延伸第一篇文章的架構，加入軍事威脅的隨機過程，並建構一個隨機的內生性成長模型，除了得到第一篇文章的結論外，更得到外國軍事支出的成長與本國長期內生成長率成反比以及外國軍事支出的波動程度與本國長期內生成長率成正比的結果。此外，本文亦首先證明外國軍事支出的成長與波動程度對於福利水準與長期經濟成長率的影響是相同的。換言之，若外國軍事支出的成長與波動程度導致長期經濟成長率增加，則福利水準也會增加；反之亦然。 第三篇文章為「軍事威脅、成長與福利：小型開放隨機成長模型」，本文建構一個小型開放的隨機內生性成長模型，探討外國軍事威脅對於本國長期經濟成長率與福利水準的影響。本文首先證明外國軍事威脅未預期的干擾對於本國長期經濟成長率的影響與本國是否為債權國或債務國有關。我們也首先證明外國軍事威脅的波動程度對於經濟成長率隨機過程變異數的衝擊會與本國是否為債權國或債務國以及消費的跨期替代彈性有關，即我們證明如果本國為淨債權國且消費的跨期替代彈性大於1或者如果本國為淨債務國且消費的跨期替代彈性小於1，此時若外國軍事威脅的波動程度愈大，則本國經濟成長率的隨機調整路徑愈平穩。

本文建構一個小型開放的經濟體系，價格具有僵固性的 DSGE 模型來探討提早釋出的關稅調降訊息所造成總體經濟面的影響。在政府簽訂貿易協定來降低關稅的訊息藉由媒體釋出時，同時民眾具理性預期的假設下，家計單位會因這樣的訊息而改變對未來的預期，在關稅還未實際調降時便改變行為決策。我們研究在不同的協商可能結果: (1)談判破裂，貿易協定未如預期簽訂。(2)談判成功，但貿易協定簽訂的結果比當初訊息所透露的降得更多或較少。(3)談判成功，並完全實現當初訊息的內容。(4)簽訂的時間高於預期，導致實行的時間延期。從結果中我們發現，提早釋出的關稅訊息會抑制民眾的消費和投資，在短期會立即造成需求面的負向衝擊。而降低關稅所帶來的市場活絡，會等到真正調降的時後才出現。所以越早釋出關稅調降的訊息，會造成經濟體系所需付出“等待政策實行的成本”越大。 / There is global trend of economic integration across the world by removing the trade barrier. While the free trade agreements normally include the tariff reduction, the negotiations of the agreement may take a long time, and in some cases, the negotiation may fail. Therefore, the tariff reduction’s effects on the economy can be different if it is realized as expectation or not. With a small open economy DSGE model, this paper examines the effects of news preannouncement on tariffs. With the assumption of rational expectation, households will change their expectation when the news of tariff decrement is preannounced. However, whether or not the news on tariffs can be realized as expectation will lead to different dynamics. In this study, we consider various plausible scenarios: (1) If negotiation fails, thus the news on tariff reduction is not realized (2) If negotiation succeeds, but the amount of actual decrement is more or less than people originally expected. (3) Negotiation succeeds and the content of news is fully realized. (4) Negotiation succeeds, but it takes more time than expected to be realized, thus the policy implementation is postponed. Our study reveals that the news preannouncement restrains consumption and investment before the negotiation is completed, and leads to a negative impact on the economy in the short run. The benefits of the tariff decrement appear if the policy is actually implemented as expected. However, the economy suffers more if the negotiation takes too much time after the news is released.

How should central banks react to movements in the exchange rate? Can social welfare be improved if the policy maker is giving explicit or implicit consideration to fluctuations in the exchange rate? These are some of the principal questions addressed in this thesis, which analyzes the influence of exchange rates on prices and monetary policy, from an empirical as well as a theoretical perspective. The thesis consists of four self-contained papers, and sets off by providing some empirical evidence for incomplete exchange rate pass-through. Incomplete exchange rate pass-through is subsequently incorporated into a theoretical model of a small open economy, to study how exchange rate fluctuations affect monetary policy. The first chapter is an empirical paper studying the relation between exchange rates and prices, using data on Swedish exports of automobiles and kraft paper. A price determining error correction model indicates results consistent with price discrimination and incomplete exchange rate pass-through. In the second chapter, a small open economy aggregate supply-aggregate demand model, allowing for incomplete exchange rate pass-through, is developed to analyze the effects of limited pass-through on monetary policy. The results suggest that the optimal policy reaction, both to foreign and domestic shocks, is dependent on the degree of exchange rate pass-through. The third chapter studies what the delegated monetary policy should be in an open economy with limited pass-through. In particular, the question of whether to delegate an exchange rate-stabilization objective to the policy maker is investigated. The results show that incorporation of an explicit nominal, or real, exchange-rate term in the (optimized) objective function only improves social welfare marginally. The fourth chapter assumes, in contrast, that monetary policy is implemented through a simple instrument rule. It is examined whether the policy maker’s performance, in terms of social welfare, can be improved by also responding to the exchange rate. The results indicate that the exchange rate-augmented policy rules do not outperform an optimized rule without the exchange rate, irrespective of the degree of pass-through. Social welfare is, however, improved by an indirect exchange rate response, which is reached using a policy rule based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation, rather than on domestic inflation. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001