This study examined the effects of government expenditure on different components of economic growth in South Africa using quarterly data from the period 1970Q1 to 2016Q4. The six key policy variables employed in the analysis were derived from the Ram (1986) production model and the New Growth Path (NGP), a macroeconomic framework designed to address the main challenges (unemployment, poverty and inequality) facing the economy as a result of its political past. The analysis of the relationship was carried out using the VECM while the findings from the analysis revealed that though there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run estimates showed that aggregate private consumption expenditure and employment-to-population ratio are significant but negatively, related to economic growth. However, the net inflows of foreign direct investment and gross fixed capital formation are negatively related to gross government expenditure. This implies that excessive public capital expenditure might reduce the positive impact of the two variables on economic growth. The study therefore suggests that government should consider increasing its expenditure on the significant variables that support labour and capital development, in order to enhance economic growth in South Africa. / Economics

Thesis (M. Com. (Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The study intends to investigate the determinants of employment in the platinum mining industry in South Africa. Employment levels decreased dramatically in the platinum mining industry in South Africa. This is due to decrease in export demand for platinum, high operating cost, labour unrest, low levels of production and other determinants of employment. The specific objective of the study is to determine the nexus between employment, output, domestic demand and export demand. Annual time series data covering the period between 1992-2013 was used. The study employed the Vector Error Correction Model approach. Johansen Cointegration test results confirmed the existence of a long run relationship amongst variables under investigation. Export demand and output are found to be positively related with employment. The speed of adjustment to equilibrium is -0.283202. Impulse response functions and variance decomposition are also generated to explain the response to shock amongst variables. The results of the study vindicate that the platinum mining industry should implement policies and strategies to increase output which will lead to higher levels of employment as well as economic growth. In addition, government should also create a conducive environment to enable the industry to expand and the industry should also intensify its export drive, these findings are envisaged to contribute significantly to the existing but limited literature on the subject under investigation. / National Research Foundation

La Turquie a adopté une politique de ciblage d'inflation d'abord implicite (entre 2002 et 2005), ensuite explicite à partir de 2006. L'objectif de ma thèse est d'étudier la crédibilité et l'efficacité de cette politique et de chercher à voir si elle a pu améliorer le degré de crédibilité de la Banque Centrale de Turquie. Cette politique fait ses preuves dans les premières années: effet du seigneuriage réduit de façon significative, taux d'inflation au-dessous de 10%, croissance supérieure à 6%. On montre théoriquement qu'il s'agit d'une politique monétaire qui évite le biais inflationniste et qui combine différentes mesures permettant d'amélioration la crédibilité. Celle-ci est mesurée à partir des anticipations d'inflation. L'analyse empirique des anticipations d'inflation, faite à partir des erreurs de prévisions, montre que les anticipations sont adaptatives et les agents privés font des erreurs de plus en plus petites dans le temps. Les courbes de rendement décroissantes attestent que les marchés financiers anticipent une désinflation entre 2002 et 2005, mais en 2006 la courbe des taux redevient croissante. Ces constats attestent qu'une certaine crédibilité est assurée, mais qu'elle est fragile. L'analyse économétrique par un VECM des processus joint du taux directeur de la Banque Centrale et de celui du second marché montre l'existence d'un taux d'équilibre à long terme défini par la Banque Centrale. Les tests de Seo concluent que les chocs géopolitiques défavorables n'ont pas affecté la dynamique des taux mais que l'ouverture des négociations sur l'adhésion de Turquie à l'UE a renforcé l'efficacité de la politique monétaire

本篇文章用縮減式迴歸來研究財政政策、貨幣政策、和貿易政策對國內政策有效性，以及比較朱衛華 (1990) 政府政策有效性是否和本文相同。 本研究目的有以下兩點，第一、在小型開放經濟體系中，政府推動不同政策下，何種政策長期效果較強。第二、以縮減式迴歸探討不同政策下，其對產出影響。除此之外，從大多數文獻中財政政策與貨幣政策的有效性比較，貨幣政策為強而有效的政策，而在國內貨幣政策有效性是否優於財政政策? 本文使用傳統的St. Louis模型與向量誤差修正模型，估計不同政策的有效性，因為目前常用向量誤差修正模型，所以本研究主要採用向量誤差修正模型，再者時間序列模型皆會檢定期間內是否發生結構性改變，本文採用CUSUM穩定性檢定後，可以發現在2008年第3季後發生結構性改變，推估其結構性改變的原因來自於金融海嘯。 由於估計期間內出現結構性改變，因此參閱方惠蓉 (2002) 將結構性改變分段處理以利於分析結果，而本文將結構性改變分成兩段，分別為金融海嘯前與金融海嘯後。 最後可以從實證得知，三種政策在金融海嘯前皆為正向的經濟影響，強度大小由高至低排序為財政政策、貿易政策和貨幣政策，而財政政策在金融海嘯後是負向的影響，但是貨幣與貿易政策卻是正向的影響，此外貨幣政策在金融海嘯後強度大小位居首位。

This thesis investigated money supply behaviors in the ‘BRICS’ group from 1982 to 2012. It empirically analyzed causality relationships between related monetary indicators by using quarterly data and time series econometric methods. In four countries: Brazil, China, Russia (the period of 2004-2012) and South Africa (1982-1993), this study found money supply endogeneity evidence (bank loans cause the money supply, or there is bidirectional between these two). Other countries, India and the 1982-2003 period of Russia, money supply was found to be exogenous, i.e. money supply cause bank loans. Nonetheless, traditional Monetarian view still holds across the five economies in the short run. The findings reflected discretionary monetary policies targeting monetary aggregates in the short term, despite a neutral role of most central banks in the long run.

Submitted by Natasha Lewin (natgaertner@hotmail.com) on 2014-05-21T13:47:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Natasha_Gaertner.pdf: 1016109 bytes, checksum: 3be3ae578302aaf3f6975eea7891ef1a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vitor Souza (vitor.souza@fgv.br) on 2014-05-28T20:14:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Natasha_Gaertner.pdf: 1016109 bytes, checksum: 3be3ae578302aaf3f6975eea7891ef1a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-02T20:29:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Natasha_Gaertner.pdf: 1016109 bytes, checksum: 3be3ae578302aaf3f6975eea7891ef1a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-27 / Este trabalho analisa a importância dos fatores comuns na evolução recente dos preços dos metais no período entre 1995 e 2013. Para isso, estimam-se modelos cointegrados de VAR e também um modelo de fator dinâmico bayesiano. Dado o efeito da financeirização das commodities, DFM pode capturar efeitos dinâmicos comuns a todas as commodities. Além disso, os dados em painel são aplicados para usar toda a heterogeneidade entre as commodities durante o período de análise. Nossos resultados mostram que a taxa de juros, taxa efetiva do dólar americano e também os dados de consumo têm efeito permanente nos preços das commodities. Observa-se ainda a existência de um fator dinâmico comum significativo para a maioria dos preços das commodities metálicas, que tornou-se recentemente mais importante na evolução dos preços das commodities. / This study analyses the importance of common factors in metal prices movements for the period 1995-2013. For this purpose, cointegrated VAR models and also a Bayesian dynamic factor model are estimated. Given the effect of the financialization of commodities, DFM can capture dynamic effects common to all commodities. Furthermore, panel data is applied in order to use all heterogeneity between commodities over the period. Our estimation results show that interest rate, US dollar effective rate and also consumption data have permanent effect in the commodity prices. Also, there exists one common significant dynamic factor for most metal commodity prices and that this common factor has recently become increasingly important in driving commodity prices.

Submitted by Paula Andrea Soto (paulaandreasoto@hotmail.com) on 2016-09-05T12:30:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paula Andrea Soto Dissertacao.pdf: 4060630 bytes, checksum: a38f57b1ee13eb3c036f96d824c204fe (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-09-05T18:26:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Paula Andrea Soto Dissertacao.pdf: 4060630 bytes, checksum: a38f57b1ee13eb3c036f96d824c204fe (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-05T18:28:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paula Andrea Soto Dissertacao.pdf: 4060630 bytes, checksum: a38f57b1ee13eb3c036f96d824c204fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-11 / Ao modelar séries de preços de ativos financeiros, a prática usual é tomar a primeira diferença das séries, e trabalhar assim com retornos ou logretornos. Utilizando VECM (Vector Error Correction Models, em inglês), torna-se possível trabalhar diretamente com as séries sem diferenciar, o que possibilita o estudo de tendências comuns e cointegração. Este trabalho utiliza VECM para gerar estratégias de arbitragem estatística no mercado brasileiro de ações. Tendências comuns são identificadas por PCA (Principal Components Analysis, em inglês, ou análise de componentes principais, em português) e os resultados foram utilizados para definir portfólios cointegrados. Foram propostos dois métodos de geração de sinais para estratégias de trading do tipo longshort. Um total de cinco diferentes estratégias de trading foram simuladas e a existência de arbitragem estatística em cada caso foi testada pelo teste proposto em (JARROW et al., 2012). Conclui-se que, ao considerar séries de preços não diferenciadas, a metodologia abordada permite identificar e modelar candidatos de portfólios cointegrados. Quando bem calibradas, as estratégias testadas geram ganhos significativos em todos os portfólios. / Common practice for modelling stock prices is to use their differences in form of returns or logreturns. Using VECM (Vector Error Correction Models), it is possible to work with the series of prices without differentiation, which allows looking into common trends and cointegration. This work uses VECM to create trading strategies for the Brazilian stock market. Common trends are obtained using PCA (Principal Components Analysis) and prices are modelled using VECM. Five longshort-type trading strategies are simulated in diversified portfolios, and tested for statistical arbitrage using the test proposed by (JARROW et al., 2012). The methodology for identifying common trends and modelling prices allows for trading strategies with good results for all portfolios.

Thesis (M. A. Agricultural Science (Agricultural Economics) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The relationship between farm and retail prices provides insights into marketing efficiency, consumer and farmer welfare. In light of this, much focus has been given to price transmission studies. Thus, price transmission studies have become increasingly important in Sub Saharan Africa because of its nature of providing clear insights information into our markets. Despite its importance in markets, there are a few studies analysing the mechanism through which prices are determined and transmitted from farm gate to retail markets in dairy markets in South Africa. The aim of the study was to investigate and analyse the nature of price transmission mechanism of pasteurised liquid milk and cheese in South Africa. The specific objectives were to determine the correlation between the milk production and quantity of milk processed in South Africa. Furthermore, there was a need to determine the direction of causality between the farm gate, processor and retail prices of cheese and pasteurised liquid milk in South Africa. It was also necessary to determine whether the price transmission of pasteurised liquid milk and cheese was symmetric or asymmetric in South Africa. The study used secondary time series data that covered a sample size of 17 years (2000 -2016) of pasteurised liquid milk and cheese in South Africa. Pearson correlation coefficient, Granger causality test and Vector Error Correction Model were used for data analysis. Pearson correlation results revealed that milk produced is perfectly correlated with the quantity of milk processed and it was positive. The Granger causality tests revealed that there was a no causal relationship between farm gate and processor, retail and processor and also between farm gate and retail for cheese. However, signs of independent causal relationship from farm gate to retail prices were visible. It also suggested a bidirectional causal relationship between processor and farm gate prices and also between retail and processor prices of pasteurised liquid milk. On the other hand, a unidirectional causality was found from retail to farm gate prices. The VECM results for pasteurised liquid milk showed asymmetric price transmission implying that retailers and processors react quicker to price increases than to price decrease. ii It is recommended that more focus be placed on investment in emerging dairy farmers in order to increase production. This can be done through the input price subsidies, grants and education on modern technologies. The government should also implement the price monitoring cell in order to protect the consumers from unfair prices passed on by the retailers. / Services SETA and National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC)

The research examines how the banking sector in Zambia faired in the wake of the global financial crisis, and the ensuing global recession that followed. Even prior to the crisis, weaknesses within the Zambian Banking sector were already identified by a World Bank/IMF financial sector assessment. The research therefore aims to gain a better understanding of the potential destabilizing factors to the Zambia Banking sector, and provide key players (Policymakers, Regulators and Banks) with knowledge on how best to manage and overcome these adverse effects, in times of a financial crisis. A Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) is estimated using commonly identified macroeconomic and banking sector indicators from selected Anglophonic African countries that were affected by the crisis at the time. The selected variables include, Return on Assets (ROA); Non-Performing Loans (NPL); Foreign Assets (FA); Interbank Lending Rate (IBLR); Liquidity (LQD); Credit to Private Sector (PRV); Foreign Exchange Rate (FOREX); Inflation (INFL); Copper Price (CU); and a ‘dummy’ variable (CRISIS). The direction of causality between the variables is further established using the VAR Granger Causality Test. Results of the model suggests that although the CRISIS was found to cause the ROA, it had no significant effect on its outcome, implying that overall the crisis had very little effect on the Zambian banking sector’s profitability. It was the liquidity (LQD) variable instead which was found to have a significant effect on the ROA. In times of a financial crisis, it is therefore recommended that policy makers and regulators apply more stringent regulatory and monetary policy instruments. This would counter the adverse effects on the liquidity and profitability of the Banking sector, and thus ensure its stability.

<p>This study investigates cattle futures response to the equities crash in March of 2020 and the subsequent COVID-19 linked production delays at beef packing plants. I observe that the initial declines in cattle futures began prior to the onset of beef packing plant shutdowns. Fitting a Vector Error Correction Model on live cattle futures, feeder cattle futures, and corn futures to the E-Mini S&P 500 futures contract finds evidencethat the S&P 500 had a significant impact on cattle prices during  March  of  2020.  These  results  are  an  example  of  increased  cross-asset  correlation  during periods of financial distress.</p>