The aim of this thesis is to verify the existence of dependence between inflation and unemployment through the Phillips curve in the Czech Republic and its neighboring countries (Poland, Austria, Slovakia and Germany). This observed relationship is complemented by the economic development of both macroeconomic variables in these countries. The first chapter is devoted to the theoretical background of inflation, unemployment and Phillips curves. In the second chapter, the data used to verify the existence of the inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment is defined. The third chapter is country-by-country, with the development of inflation and unemployment rates first and then Phillips curves based on available data. The last section is devoted to a summary of the achieved results.

The aim of the thesis is to address issues concerning modelling and evaluation of monetary policy by obtaining targeting rules from optimisation techniques using welfare loss functions that capture asymmetries and zone targeting behaviours. The motivation is that the specification of the most widely used monetary policy rule, i.e. the Taylor rule, may not adequately capture the stylised key features of monetary policy practice as has been shown by Nobay and Peel (2003), Aksoy et al. (2006) and Boinet and Martin (2008). The thesis also addresses the importance of the behaviour of certain financial asset prices and their implications in monetary policy decision making. It also analyses the impact of uncertainty about the true state of the economy on domestic interest rates. First, the response of monetary policy to deviations of inflation and output from their target values based on a framework that allows asymmetric and zone targeting monetary authorities’ preferences is estimated.1 Second, the monetary policy reaction function, which is augmented with a comprehensive index that collects and synthesises information from the financial asset markets is estimated for South Africa based on a framework that allows asymmetric and zone targeting monetary authorities’ preferences.2 Third, the impact of uncertainty about the state of the economy on monetary policy in South Africa using a framework that allows asymmetric and zone targeting monetary authorities’ preferences is analysed. The main findings are that the monetary authorities’ response towards inflation is zone symmetric and their response to output fluctuations is asymmetric. The second major finding is that the conditions in the financial asset markets form an important information set for the monetary authorities and that the monetary authorities pay close attention to the conditions in these markets by placing an equal weight on financial asset markets booms and recessions. The empirical results also reveal a significant impact of uncertainty about the state of the economy on domestic interest rates during the inflation targeting period and that the monetary authorities exhibit discretionary behaviour when implementing monetary policy under uncertainty. The thesis contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of economics by addressing important issues in monetary policy design and conduct using a framework that capture the stylised key features of monetary policy practice. All these issues are important in design and conduct of monetary policy. They are currently debated at many central banks including South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Economics / unrestricted

This research attempts to evaluate the stability of money demand functions and estimate monetary inflation models in the East African Community (EAC), using quarterly aggregate data that range from 2000Q1 to 2012Q3. We used Johansen co-integration analysis to estimate and analyse the stability of the M3 money demand model for each country member of the EAC. From this estimation, we derived a country-specific measure of money overhang. We compared its forecasting power of future inflation with that of money stock growth, and money stock available in the economy. Regarding country-specific money demand functions, with the exception of Uganda, we identified a reasonable and stable country-specific M3 money demand model. Also, for predicting future inflation, the estimation results showed that M3 money stock growth is more reliable in Burundi and in Kenya, while M3 money overhang is preferable in Rwanda and M3 money stock in Tanzania. As both country-specific and regional (EAC area) information on monetary quantity growth and its impact on price level is important to know in a monetary union, we considered the EAC area as a single market and attempted to estimate the aggregate (EAC area) demand functions for broad money M2 and M3 using Johansen co-integration analysis. The estimated long-run aggregate money demand models M2 and M3 appeared to be stable over the sample period. However, the aggregate M2 and M3 at the EAC level were proven to be weakly exogenous, which should discard them for consideration at the EAC level as the intermediate targets variables in order to achieve the overall objective of price stability in the EAC region. Instead, short-term interest rate should be given a prominent role in monetary policy framework at the EAC level.

This doctoral thesis contains three essays on the macroeconomic impact of inflation targeting: (1) Inflation-targeting regime, as a framework for monetary policy conduct, has been adopted by central banks in thirty countries. Some of these countries enjoy high incomes while others have middle incomes. In contrast to the development-based classification –often applied in the literature, thus ignoring income disparity– this study employs income-based classification in constructing the data sample. The objective is to investigate, using a panel of middle-income countries, whether inflation targeting is a good remedy for high inflation. In addition to the commonly used covariates in the literature, this study also includes in its covariate matrix the worldwide governance indicators as proxy for institutional quality. The findings exhibit a significant reduction of inflation and its volatility among the inflation-targeting adopters compared to the non-adopting middle-income countries. The results are robust to the exclusion of high inflation episodes, and to using the alternative measures of inflation. The results are also robust to the post-estimation sensitivity tests recommended for such empirical analysis. (2) Many economists acknowledge the paramount role that foreign investment plays in fostering economic development and growth via integrating economies around the globe. Studies have shown that foreign investment, particularly foreign direct investment (FDI) is attracted to countries that exhibit good governance, low uncertainty and a high degree of macroeconomic stability. The literature also argues that monetary policy under inflation targeting (IT) mitigates uncertainty, enhances governance and brings macroeconomic stability to the adopting countries. Hence, it would seem that the IT-adoption should enable the adopting countries attract the largest FDI inflows. To verify this conjecture, this study performs a comparison between the IT-adopting countries and the non-adopters in attracting FDI. Using a panel of OECD and middle-income countries, the empirical findings exhibit an interesting but contradicting pattern: when it comes to the OECD countries, the results show that the IT-adopters do better than the non-adopters in attracting the FDI inflows. For the middle-income countries, however, the IT-adoption appears to have the opposite effect: a significant reduction in the FDI inflows is witnessed among the IT-adopters compared to their counterparts. The results are robust to the post-estimation sensitivity tests. (3) Inflation targeting, as a monetary-policy framework, is said to promote economic efficiency and growth. Yet, when evaluating the macroeconomic performance of inflation-targeting regimes, the existing literature only emphasizes the dynamics of inflation and the costs associated with taming inflation. There is hardly any assessment of the claim of efficiency and growth. To fill this gap, and to measure the causal impact of inflation-targeting adoption on economic efficiency, we compare the dynamics of output growth and long-term unemployment between countries that have adopted inflation targeting and the non-adopting countries. Our findings seem to refute the efficiency claim, and paint a bleak picture of inflation targeting: when compared to the countries that did not adopt inflation targeting, there is a significant reduction in the average growth rate among the inflation-targeting adopters by over ½ percentage point. Additionally, long-term unemployment significantly rises among the inflation-targeting countries by almost 2 percentage points as compared to the non-adopters. These results are robust to both the exclusion of the outlier observations and to the sensitivity tests recommended for such analysis.

Thesis focuses on issues of inflation and risks in evaluation of PPP projects. It sets the basic assumptions and standards for risk identification and administration in PPP projects and furthermore discusses their impact on Value for money and Availability payment. The thesis sets the basic rules for incorporating the inflation and risks into the PPP alternative and sets the rules for economic evaluation of PPP against PSC alterantive (Public Sector Comparator). For the illustration a hypothetical project of construction of primary and secondary schools has been worked out. For the evaluation of economic impact and selection of PPP vs. PSC alternative a standard financial model has been prepared. It focuses on analyzing the Value for moeny and seting up the Availability payment.

We estimate the macroeconomic performance in terms of inflation and GDP growth of Sweden in relations to oil price shocks, focusing on the differences across two periods, pre and post 2008. By using a Vector Error Correction model and linear hypothesis testing we can see short term and long term correlations between the nominal oil price and three dependent variables, GDP, CPI and GDP deflator. Our hypothesis is that the effects of oil price shocks are indifferent across our estimation period and this would be in line with previous literature.  We find that the macroeconomic factors of GDP and inflation responds differently post 2008 and by using impulse response functions (IRFs) we can see how the dependent variables responds to an oil price shock. They show that oil shocks have permanent effects in GDP and GDP deflator but transitory effects in CPI, we found short run causality for GDP and CPI but not for GDP deflator.

This thesis focuses on the quantitative easing as a tool used by the U.S. central bank in an effor to enhance the expansionary monetary policy even during the reduction of major interest rate close to zero. The aim is to analyze the impact of the first and second round of quantitative easing on the economy of the Unites States of America practiced by Fed. The aim is achieved primarily by using event study, which examined the effect of the first and second round of quantitatitve easing on the yield of U.S. Treasuries. In the context of quantitative easing other economic data such as macroeconomic development of U.S. economy or the situation in the real estat and stock marekts are studied. The second major area of this thesis is the analysis of inflation. The sharp rise of inflation is considered as a one of the major risks associated with quantitative easing. Relationship between quantitative easing and inflation is mainly studied by analyzing the behavior of banks and other economic subjects and by using the results of quantitative easing policiy in the countries which also used that policy.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第22247号 / 理博第4561号 / 新制||理||1655(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 畑 浩之, 教授 田中 貴浩, 教授 川合 光 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

The thesis consists of two essays on inflation targeting. The hrst essay examines how do centrál banks set their inflation targets. Survey of centrál banks' communication regard-ing the target is presented, theoretical model is developed and finally empirical analysis is conducted on a panel of inflation targeting countries. This pioneering analysis of the topič leads us to conclusion that inflation targets are influenced by more variables than centrál banks admit. In addition to past and foreign inflation, inflation variability and GDP growth we find significant impact of centrál bank credibility and other institutional factors. The short second essay surveys literatúre assessing performance of inflation targeting and outlines perspectives of inflation targeting as a monetary policy framework. The conclusion is that if inflation targeting centrál banks stick to their best practice in transparency and communication and remain open to innovations, inflation targeting will háve a good chance to score well even in the periods of turmoil.

The key goal of the following diploma thesis is to evaluate influence of the air pressure in the car tires on the driving dynamic, stability and comfort. The first part is dedicated to the theory of the driving dynamic, stability, tire parameters and tire inflation. Next practical part is focused on the drivers’ knowledge about the correct tire inflation and follows with the measurements and evaluation of the influence of the tire inflation on the driving characteristics, riding comfort and its comparison. These influences are summarized and followed up by the recommendations for the drivers and also the expert activities.