The main purpose of this study is to empirically assess the relationship between inflation and economic growth in Ethiopia using quarterly dataset from 1992Q1 to 2010Q4. In doing so, an interesting policy issue arises. What is the threshold level of inflation for the Ethiopian economy? Based on the Engle-Granger and Johansen co-integration tests it is found out that there is a positive long-run relationship between inflation and economic growth. The error correction models show that in cases of short-run disequilibrium, the inflation model adjusts itself to its long-run path correcting roughly 40% of the imbalance in each quarter. In addition, based on the conditional least square technique, the estimated threshold model suggests 10% as the optimal level of inflation that facilitates growth. An inflation level higher or lower than the threshold level of inflation affects the economic growth negatively and hence fiscal and monetary policy coordination is vital to keep inflation at the threshold. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

The dissertation dealt with the interaction between the macro-economy and financial markets. In the first part of the dissertation I laid down a general case for macro-based active asset allocation. In the main part of my dissertation, after a theoretical introduction to term structure models and macrofinance models, I developed a VAR macrofinance model of the term structure of interest rates for the Czech economy based on the dynamic interpretation of the Nelson-Siegel model, and showed the use of such modeling framework in bond-yield prediction and asset allocation.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The objective of this study is to investigate the empirical relationship between exports and economic growth in order to ascertain whether the hypothesis of export-led growth is valid in the case of South Africa. This study has not only focused on sectoral exports for the period 1990-2011; but it has also examined total exports for the period extending from 1970 to 2011. Using quarterly data and time series econometric techniques of co-integration and Granger-causality tests over the two set of periods, the key findings of the study are as follows: (i) At the aggregate level (using total exports): the technique of co-integration suggests that total exports and GDP moved together in the long-run, though deviations from the steady state might happen in the short-run. Furthermore, Granger causality tests inferred from the Vector Error Correction model reveal that the direction of causality between export and GDP growth is bidirectional. (ii) At the sectoral level (using the main component of exports): export-growth link emerges as a long-run behavioural relationship since a co-integrating relation was found among output and agricultural, manufactured and mining exports. This relationship demonstrates that manufactured exports have the greatest positive impact on output growth. (iii) Sectoral level Granger-causality tests based on ECM reveal the existence of a long run causality running from manufactured exports to GDP; whereas the short-run causality runs from manufactured and mining exports to GDP. However, the Toda-Yamamoto Granger test confirms only short-run causality from manufactured exports to GDP. In both cases, there is evidence of a uni-directional causality from exports to GDP.The above results show that the hypothesis of export-led growth is valid for South Africa. This implies that exports, particularly manufactured and mining exports play a key role in driving economic growth. Hence, the key policy implication of these results is that, measures which aim at stimulating production for exports and shifting the content of exports will meaningfully contribute to the improvement of GDP growth and employment prospects in South Africa.

Housing is both a durable good and an investment vehicle, which makes it importantin people’s daily life aswell as for a nation’s economy. This thesis innovatively applies the Sharpe ratio on evaluating the performance of the US residentialhousing market within the time period from 2005:Q1 to 2019:Q3, andinvestigates how this performance would react upon macroeconomic shocks,including sudden changes in GDP growth rate and personal income growthrate, by establishing a vector auto-regression model with the lag order of four.The main results are that: (1)in the long run, direct residential investments are not significantly more profitable than treasury bills but not disappointing compared to the market portfolio of Dow Jones Industrial Average; (2)the performance of residential investments seem to slightly and positively co-move withGDP and personal income growth rate; (3)the long-term impacts that sudden GDP and personal income growths have on the performance seem inconspicuous and tend to mitigate within about three years and (4) limited evidence supports the hypothesis that current housing market performance can help predictfuture GDP growth rate. Based on housing’s two purpose of consumption andinvestment and the empirical results showing that direct investments on residentialproperties have similar risk-adjusted return level to short-term treasurybills, I suggest that financially feasible households purchase their own houseinstead of renting for a long time, and that speculative investors avoid puttingmoney in residential properties unless they have access to inside information. / Bostäder kan betraktas både som en hållbar vara och som ett investeringsinstrument.De är essentiella för människors vardag och har en viktig roll förett lands ekonomi. Denna avhandling använder innovativt Sharpe-förhållandet för att utvärdera hur den amerikanska bostadsmarknaden presterade under perioden2005: kvartal 1 till 2019: kvartal 3. Den försöker även undersöka om denna prestation påverkas av makroekonomiska chocker inklusive plötsligaförändringar i BNP-tillväxttakt och personliga inkomsttillväxthastighet. Detta görs genom att upprätta en vektor autoregression modell med en fördröjningsordningför fyra. De viktigaste resultaten är att: (1) på långsikt är direktabostadsinvesteringar inte betydligt mer lönsamma än statsskuldväxlar dock är det hellre inte en besvikelse jämfört med en marknadsportföljen av Dow JonesIndustrial Average; (2) Prestationen av bostadsinvesteringar verkar vara svagt och samverkar positivit både med BNP och tillväxttakten för personinkomst.(3) De långsiktiga effekterna av plötsliga tillväxter av BNP och personliga inkomster har på utvecklingen verkar vara vaga och tenderar att mildra inomcirka tre år och (4) begränsade bevis stöder hypotesen om att nuvarande bostadsmarknadsresultat kan bidra till att förutsäga framtida BNP-tillväxttakten.Baserat på bostädernas två syften inom konsumtion och investeringar, visar deempiriska resultaten att direkta investeringar i bostadsfastigheter har en liknande riskjusterad avkastningsnivå som kortfristiga statsskuldväxla. Därför föreslår jag att ekonomisk stabila hushåll borde köpa ett eget hus istället för att hyraunder en lång tid, och att spekulativa investerare borde undvika att satsa pengar inom bostadsfastigheter såvida de inte har tillgång till insider-information.

As urban population across the globe increases, the demand for adequate transportation grows. Several strategies have been suggested as a solution to the congestion which results from this high demand outpacing the existing supply of transportation facilities. High –Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes have become increasingly more popular as a feature on today’s highway system. The I-95 Express HOT lane in Miami Florida, which is currently being expanded from a single Phase (Phase I) into two Phases, is one such HOT facility. With the growing abundance of such facilities comes the need for indepth study of demand patterns and development of an appropriate pricing scheme which reduces congestion. This research develops a method for dynamic pricing on the I-95 HOT facility such as to minimize total travel time and reduce congestion. We apply non-linear programming (NLP) techniques and the finite difference stochastic approximation (FDSA), genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) stochastic algorithms to formulate and solve the problem within a cell transmission framework. The solution produced is the optimal flow and optimal toll required to minimize total travel time and thus is the system-optimal solution. We perform a comparative evaluation of FDSA, GA and SA non-linear programming algorithms used to solve the NLP and the ANOVA results show that there are differences in the performance of the NLP algorithms in solving this problem and reducing travel time. We then conclude by demonstrating that econometric iv forecasting methods utilizing vector autoregressive (VAR) techniques can be applied to successfully forecast demand for Phase 2 of the 95 Express which is planned for 2014