Does monetary policy affect the real economy? If so, what is the transmission mechanism or channel through which these effects occur? These two questions are among the most important and controversial in macroeconomics. This dissertation presents some new empirical evidence that addresses each question for the U.S. and Chinese economies. Literature on monetary transmission suggests that the monetary policy can take effect on the real economy through several ways. The most noteworthy one is credit channels, including the bank lending channel and the interest channel. First, I use a new method to test for structural breaks in the U.S. monetary policy history and present some new empirical evidence to support an operative bank lending channel in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Results show that an operative bank lending channel existed in 1955 to 1968, and its impact on the economy has become much smaller since 1981, but it still has a significant buffering effect on output by attenuating the effect of the interest channel. Second, I adopt the recently developed time series technique to explore the puzzling negative correlation between output and stock returns in China currently, and posit that it is due to a negative link between monetary policy and stock returns when monetary policy increases output. The monetary policy has not been transmitted well in the public sector which is the principal part of Chinese stock market, and increased investment capital from monetary expansion goes to real estate sector instead of the stock market. Last, I demonstrate how monetary policy has been transmitted into the public and private sectors of China through the credit channel. The fundamental identification problem inherent in using aggregated data that leads to failure in isolating demand shock from supply shock is explicitly solved by introducing control factors. I find that the monetary policy has great impact on private sector rather than public sector through credit channel in China. These findings have important practical implications for U.S. and China’s economic development by improving the efficiency of the monetary policy because a comprehensive understanding of monetary transmission will lead to better policy design.

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This study aims to investigate the direction of the relationship between financial deepening and economic growth after the completion of financial liberalization in Turkey. In order to do this, an unbalanced panel data set of 49 OECD and emerging countries for 1953-2005 period is examined with Granger causality and panel data estimation techniques. In the light of panel data analysis results, quarterly Turkish time series data for 1987-2006 period is examined by using Granger causality, cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) procedures. Although the unbalanced panel data analysis reveals a relationship that is from financial deepening to economic growth, country specific Granger causality analysis employed with the panel data gives the opposite relationship for Turkey. Moreover, it is observed that quarterly time series data analysis mainly gives a relationship that is from economic growth to financial deepening.

This study investigates the long-term and short-term dynamic relationships among the variables of stock returns and institutional investors' buy-sell difference in Taiwan's stock market for the sample periods from Jan., 2000 through May, 2009. Some econometrical methodologies are used in this study, such as unit test, vector autoregressive model, cointegration test, vector error correction model, impulse response function. The major empirical results are shown as follows: 1. Cointegration test For the sample periods, one long-term equilibrium relationship is found from the Johansen's cointegration test, significantly with 5% confidence level between stock year returns and the buy-sell difference for the foreign investment institutions, the domestic investment institutions, and the dealers. The long-term equilibrium relationship is Ry=1.65*QFII+4.28*FUND+35.22*DLR-1142.6. 2. VECM estimation (1)With the vector error correction model (VECM) being applied to the sample periods, the findings indicate that the changes of stock returns are not influenced among the short-term dynamic relationships by the changes of institutional investors' buy-sell difference, but only affected by one-period-lag of itself. (2) Among the short-term dynamic relationships, the changes of foreign investment institutions' buy-sell difference are affected by one-period-lag of institutional investors that positively affected by one-period-lag of the dealers, and inversely affected by one-period-lag of itself and one-period-lag of the domestic investment institutions. However, it is positively affected by one-period-lag of long-term equilibrium, which indicates foreign investment institutions follow positive feedback trading strategies. (3)The changes of the domestic investment institutions' buy-sell difference are only affected by one-period-lag of itself among the short-term dynamic relationships. (4)The changes of the dealers' buy-sell difference are positively affected among the short-term dynamic relationships by one-period-lag of the foreign investment institutions. As for the long-term relationships, it is affected by one-period-lag of long-term equilibrium, which also indicates the dealers follow positive feedback trading strategies. (5)The foreign investment institutions and the dealers have the mutual feedback relationship.

Resulting from the deregulation and prosperity of the economic and financial sectors in Asia during 1980s, a significant increase in cross-bordered financial transactions ultimately accelerated the region of Southeast Asia to be on a process of financial integration and consequently diminished opportunities for portfolio diversification. Financial Integration is a multidimensional process through which allocation of financial assets becomes lastly borderless. This purpose of this paper is to examine a progress thus far in capital market integration or preferentially, the co-movement of the equity markets between the U.S. and the Southeast Asian nations: Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines by employing the methodology of Gregory and Hansen Cointegration and Error Correction Analysis (ECM). The consequence of the U.S. market performance on each Southeast Asian national markets are extensively analyzed by decomposing monthly price-index time series into three distinct sub-periods based on an occurrence of the Subprime Mortgage Financial Crisis in 2007. The results indicate that these four emerging markets had been considerable influenced by the U.S. market performance, regardless of crisis or non-crisis periods. Nevertheless, some countries like Indonesia and the Philippines acted differently during the pre-crisis and crisis sub-periods respectively due to their domestic market infrastructure and regulation adjustment. However, these two markets had eventually turned to share an interdependent long-run relationship with the U.S. equity market since the ending of the Subprime financial downturn. Moreover, this finding suggests that ongoing capital market integration in the Southeast Asian region would mitigate portfolio diversification benefits for investors by virtue of increasing in correlation among securities and assets. Therefore, more exhaustive investigation about equity market integration is significantly beneficial in macroeconomic and financial perspective.

[pt] Testes existentes para não-linearidade em Modelos de Correção de Erros são altamente intensivos computacionalmente e apresentam parâmetros de estorvo na distribuição assintótica, que precisam ser levantadas através de simulações por bootstrap. É proposto um teste consistente, implementável em qualquer pacote estatístico e que apresenta distribuição assintótica Qui-Quadrado. Além disso, experimentos de Monte Carlo mostram que em pequena amostra o teste tem boas propriedades de tamanho e poder, muitas vezes melhores do que os testes existentes. Também é apresentada uma condição sob a qual um estimador em dois estágios para os parâmetros do modelo é assintoticamente normal. A aplicação do modelo a preços internacionais de commodities agrícolas mostra evidência de ajuste não-linear nos preços de trigo. / [en] Existing tests for nonlinearity in vector error correction models are highly intensive computationally and have nuisance parameters in the asymptotic distribution, what calls for cumbersome bootstrap calculations in order to assess the distribution. Our work proposes a consistent test which is implementable in any statistical package and has Chi-Squared asymptotics. Moreover, Monte Carlo experiments show that in small samples our test has nice size and power properties, often better than the preexisting tests. We also provide a condition under which a consistent two step estimator for the model parameters is asymptotically normal. Application to international agricultural commodities prices show evidence of nonlinear adjustment to the long run equilibrium on the wheat prices.

A presente tese tenta avaliar a política monetária sob o Regime de Metas de Inflação (RMI), num contexto de flexibilidade cambial e integração financeira. No campo teórico, este trabalho avalia no primeiro ensaio, os aspectos teóricos do RMI e também do Novo Consenso Macroeconômico (NCM), assim como a crítica pós-keynesiana ao NCM. Na sequência, avalia-se a evolução do debate acerca da política monetária após a Crise Financeira Internacional, assim como os aspectos teóricos da integração financeira global e dos Ciclos Financeiros Globais, e suas consequências para a condução da política monetária. No aspecto histórico, avalia-se brevemente no segundo ensaio, o comportamento das principais variáveis macroeconômicas concernentes a política monetária, taxa de câmbio e crescimento econômico, assim como, os arranjos institucionais do RMI de cada país, evidenciando suas principais diferenças. O Brasil tem um dos RMI mais rígidos e as maiores taxas de juros entre os países analisados. No âmbito empírico, realizou-se três exercícios econométricos distintos. O primeiro, por meio do modelo VEC, comparam-se a eficiência do RMI brasileiro com outros 12 países selecionados, no que diz respeito ao controle inflacionário, ao repasse cambial e do crescimento econômico. O Brasil, assim como outros países em desenvolvimento, tem um dos RMI mais ineficientes, com evidencias da presença de price-puzzle, além de apresentar um elevado repasse cambial para o nível de preços e ter impactos no crescimento econômico. O segundo exercício econométrico buscou-se analisar a não-linearidade da política monetária brasileira com relação ao repasse cambial para o nível de preços, utilizando o modelo MS-VAR. O modelo mostrou fortes evidências empíricas de que há repasse cambial tanto em momentos de apreciação, quanto de depreciação cambial, configurando assim, uma política monetária com dois regimes cambiais. O terceiro exercício busca evidenciar, por meio do modelo VEC, os impactos que a integração financeira global, tem na condução da política monetária brasileira. Encontrou-se indícios de que a taxa de câmbio opera entre os ciclos financeiros globais e o nível de preços da economia brasileira, mostrando, assim, que a política monetária sob o RMI, tendo como base altas taxas de juros, é ineficiente. Tais fatos sugerem que a taxa de câmbio tem um papel fundamental no controle da inflação e no desempenho do próprio RMI; todavia, há a necessidade de uma reavaliação da política cambial que vêm sendo adotada no Brasil para além do papel de mecanismo de controle de preços. / This study aims to evaluate the monetary evolution of the Inflation Target Regime (IT) in a context of exchange rate flexibility and financial integration. In the theoretical field, this work was evaluated in the first essay, the theoretical questions of the IT and also of the New Macroeconomic Consensus (NMC), as well as a post-Keynesian criticism to NMC. Following an assessment of the monetary policy debate following an International Financial Crisis, as well as the financial issues for the financial and global integration of Global Financials, and their consequences for the generation of monetary policy. The evaluation of the risk in the historical statistics, the evaluation of the risk changes the monetary changes, the risk must change the expansion policies, and the risk must have different conditions. Brazil has one of the most rigid ITs and the main interest rates among the analyzed countries. In the empirical context, the different econometric exercises are carried out. The first one, through the VEC model, compares the efficiency of the Brazilian IT with 12 other selected countries, than respect for inflationary control, exchange rate transfers and economic growth. Brazil, like other developing countries, has more inefficient IT, with evidence of the presence of price-puzzles, as well as a high exchange rate repayment for the price level and the impacts on economic growth. The second econometric exercise sought to analyze the non-linearity of the Brazilian monetary policy in relation to the pass-through to the price level, using the MS-VAR model. The model of empirical demonstrations that there is to change both in moments of appreciation and the exchange depreciation, thus forming a monetary policy with two exchange rate regimes. The third study seeks the evidence, through the VEC model, of the impacts that global financial integration has on Brazilian monetary policy. We find that the indexes of an exchange rate between the cycles and the level of prices of the Brazilian economy, thus showing a monetary policy on the IT, based on interest rates, is inefficient. Such facts should that an exchange rate has a key role in controlling the rate and performance of the IT itself; however, there is a reappraisal of the exchange rate policy that has been adopted in Brazil beyond the role of the price control mechanism.

nÃo hà / This study aims to analyze the relationship between the derivative operations and agricultural food inflation in Brazil and abroad. To this end, monthly data are used about the number of trades carried out on agricultural derivative contracts in BMF & BOVESPA, the IPCA of food and international prices of agricultural commodities from January 1999 until January 2011. The analysis applies some tests, such as the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (1979), the cointegration test of Johansen (1988), the Granger-causality test within an error-correction framework (GRANGER,1986) and the long-run causality test developed by Bruneau e Jondeau (1999). The results indicate both on short and long term a unidirectional causality from the international prices of agricultural commodities to the volume of derivatives contracts, and also the absence of a causal relationship between the latter and domestic food inflation. It follows that the dominant hypothesis is the price effect, thus changes in prices in the spot market Granger cause the elevation of the use of agricultural derivatives, although the reference to the agents are the international prices. Finally, the results still show, just for the long term, a unidirectional causality of the international food inflation on the Brazilianâs, demonstrating the significance of the foreign sector in the national food prices. / Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a relaÃÃo entre as operaÃÃes de derivativos agropecuÃrios e a inflaÃÃo de alimentos no Brasil e no exterior. Para tanto, sÃo utilizados dados mensais referentes ao nÃmero de negÃcios efetuados com contratos de derivativos agrÃcolas na BMF&BOVESPA, ao IPCA relativo à alimentaÃÃo e aos preÃos internacionais de commodities agropecuÃrias de janeiro de 1999 atà janeiro de 2011. Faz-se uso do teste Dickey Fuller Aumentado (1979), do teste de cointegraÃÃo de Johansen (1988), da causalidade de Granger com uma estrutura de mecanismo de correÃÃo de erros (GRANGER,1986), alÃm do teste de causalidade de longo-prazo desenvolvido por Bruneau e Jondeau (1999). Os resultados obtidos indicam, tanto no curto como no longo prazo, uma causalidade unidirecional dos preÃos internacionais de commodities agropecuÃrias sobre o volume de derivativos, alÃm da ausÃncia de relaÃÃo causal entre este Ãltimo e a inflaÃÃo nacional de alimentos. Dessa forma, tem-se que a hipÃtese preponderante à a do efeito preÃo, ou seja, alteraÃÃes dos preÃos no mercado à vista causam no sentido de Granger o aumento do uso de derivativos, sendo que o Ãndice de referÃncia dos agentes sÃo os preÃos internacionais. Por fim, os resultados demonstram, ainda, apenas para o longo prazo, uma causalidade unidirecional da inflaÃÃo internacional de alimentos sobre a brasileira, comprovando a significÃncia do setor externo nas alteraÃÃes dos preÃos nacionais de alimentos

Este trabalho busca apurar a existência de assimetria na transmissão dos preços dos combustíveis no atacado para o varejo no Estado de São Paulo. Desde a introdução dos veículos flex-fuel no mercado brasileiro em 2003, o consumidor pode optar por abastecer com a gasolina comum ou com o etanol hidratado, sendo a sua escolha influenciada pelas variações na relação dos preços desses combustíveis, o que evidencia a importância de um estudo para entender o comportamento desses preços. Para tal, medias mensais dos preços da gasolina comum e do etanol hidratado nos níveis de distribuição e revenda, referentes ao estado paulista, para o período de novembro de 2002 a abril de 2015 foram consideradas na condução da analise empírica, que compreende a estimação de Modelos de Correção de Erros. Os resultados indicam a presença de assimetria na transmissão dos preços de ambos os combustíveis do atacado para o varejo, contudo esta se manifesta somente no curto prazo. Ademais, constata-se no mercado de combustíveis a assimetria positiva, de modo que no curto prazo aumentos nos preços no atacado elevam com maior intensidade os preços ao consumidor, em comparação a decréscimos nos preços ao consumidor provocados por choques negativos nos preços de distribuição. Tal assimetria pode proceder de uma combinação entre as reações dos consumidores as futuras oscilações nos preços e a gestão de estoques por parte dos postos de combustíveis. / This work aims to determine the existence of asymmetry in the transmission of fuel prices in the wholesale to retail in the State of Sao Paulo. Since the introduction of flex-fuel vehicles in the Brazilian market in 2003, the consumer can choose to fill up with regular gasoline or hydrated ethanol, and your choice is influenced by variations in the relative prices of these fuels, which highlights the importance of a study to understand the behavior of these prices. To this end, monthly average of prices of regular gasoline and hydrated ethanol in the levels of distribution and resale, for the State of Sao Paulo, for the period November 2002 to April 2015 were considered in conducting empirical analysis, which includes the estimation of Error Correction Models. The results indicate the presence of asymmetry in transmission of price of both fuels of wholesale for retail, however it is manifested in the short term only. Moreover, it appears in the fuel market the positive asymmetry, so that in the short term increases in wholesale prices rise more strongly consumer prices compared to decreases in consumer prices caused by negative shocks in distribution prices. Such asymmetry can come from a combination of consumer reactions to future fluctuations in prices and inventory management by the fuel stations.

Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Studies have indicated that sorghum hectares in South Africa have been decreasing over the past decades. This has resulted in a huge importation of the grain sorghum by the country. This study was undertaken due to sorghum production variability in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to estimate elasticity of sorghum production to changes in price and non-price factors, as well as estimating the short-run and long-run sorghum price elasticity. The study used time series data spanning from 1998 to 2016. This data was obtained from the abstracts of agricultural statistics and verified by South African Grain Information Services. Variance Error Correction Model (VECM) was employed to address both objectives. A number of diagnostic tests were performed to ensure that the study does not produce spurious regression results. This study estimated sorghum supply elasticity using two dependent variables being the area and yield response functions as model one and two respectively. The results have shown that area response function was found to be a robust model as most of the variables were significant, responsive and elastic. Maize price as a competing crop of sorghum negatively influenced the area allocation; however, the remaining variables positively influenced the area allocation in the long-run. In this model, all variables were statistically significant at 10% and 1% in the short and long-run respectively. In the yield function, most of the variables were insignificant, not responsive and inelastic, therefore, this model was found not to be robust and hence not adopted. Thus, it was concluded that sorghum output in South Africa is less sensitive to changes in price and nonprice factors. The findings further indicated that error correction term for area was -1.55 and -1.30 for yield response function. This indicated that the two models were able to revert to equilibrium. Therefore, it was concluded that the area response function was more robust, while the yield response function was not. Furthermore, it was concluded that sorghum production was more responsive to area allocation than yield function. Based on the findings, the study recommends that amongst other methods to enhance sorghum output, producers could use improved varieties or hybrids, as this action would result in allocation of more land to sorghum production, following price change.