Most research on stock prices is based on the present value model or the more general consumption-based model. When applied to real economic data, both of them are found unable to account for both the stock price level and its volatility. Three essays here attempt to both build a more realistic model, and to check whether there is still room for bubbles in explaining fluctuations in stock prices. In the second chapter, several innovations are simultaneously incorporated into the traditional present value model in order to produce more accurate model-based fundamental prices. These innovations comprise replacing with broad dividends the more narrow traditional dividends that are more commonly used, a nonlinear artificial neural network (ANN) forecasting procedure for these broad dividends instead of the more common linear forecasting models for narrow traditional dividends, and a stochastic discount rate in place of the constant discount rate. Empirical results show that the model described above predicts fundamental prices better, compared with alternative models using linear forecasting process, narrow dividends, or a constant discount factor. Nonetheless, actual prices are still largely detached from fundamental prices. The bubble-like deviations are found to coincide with business cycles. The third chapter examines possible cointegration of stock prices with fundamentals and non-fundamentals. The output gap is introduced to form the non-fundamental part of stock prices. I use a trivariate Vector Autoregression (TVAR) model and a single equation model to run cointegration tests between these three variables. Neither of the cointegration tests shows strong evidence of explosive behavior in the DJIA and S&P 500 data. Then, I applied a sup augmented Dickey-Fuller test to check for the existence of periodically collapsing bubbles in stock prices. Such bubbles are found in S&P data during the late 1990s. Employing econometric tests from the third chapter, I continue in the fourth chapter to examine whether bubbles exist in stock prices of conventional economic sectors on the New York Stock Exchange. The ‘old economy’ as a whole is not found to have bubbles. But, periodically collapsing bubbles are found in Material and Telecommunication Services sectors, and the Real Estate industry group.

Den 18 februari i år fick Sverige en negativ reporänta. Ett historiskt ögonblick i Sveriges ekonomiska historia. I detta arbete har vi valt att fokusera på hur den kommersiella fastighetsmarknaden kommer att påverkas av denna händelse. Den kommersiella fastighetsmarknadens rörelse är inte beroende av enbart en variabel utan av flera. Som i sin tur är mer eller mindre beroende av varandra. BNP och reporäntan är två av dessa variabler som påverkar den studerade marknaden. I arbetet valdes fyra scenarion ut där BNP och reporäntan befann sig i olika lägen under 2000-talet. Dessa fyra scenarion leder fram till en diskussion angående ett eventuellt samband mellan de olika faktorerna och makrofaktorernas rörelse. Vi studerar även om vi på grund av detta eventuella samband kan förutsäga framtiden. Den framtid som förväntas kantas av en sjunkande negativ reporänta och en växande ekonomisk tillväxt. Efter att ha genomfört studien kan vi utläsa ett samband mellan våra utvalda makrofaktorer och den kommersiella fastighetsmarknaden. Ett tydligt mönster, vid en sammanställning av resultaten från våra scenarion, har inte hittats och kan därför inte användas i en argumentation kring följden av reporäntans nu negativa värde. Resonemanget förs dock kring att den negativa reporäntan och dagens ekonomiska tillväxt kommer påverka den kommersiella fastighetsmarknaden positivt snarare än negativt. / On 18th of February this year, the Swedish central bank set a negative repo rate. This was a historic moment in Sweden's economic history. In this paper, we have chosen to focus on how the commercial property market will be affected by this event. The commercial property market movements is not dependent on only one variable, but a set of dependent and independent variables. GDP and the repo rate are two variables that affect the studied market. In this essay, four different scenarios were chosen where GDP and the repo rate were in different positions during the 2000s. These four scenarios lead to a discussion about a possible relationship between the commercial property market- and the macro factors movement. The paper also discusses if the future can be predicted, because of a possible relationship. The future that is expected to consist of a sinking negative repo rate and an economic growth. After conducting the study, the paper concludes that there is a strong connection between our selected macro factors and the commercial property market. Although, a clear pattern, after a summary of the results of our scenarios, has not been found and therefore cannot be used in an argument about the result of the negative repo rate. The conclusion is, however, that the negative repo rate and today's economic growth will affect the commercial property market positively rather than negatively

Submitted by Rafael Burjack Farias Duarte (burjack86@gmail.com) on 2016-04-08T00:01:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by GILSON ROCHA MIRANDA (gilson.miranda@fgv.br) on 2016-06-02T16:47:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-06-13T18:12:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-13T18:13:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-27 / Using a unique dataset on Brazilian nominal and real yield curves combined with daily survey forecasts of macroeconomic variables such as GDP growth, inflation, and exchange rate movements, we identify the effect of surprises to the Brazilian interbank target rate on expected future nominal and real short rates, term premia, and inflation expectations. We find that positive surprises to target rates lead to higher expected nominal and real interest rates and reduced nominal and inflation term premia. We also find a strongly positive relation between both real and nominal term premia and measures of dispersion in survey forecasts. Uncertainty about future exchange rates is a particularly important driver of variations in Brazilian term premia.