Search results for "macroeconomics"
showing 10 items of 477 documents
Is the ‘euro effect’ on trade so small after all? New evidence using gravity equations with panel cointegration techniques
2014
In this paper we present new evidence on the aggregate effect of the euro on trade using data for 26 OECD countries for the period 1967–2008. We strive to fill the gaps present in the previous literature through a second-generation panel cointegration tests and estimators that account for both cross-section dependence in the data and discontinuities in the deterministic and the cointegrating vector in the time dimension. This approach allows us to put the adoption of the euro by EMU members in historical perspective. We argue that the creation of the EMU is best interpreted as a progression of policy changes. Once we control for all of them the euro effect decreases considerably but is stil…
The relationship between debt level and fiscal sustainability in organization for economic cooperation and development countries
2014
In this article we unify the traditional approaches to testing for fiscal sustainability considering the stock-flow system that fiscal variables configure. Our approach encompasses previous ways of testing for sustainability. The results obtained for a group of 17 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries point to weak fiscal sustainability, as well as to the existence of cointegration between deficit and debt, confirming the relevance of the stock-flow approach. Allowing for structural breaks and multicointegration turns out to be of critical importance to assess whether the fiscal authorities apply their policies looking for sustainability and whether, simulta…
When fiscal consolidation meets private deleveraging
2020
Abstract Inspired by the recent experience in some euro area countries, we analyze the interaction between fiscal consolidation and private deleveraging in a model of a small open economy in a monetary union. The coexistence of long-term private debt and collateral constraints on new loans implies that, following an adverse financial shock, the economy enters a slow private deleveraging process, the duration of which is endogenous to collateral and debt dynamics. In this context, large and/or front-loaded consolidations increase the length and depth of private deleveraging, causing higher relative output losses over the medium run. As a result, such aggressive consolidation strategies entai…
Country size and business cycle volatility: Scale really matters
2007
Abstract In a recent study Andrew Rose found that country size does not matter for several economic outcomes [Rose, A.K., 2006. Size really doesn't matter: In search of a national scale effect. J. Japanese Int. Economies 4, 482–507]. However, he did not consider the effect that country size may have on business-cycle volatility. To investigate the empirical relationship between business cycle volatility and country size, we use a panel data set that includes 167 countries from 1960 to 2000. The results suggest very strongly that the relationship between country size and business cycle volatility is negative and statistically significant. This implies that smaller countries are subject to mo…
Efficiency, endogenous and exogenous credit risk in the banking systems of the Euro area
2005
The implantation of the Euro in 11 of the EU states has driven the big banks to expand their presence in other European countries, which may have negative consequences on their credit risk in view of the disadvantages involved in entering new markets. The aim of this study is to analyse the efficiency and the credit risk of the banks of the most important countries of the Euro area, using a one-stage parametric stochastic procedure that allows one to identify whether the behaviour towards risk of the banks analysed was more cautious or more reckless during the period analysed. The results indicate that adjustments for risk are important in the case of profit efficiency but not in the case o…
Why banks are not too big to fail - evidence from the CDS market
2013
This paper argues that bank size is not a satisfactory measure of systemic risk because it neglects aspects such as interconnectedness, correlation, and the economic context. In order to differentiate the effect of bank size from that of systemic importance, we control for systemic risk using the CoVaR measure introduced by Adrian and Brunnermeier (2011). We show that a bank's contribution to systemic risk has a significant negative effect on banks’ credit default swap (CDS) spreads, supporting the too‐systemic‐to‐fail hypothesis. Once we control for systemic risk, bank size (relative to gross domestic product (GDP)) has either no or a positive effect on banks’ CDS spreads. The effect of ba…
Searching for Threshold Effects in the Evolution of Budget Deficits: An Application to the Spanish Case
2004
Abstract In this paper, we use recent developments on threshold autoregressive (TAR) models that allow us to derive endogenously threshold effects in the evolution of the Spanish budget deficit. Specifically, a mean-reverting dynamic behaviour of the budget deficit should be expected once such threshold is reached.
Tax Design in the OECD: A Test of the Hines-Summers Hypothesis
2011
This paper investigates the effects of economic size and trade openness on tax design in the OECD. Using data for 30 OECD countries over the 1965–2007 period, we test the recently proposed Hines-Summers [2009] Hypothesis, according to which the smaller the size and the greater the openness of the economy, the more it will rely on expenditure taxes and the less on income taxes. Our findings show that the Hines-Summers Hypothesis can claim broad, statistically significant, and robust empirical support in the OECD data sets we examined.
Down and out in Italian towns: Measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime
2016
The paper investigates the effect of local economic conditions on crime. The study focuses on Italy’s local labor markets and analyzes the response of crime to the severe slump of 2007-2011. It shows that the downturn led to a significant increase in economic-related offenses that do not require particular criminal skills or tools (namely, thefts).
Discretionary vs nondiscretionary in fiscal mechanism – non-automatic fiscal stabilisers vs automatic fiscal stabilisers
2015
The goal of the present study is to increase the intelligibility of macroeconomic phenomena triggered by governmental intervention in economy by means of fiscal policies. During cyclical movements, fiscal policy can play an important role in order to help stabilise the economy. But discretionary policy usually implies implementation lags and is not automatically reversed when economic conditions change. In contrast, automatic fiscal stabilisers (SFA) ensure a prompter, and self-correcting fiscal response. The present study aims to tackle the topic of discretionary vs nondiscretionary characteristic of fiscal stabilisers (SF). In this context, the scope of the research undertaking is to laun…