Pedro L. Valls Pereira

Testing the hypothesis of contagion using multivariate volatility models

The aim of this paper is to test whether or not there was evidence of contagion across the various financial crises that assailed some countries in the 1990s. Data on sovereign debt bonds for Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Argentina were used to implement the test. The contagion hypothesis is tested using multivariate volatility models. If there is any evidence of structural break in volatility that can be linked to financial crises, the contagion hypothesis will be confirmed. Results suggest that there is evidence in favor of the contagion hypothesis.

Evaluation of Contagion or Interdependence in the Financial Crises of Asia and Latin America, Considering the Macroeconomic Fundamentals

This article investigates the existence of contagion between countries on the basis of an analysis of returns for stock indices over the period 1994 to 2003. The econometrics methodology used is that of multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) family volatility models, particularly the Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) models in the form proposed by Engle and Sheppard (2001). The returns were duly corrected for a series of country-specific fundamentals. The relevance of this procedure is highlighted in the literature by the work of Pesaran and Pick (2003). The results obtained in this article provide evidence favourable for the hypothesis of regional contagion in both Latin America and Asia. As a rule, contagion spread from the Asian crisis to Latin America, but not in the opposite direction.