Renee Fry-McKibbin

Chinese resource demand and the natural resource supplier

This article provides empirical evidence on the effects of Chinese resource demand on the resource-rich natural resource supplier using the example of Australia. A structural VAR model is used to examine the effects of Chinese resource demand, commodity prices and foreign output on the macroeconomy with a formally specified mining and resource export sector. The key findings of the article are that shocks to Chinese demand and commodity prices result in a sustained increase in commodity prices and mining investment and a positive impact on the resource sector. However, these shocks eventually lead to lower real domestic output with factors of production moving out of the nonresource sectors and into the resource sector, resulting in a fall in nonresource sector output which is not fully offset by the rise in resource sector output. The results also indicate some market power by the natural resource supplier.

Effects of US Monetary Policy Shocks During Financial Crises - A Threshold Vector Autoregression Approach

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the impact of monetary policy during periods of low and high financial stress in the US economy using a threshold vector autoregression model. There is evidence that expansionary monetary policy is effective during periods of high financial stress with larger responses having a higher proportionate effect on output. The existence of a cost channel effect during periods of high financial stress implies the existence of a short run output-inflation trade off during financial crises. Large expansionary monetary shocks also increase the likelihood of moving the economy out of a high financial stress regime.

Extremal dependence tests for contagion

A new test for financial market contagion based on changes in extremal dependence defined as co-kurtosis and co-volatility is developed to identify the propagation mechanism of shocks across international financial markets. The proposed approach captures changes in various aspects of the asset return relationships such as cross-market mean and skewness (co-kurtosis) as well as cross-market volatilities (co-volatility). Monte Carlo experiments show that the tests perform well except for when crisis periods are short in duration. Small crisis sample critical values are calculated for use in this case. In an empirical application involving the global financial crisis of 2008-09, the results show that significant contagion effects are widespread from the US banking sector to global equity markets and banking sectors through either the co-kurtosis or the co-volatility channels, reinforcing that higher order moments matter during crises.

Does Inflation Targeting Outperform Alternative Policies During Global Downturns

This article examines the performance of inflation targeters during the 2007-2012 downturn compared to those without this policy. Propensity score matching methods are used to compare the policy regimes, where during a downturn the more successful policy results in higher inflation and output growth, lower unemployment, and a better fiscal position. The analysis is conducted separately for developed and emerging countries. Inflation targeting tends to insulate developed countries, but is much less conclusive for the emerging countries during downturns. These results are opposite to those found for normal economic periods which are inconclusive for developed countries, but beneficial for emerging countries. Most concerning for emerging countries is that inflation targeters experience lower GDP growth in downturns. Both developed and emerging countries need to evaluate their choice of monetary regime by taking into account the tradeoff between low and stable inflation during normal periods with growth during downturns.

A Regime Switching Skew-normal Model for Measuring Financial Crisis and Contagion

A regime switching skew-normal model for financial crisis and contagion is proposed in which we develop a new class of multiple-channel crisis and contagion tests. Crisis channels are measured through changes in ‘own’ moments of the mean, variance and skewness, while contagion is through changes in the covariance and co-skewness of the joint distribution of asset returns. In this framework: i) linear and non-linear dependence is allowed; ii) transmission channels are simultaneously examined; iii) crisis and contagion are distinguished and individually modeled; iv) the market that a crisis originates is endogenous; and v) the timing of a crisis is endogenous. In an empirical application, we apply the proposed model to equity markets during the Great Recession using Bayesian model comparison techniques to assess the multiple channels of crisis and contagion. The results generally show that crisis and contagion are pervasive across Europe and the US. The second moment channels of crisis and contagion are systematically more evident than the first and third moment channels.

A regime switching skew-normal model of contagion

Abstract A flexible multivariate model of a time-varying joint distribution of asset returns is developed which allows for regime switching and a joint skew-normal distribution. A suite of tests for linear and nonlinear financial market contagion is developed within the framework. The model is illustrated through an application to contagion between US and European equity markets during the Global Financial Crisis. The results show that correlation contagion dominates coskewness contagion, but that coskewness contagion is significant for Greece. A flight to safety to the US is also evident in the significance of breaks in the skewness parameter in the crisis regime. Comparison to the Asian crisis shows that similar patterns emerge, with a flight to safety to Japan, and Malaysia affected by coskewnes contagion with Hong Kong.

Joint tests of contagion with applications

Joint tests of contagion are derived which are designed to have power where contagion operates simultaneously through coskewness, cokurtosis and covolatility. Finite sample properties of the new tests are evaluated and compared with existing tests of contagion that focus on a single channel. Applying the tests to daily euro zone equity returns from 2005 to 2014 shows that contagion operated mainly through higher order moment channels during the GFC and the European debt crisis, which were not necessarily detected by traditional tests based on correlations. The empirical results have important implications for pricing risk and constructing well diversified portfolios.

Joint tests of contagion with applications to financial crises

Joint tests of contagion are derived which are designed to have power where contagion operates simultaneously through coskewness, cokurtosis and covolatility. Finite sample properties of the new tests are evaluated and compared with existing tests of contagion that focus on a single channel. Applying the tests to daily Eurozone equity returns from 2005 to 2014 shows that contagion operates through higher order moment channels during the GFC and the European debt crisis, which are not necessarily detected by traditional tests based on correlations.

Recovery from Dutch Disease

Dutch Disease is thought to have ongoing negative effects on resource rich open economies. There is little evidence on how economies recover. We document the Australian case in the aftermath of the commodities price boom resulting from high input demand from China. We show that where the boom is contained in an export-oriented, small-employment sector of the economy and driven by external demand rather than price shocks, the economy recovers to its equilibrium relatively quickly. To show this we add a new tool to the SVAR toolbox which enables us to assess the source of deviations in the observed outcomes from an empirical steady-state implied by the model.

Foreign Reserve Accumulation and the Mercantilist Motive Hypothesis

A fivefold increase in central bank foreign reserves across the globe over the past fifteen years has prompted the question of whether this constitutes a new form of mercantilism. According to this view, countries accumulate foreign reserves in order to support export promotion by influencing exchange rates and/or to signal relative economic strength as a modern version of bullionism. Using a unique dataset on daily foreign exchange intervention, this paper investigates the mercantilist motive hypothesis for the case of Brazil over the period 2009-2012. The findings support reserve accumulation as a byproduct of successful central bank intervention in the Brazilian foreign exchange market. The results also indicate regional currency intervention spillovers to Brazil’s neighbouring countries, including on their foreign reserve build-ups.