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Abstract:
To measure contagion empirically, we propose using a Bayesian time-varying coefficient model estimated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. The proposed measure works in the joint presence of heteroskedasticity and omitted variables and does not require knowledge of the timing of the crisis. It distinguishes contagion not only from interdependence but also from structural breaks. It can be used to investigate positive as well as negative contagion. The proposed measure appears to work well using both simulated and actual data.

Contagion, Gibbs sampling, Heteroskedasticity, Omitted variable bias, Time-varying coefficient models

Abstract:
This paper studies the effects of demand and supply shocks in the global crude oil market on several measures of countries'external balance, including the oil trade balance, the non-oil trade balance, the current account and changes in net foreign assets (NFA) during 1975-2004. We explicitly take a multilateral and global perspective. In addition to the United States, the Euro area and Japan, we consider a number of regional aggregates including oil-exporting economies and middle-income oil-importing economies. Our first result is that the effect of oil shocks on the merchandise trade balance and the current account, which depending on the source of the shock can be large, depends critically on the response of the non-oil trade balance, and differs systematically between the United States and other oil importing countries. Second, using the Lane-Milesi-Ferretti NFA data set, we document the presence of large and systematic (if not always statistically significant) valuation effects in response to oil shocks, not only for the United States, but also for other oil-importing economies and for oil exporters. Our estimates suggest that increased international financial integration will tend to cushion the effect of oil shocks on NFA positions for major oil exporters and for the United States, but may amplify it for other oil importers.

Balance of payments, External balances, International financial integration, Oil demand shocks, Oil prices, Oil supply shocks

Abstract:
This paper studies the effects of demand and supply shocks in the global crude oil market on several measures of countries' external balance, including the oil and non-oil trade balances, the current account, and changes in net foreign assets (NFA) during 1975-2004. We explicitly take a global perspective. In addition to the U.S., the Euro area and Japan, we consider a number of country groups including oil exporters and middle-income oil-importing economies. We find that the effect of oil shocks on the merchandise trade balance and the current account, which depending on the source of the shock can be large, depends critically on the response of the nonoil trade balance, and differs systematically between the U.S. and other oil importing countries. Using the Lane-Milesi-Ferretti NFA data set, we document the presence of large and systematic (if not always statistically significant) valuation effects in response to oil shocks, not only for the U.S., but also for other oil-importing economies and for oil exporters. Our estimates suggest that increased international financial integration will tend to cushion the effect of oil shocks on NFA positions for major oil exporters and the U.S., but may amplify it for other oil importers.

Abstract:
This paper reviews recent advances in the specification and estimation of Bayesian Vector Autoregressive models (BVARs). After describing the Bayesian principle of estimation, we first present the methodology originally developed by Litterman (1986) and Doan et al. (1984) and review alternative priors. We then discuss extensions of the basic model and address issues in forecasting and structural analysis. An application to the estimation of a system of time-varying reaction functions for four European central banks under the European Monetary System (EMS) illustrates how some of the results previously presented may be applied in practice.

Bayesian VAR, Gibbs sampling, Time-Varying Reaction Function, EMS

Abstract:
We examine the effect of non-zero, long-run foreign asset positions on consumption dynamics in response to productivity shocks in a two-country, dynamic, general equilibrium model, with different discount factors across countries populated by overlapping generations of households. We then compare the model results to those of a VAR for the United States versus the rest of the G-7. In the data, we find that permanent worldwide productivity shocks lead to net foreign asset and consumption dynamics that are consistent with interpreting the United States as the impatient economy in our model and are not consistent with symmetric models with equal discount factors.

Net foreign assets, consumption, consumption tilting, productivity

Abstract:
This paper investigates the role played by emerging Asia in the emergence and evolution of the global trade imbalances. Based on simulations in a general-equilibrium model of the world economy, we find that a productivity slowdown in the nontradable sector of these economies in the second half of the 1990s fits regional macroeconomic developments relatively well, but has limited spillover effect to the United States trade balance. In contrast, an increase in the desired level of emerging Asia net foreign assets starting in 2001 not only fits regional developments relatively well, but also has a significant spillover effect to the United States.

Abstract:
This paper investigates the role played by emerging Asia in the emergence and evolution of the global trade imbalances. Based on simulations in a general equilibrium model of the world economy, we find that a productivity slowdown in the non-tradable sector of these economies in the second half of the 1990s fits regional macroeconomic developments relatively well, but has limited spillover effect to the United States trade balance. In contrast, an increase in the desired level of emerging Asia net foreign assets starting in 2001 not only fits regional developments relatively well, but also has a significant spillover effect to the United States.

Payments imbalances, Asia, Emerging markets, International trade, Productivity, Demand, Balance of payments deficits, Foreign exchange reserves, Economic models, Cross country analysis

Abstract:
This paper investigates the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in the four largest euro area countries by means Bayesian estimation of dynamic econometric models. Based on pre-EMU evidence from Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, we show that: (i) there are differences in the timing of the effects of monetary policy on economic activity, but their cumulative impact after two years is rather homogeneous; (ii) the transmission mechanism seems to have changed over time in the run-up to EMU but its degree of heterogeneity has not decreased; (iii) the European-wide effects of monetary policy may have become faster in the second half of the 1990s. We interpret this evidence by conjecturing that the transmission mechanism of monetary policy had already become relatively homogenous in the second part of the 1990s.

Bayesian estimation, European monetary policy, Gibbs sampling, Heterogeneity, Transmission mechanism

Abstract:
This paper investigates empirically the pass-through of money market interest rates to retail banking interest rates in Chile, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and five European countries. Overall, Chile's pass-through does not appear atypical. Based on a standard error-correction model, we find that, as in most countries considered, Chile's measured pass-through is incomplete. But Chile's pass-through is also faster than in many other countries considered and is comparable to that in the United States. While we find no significant evidence of asymmetry in Chile`s pass-through across states of the interest rate or monetary policy cycle, we do find some evidence of parameter instability, around the time of the Asian and Russian crises. However, we do not find evidence that the switch to a more flexible exchange rate regime in 1999 and the nominalization of Chiles interest rate targets in 2001 have affected significantly the pass-through process.

Interest Rates, Pass-Through, Central Bank

Abstract:
We study exchange rate and equity price dynamics, in general equilibrium, in the presence of news shocks about future productivity and monetary policy. We identify a condition under which these asset prices become more volatile without affecting the volatility of the underlying processes - a positive correlation between news and current shocks. This condition also explains why persistent underlying processes generate volatile asset prices. In addition, we show that the correlation between exchange rate and equity returns depends critically on the currency denomination of the equity return and the monetary policy reaction to productivity shocks. The model we set up does well at matching second moments of exchange rate and equity returns for major floating currencies.

Working Paper

Abstract:
Japan is facing a sizable fiscal imbalance against a backdrop of weak trend growth and growing external imbalances in the world economy. This paper examines the possible impact of fiscal adjustment and productivity-enhancing structural reforms on the Japanese and world economies. Simulation results indicate that these could reduce substantially Japan's fiscal imbalance with only limited spillovers to the rest of the world. Specifically, faster productivity growth would help lower Japan's debt and limit the tendency of fiscal consolidation to increase the external surplus. In fact, very rapid productivity growth could potentially lead to a decline in Japan's external surplus and thereby have a positive effect on global imbalance. The modest extent of the spillovers to the rest of the world reflect the small size of the shocks and the diminished size of Japan in the world economy.

Japan, Global External Imbalance, Fiscal Consolidation, Productivity Growth, Macroeconomic Models

Abstract:
This paper investigates the role played by total factor productivity (TFP) in the tradable and nontradable sectors of the United States, the euro area, and Japan in the emergence and evolution of today's global trade imbalances. Simulation results based on a dynamic general equilibrium model of the world economy, and using the EU KLEMS database, indicate that TFP developments in these economies can account for a significant fraction of the total deterioration in the U.S. trade balance since 1999, as well as account for some the surpluses in the euro area and Japan. Differences in TFP developments across sectors can also partially explain the evolution of the real effective value of the U.S. dollar during this period.

Payments imbalances, United States, European Union, Japan, Developed countries, Productivity, Balance of trade, Economic models, Time series, Cross country analysis

Abstract:
This paper studies asymptotically the bias of the fixed effect (FE) estimator induced by cross-section heterogeneity in the slope parameters of stationary vector autoregressions (VARs). The paper also compares the FE, the mean group estimator (MG), and a simple instrumental variable alternative (IV) in Monte Carlo simulations. The main results are: (i) asymptotically, the heterogeneity bias of the FE may be more or less severe in VAR specifications than in standard dynamic panel data specifications; (ii) in Monte Carlo simulations, slope heterogeneity must be relatively high to be a source of concern for pooled estimators; (iii) when this happens, the panel must be longer than a typical macro dataset for the MG to be a viable solution.

Dynamic Panel Data Models, Monte Carlo Simulation, Heterogeneity Bias, VARs

Abstract:
We propose using a Bayesian time-varying coefficient model estimated with Markov chain-Monte Carlo methods to measure contagion empirically. The proposed measure works in the joint presence of heteroskedasticity and omitted variables and does not require knowledge of the timing of the crisis. It distinguishes contagion not only from interdependence but also from structural breaks and can be used to investigate positive as well as negative contagion. The proposed measure appears to work well using both simulated and actual data.

contagion Gibbs sampling heteroskedasticity omitted variable bias time-varying coefficient models

Abstract:
International financial integration has greatly increased the scope for changes in a country's net foreign asset position through the valuation channel, namely capital gains and losses on external assets and liabilities. We examine this valuation channel in a dynamic equilibrium portfolio model with international trade in equity. By separating asset prices and quantities, we can characterize the first-order dynamics of valuation effects and the current account in macroeconomic dynamics. Specifically, we disentangle the roles of excess returns, capital gains, and portfolio adjustment for consumption risk sharing when financial markets are incomplete.

Asset prices, Capital transactions, Current account, Economic models, External shocks, Financial sector, Foreign exchange, Government expenditures, International capital markets, Productivity

Abstract:
Ongoing international financial integration has greatly increased foreign asset holdings across countries, enhancing the scope for a valuation channel of external adjustment (i.e., the changes in a country's net foreign asset position due to exchange rate and asset price changes). We examine this channel of adjustment in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with international equity trading in incomplete asset markets. We show that the risk-sharing properties of international equity trading are tied to the distribution of income between labor income and profits when equities are defined as claims to firm profits in a production economy. For a given level of international financial integration (measured by the size of gross foreign asset positions), the quantitative importance of the valuation channel of external adjustment depends on features of the international transmission mechanism such as the size of financial frictions, substitutability across goods, and the persistence of shocks. Finally, moving from less to more international financial integration, risk sharing through asset markets increases, and valuation changes are larger, but their relative importance in net foreign asset dynamics is smaller.

Abstract:
Based on a version of the IMF's new Global Economic Model (GEM), calibrated to analyze macroeconomic interdependence between the United States and the rest of the world, this paper asks to what extent an asymmetric productivity shock in the tradable sector of the economy may account for real exchange rate and trade balance developments in the United States in the second half of the 1990s. The paper concludes that the Balassa-Samuelson effect of such a productivity shock is only part of the story. A second shock, a broadly defined risk premium shock, and some uncertainty about the persistence of both shocks are needed to match the data more satisfactorily.

Balassa-Samuelson Effect, Learning, Productivity Shocks, Real Exchange Rate, Risk Premium Shocks, Trade Balance, U.S. Economy

Abstract:
This paper presents an empirical measure of disinflation credibility and discusses its evolution in Turkey since the 2001 crisis. The results indicate that credibility has improved markedly over this period, boding well for the future of disinflation in Turkey.

Bayesian Learning, Credibility, Disinflation, Mixing Estimation, Turkey

Abstract:
This Paper studies empirically the transmission mechanism of European monetary policy by means of time-varying, heterogenous coefficient models estimated in a numerical Bayesian fashion. Based on pre-EMU evidence from Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, we find that (i) the long-run cumulative impact on output of a common, homoskedastic monetary policy shock has decreased in all countries after 1991. These declines are statistically significant and accompanied by some changes in the conduct of monetary policy over the same period. At the same time, we also find that (ii) cross-country differences in the effects of the shock analyzed have not decreased over time.

European monetary policy, Bayesian estimation, Gibbs sampling, time-varying coefficient model, transmission mechanism

Abstract:
We use a Bayesian time-varying coefficient model to measure contagion and interdependence, and we apply it to the Chilean FX market during the 2001 Argentine crisis. The proposed framework works in the joint presence of heteroskedasticity and omitted variables, without knowledge of the crisis timing prior to the empirical analysis. It can distinguish between contagion and interdependence, as well as between unusually strong or weak market comovements. In a natural experiment based on our application, we find that the proposed framework works well in practice. In the application, we find evidence of some contagion from Argentina and some interdependence with Brazil.

Argentine crisis, Chile, contagion, interdependence, omitted variables, time-varying coefficient models