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This study examines the interdependence and asymmetries in the relationships between the economic policy uncertainty and the selected financial stability variables in Europe. Specifically, the impact of uncertainty on inflation, equity returns, the euro in US dollar exchange rate and interest rates is analyzed. The results show a significant negative impact of shocks in economic policy uncertainty on equity returns in Europe during the examined January 1987 – January 2023 period. Uncertainty shocks affect inflation asymmetrically at different time intervals. Asymmetric responses of interest rates and the exchange rate to uncertainty shocks are also found. The results suggest that economic policies in Europe should encompass efforts to mitigate economic uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated how policy rate modifications – the main instrument used by central banks to provide liquidity during the current health crisis – influenced the evolution of the exchange rate, which is a key element within macro-stabilization policies. We documented that foreign exchange markets in European countries responded asymmetrically to monetary policy interventions devoted to the encouragement of spending and the stimulation of the economy. However, this only occurred during extreme events, which is a side-effect of the monetary policy on the foreign exchange market. These results contribute to the assessment of the space for manoeuvres by monetary policymakers regarding key policy rate modifications as a response to pandemic shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to obtain an accurate result from forecasting the EUR/USD exchange rate. To this end, high-performance machine learning models using CART Ensembles and Bagging method have been developed. Key macroeconomic indicators have been also examined including inflation in Europe and the United States, the index of unemployment in Europe and the United States, and more. Official monthly data in the period from December 1998 to December 2021 have been studied. A careful analysis of the macroeconomic time series has shown that their lagged variables are suitable for model's predictors. CART Ensembles and Bagging predictive models having been built, explaining up to 98.8% of the data with MAPE of 1%. The degree of influence of the considered macroeconomic indicators on the EUR/USD rate has been established. The models have been used for forecasting one-month-ahead. The proposed approach could find a practical application in professional trading, budgeting and currency risk hedging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the returns and volatility co-movements of the selected Central European currencies, namely the Czech koruna, Hungarian forint and Polish zloty against the European euro. The research uses the daily data covering the 15 years' period of membership of these countries in the EU (May 2004 - April 2019). The preliminary analyses based on calculation of the Pearson's unconditional correlations and of crosssectional standard deviation of exchange rate returns are followed by estimation of symmetric diagonal BEKK-GARCH and asymmetric diagonal BEKKGARCH models to assess both the dynamics of conditional volatility and the volatility co-movements of analysed Central European currencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study supplies additional empirical evidence of responses in real economic activity to shocks in confidence. A Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR), featuring confidence, real consumption and real output, is constructed with respect to the Euro Area (EA) and eight European nations. The results are mixed: responses exhibit reversibility and irreversibility, suggesting the formulation of a theoretical mechanism capable of formalizing such a variety. The potential causes behind confidence in the same nations are, moreover, evaluated through a panel data regression. The results indicate aversion towards output, inflation, unemployment, monetary independence and financial openness, but favor population, exchange rate rigidity and the accumulation of sovereign debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a panel cointegration approach to the estimation of short- and long-run exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to import prices in the European countries. Although economic theory suggests a long-run relationship between import prices and exchange rate, in recent empirical studies its existence has either been overlooked or it has proven difficult to establish. Resorting to novel tests for panel cointegration, we find support for the equilibrium relationship hypothesis. Exchange rate pass-through elasticities, estimated by two different techniques for cointegrated panel regressions, give insight into the most recent development of the ERPT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ask whether a model of the US and Europe trading with the rest of the world can match the facts of world behaviour in a powerful indirect inference test. One version has uncovered interest parity (UIP), the other risk‐pooling. Both pass the test but the most probable is risk‐pooling. This is consistent with risk‐pooling failing a number of single‐equation tests, as has been found in past work; we show that these tests will typically reject risk‐pooling when it in fact prevails. World economic behaviour under risk‐pooling shows much stronger spillovers than under UIP with opposite monetary responses to the exchange rate. We argue that the risk‐pooling model therefore demands more attention from policy‐makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this research is the identification of the fear of floating (FOF) problem as a vulnerable ground for employing the exchange rate (ER) as a shock absorber with consequent limitations for expenditure-switching external adjustment mechanism. This research aims to fill the literature gap stressing the connection between FOF and the functioning of expenditure-switching external adjustment mechanism, highlighting the nexus from the viewpoint of emerging European vs. Latin American floaters, as well as from individual emerging European floaters (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania) in the period 2000Q1-2017Q2 with standard and panel VAR analysis. FOF is identified as a stronger reaction of foreign exchange reserves and interest rate to nominal ER shocks, as well as higher variations of real ER explained with price shocks compared to nominal ER shocks. As a confirmation, in countries with expressed FOF current account shock is more transmitted to economic activities (expenditure-reducing external adjustment) rather than nominal ER changes (expenditure-switching mechanism). The results confirm the vulnerable position of European emerging floaters compared to Latin American floaters, bearing in mind the stronger FOF coinciding with the higher currency mismatch. Within the sample of European emerging floaters the most vulnerable position concerning the nexus was detected for Romania, while the most favorable position was found in the case of Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a unique, hand-collected dataset of exchange rates for five major currencies (the lira of Barcelona, the pound sterling of England, the pond groot of Flanders, the florin of Florence and the livre tournois of France) to consider whether the law of one price and purchasing power parity held in Europe during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Using single series and panel unit root and stationarity tests and cointegration analysis on 10 real exchange rates between 1383 and 1411, we show that the parity relationship held for the pound sterling and some of the Florentine florin series individually and for almost all of the groups that we investigate. Our findings add to the weight of evidence that trading and arbitrage activities stopped real exchange rates deviating permanently from fair values. This research extends the results reported in other studies back more than 600 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the possibility of currency crisis in Eastern Europe that can be triggered by monetary policy change in the key currency countries, such as tapering measure. We examine the crisis possibility in the five Eastern European nations-the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania-by performing a comparative analysis with East Asian countries before the 1997 currency crisis. For the analysis, we estimate how much the exchange rate deviates from the estimated equilibrium exchange rate, as well as the synchronicity of currency value towards some of the key currencies by creating market pressure index. The results can be explained in two ways. First, the market pressure in the Eastern Europe after 2012 is smaller than they were in East Asia before 1997. The crisis possibility especially intensifies when more the exchange rate deviates from the equilibrium value. Second, the monetary policy change in the key currency countries does not greatly affect the crisis possibility in Eastern Europe when their local currencies have the strong synchronisation with euro. Therefore, Eastern European countries show strong synchronicity towards the euro, so the crisis possibility may be alleviated if the Eurozone continues its expansionary monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013 it was declared that 'the eurozone crisis is over'. However, in fact, the series of financial crises since 2008 may have interrupted the process of EMU enlargement, which in turn triggered a continuing crisis of confidence in the euro. In this paper we extend the sigma-convergence test to provide a more precise understanding of real interest rate parity ( RIP) convergence. On the basis of this, we predict the timing for eliminating the cost of economic asymmetric shocks. Our estimation indicates the RIP among EMU members and accessions were still valid after the disruptions of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the situation has been even worse since the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis, and ceteris paribus, symmetry cannot be achieved without further policy actions. This implies that the EMU authority must do its best to strengthen symmetry and thereby solidify the EMU, at which point it will be better able to re-start the process of enlargement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important policy issue facing countries is the effectiveness of nominal currency devaluation in boosting exports and improving the trade balance of the devaluing country. It is argued that nominal devaluation would be effective only if it leads to real devaluation. This paper examines the relationship between nominal and real effective exchange rates for 17 European transition economies to determine whether nominal devaluation leads to real devaluation. Employing the ARDL cointegration test with quarterly data over the period 1994-2013, the results show that while nominal devaluation leads to real devaluation in the short run in all but Estonia, this short-run effect lasts into the long run in only Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Further analysis on sub-samples corresponding to different exchange rate regimes (pre and post ERM II) suggests that different exchange rate regimes may have different impacts on the link between nominal and real devaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the empirical effects of credit easing and quantitative easing on inflation expectations and exchange rates. Both monetary policy strategies are summarised in measures for composition and size of the central bank balance sheet and are included in a VAR model. The results show that changes in balance sheet size had positive, albeit weak effects on inflation expectations in Japan, while the effects were negligible in the euro area. By contrast, an increasing balance sheet size is associated with reduced short-term inflation expectations in the US and UK, pointing at negative signalling effects. Shocks to balance sheet size or composition have no substantial effects on long-term inflation expectations in the euro area, US and UK. An expanding balance sheet size is associated with a depreciation of the euro, pound sterling and Japanese yen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence that supports the view that the quality of institutions is an important determinant of long-term growth in European countries. It shows that an initial high government debt level coupled with institutional quality below the EU average tends to be associated with particularly poor longterm real growth performance. Interestingly, the detrimental effect of high debt levels on long-term growth seems cushioned by the presence of very sound institutions. The paper offers some evidence that sound institutions may be particularly important for long-term growth in countries in which the exchange rate tool is no longer available and less so in countries with flexible exchange rate regimes. The empirical findings on the importance of institutions are robust to various measures of output growth, different measures of institutional indicators, different sample sizes, different country groupings and to the inclusions of additional control variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Years after the fall of Communism, countries in Central and Eastern Europe follow a variety of often-changing exchange-rate and inflation targets. How has inflation behaved under such different regimes? This article compares monthly CPI and PPI inflation for six fixed-rate and four floating-rate currencies before estimating structural breaks in each series. It compares whether the mean and variance differ across the breaks in each series, using parametric and nonparametric tests. Granger causality testing is used to examine spillovers between inflation- and exchange-rate volatility. Overall, time-series properties differ across series and regimes, with the Balkans most susceptible to spillovers between exchange-rate and inflation volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our paper is to empirically investigate the impact of the changes in macroeconomic environment on the financial soundness of the banking sector (as measured by bank Z-score) in 11 Central and Eastern European countries, over the period 2000-2014. The results of our empirical study indicate that the financial soundness of the banking sector in our sample countries is heavily influenced by unemployment and inflation rates, foreign exchange rate, current account balance, public debt, and financial depth. Overall, our study underlines the crucial importance of ensuring a healthy and sound macroeconomic environment for the financial soundness of banks. Also, our research highlights that, out of all the macroeconomic factors analyzed, the dynamics of bank credit to the private sector is the main risk factor for the soundness of the banking sector in CEE countries, which calls for its rigorous monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the rapidly growing research on fiscal multipliers over recent years, little evidence has been so far accumulated in developing and emerging economies. This paper investigates the nature and the size of fiscal multipliers in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Unlike most of the existing literature, we draw upon a panel vector error correction model, which appropriately captures the common long-term path of CEE countries, while allowing for different short-run dynamics, in an integrated setup. Our main results show that the spending multiplier is positive, but low on average. Moreover, its sign, significance and magnitude vary across CEE. Finally, both impulse and cumulative fiscal multipliers are sensitive to a wide range of CEE characteristics, including the exchange rate regime, the level of economic development, the fiscal stance and the openness degree. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper investigates developments of exchange rate time series of Central European currencies and tries to find evidence of some stylised facts. Statistical methods and an econometric approach to the univariate time series modelling of high-frequency data, i.e., daily, are used. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) All the CE nominal exchange time series are not stationary: nevertheless, stationarity of all the return time series was confirmed. (2) Volatility clustering was proven and the GARCH modelling approach was successfully applied, including asymmetric modelling of volatility. (3) The more flexible an exchange rate regime is, the more volatile the respective currency. This is true for both nominal and real exchange rates. While nominal volatility is lower than real volatility in a system of fixed or less flexible exchange rates, the opposite is true for flexible systems: exchange rate volatility is higher in nominal terms than in real terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective is to examine empirically the behavior of foreign banks regarding real loan growth during a financial crisis for a set of countries in which these banks dominate the banking sectors due primarily to having taken over large existing former state-owned banks. The eight countries are among the most developed in Emerging Europe, their banking sectors having been modernized by the beginning of the time period. We consider a data period that includes an initial credit boom (2004 - 2007) followed by the global financial crisis (2008 & 2009) and the onset of the Eurozone crisis (2010). Our main innovations with respect to the existing literature on banking during the financial crisis are to include explicit consideration of exchange rate dynamics and to separate foreign banks into two categories, namely, subsidiaries of the Big 6 European MNBs and all other foreign-controlled banks. Our results show that bank lending was impacted adversely by the crisis but that the two types of foreign banks behaved differently. The Big 6 banks remained committed to the region in that their lending behavior was not different from that of domestic banks corroborating the notion that these countries are a "second home market" for these banks. Contrariwise, the other foreign banks were primarily responsible for fueling the credit boom prior to the crisis but then "cut and ran" by decreasing their lending appreciably during the crisis. Our results also indicate different bank behavior in countries with flexible exchange rate regimes from those in the Eurozone. Hence, we conclude that both innovations matter in empirical work on bank behavior during a crisis in the region and may, by extension, be relevant to other small countries in which banking sectors are dominated by foreign financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of the Euro in 1999 implied the transfer of the responsibility for monetary policy to the European Central Bank and it eliminated the member countries' nominal exchange rates. The smooth operation of a common currency area requires that independent exchange rates are replaced by other adjustment mechanisms. In the Euro area, wages have not been flexible enough, labor mobility is low, no sufficient central fiscal institutions exist, and the fiscal rules have been weak. This led to large external imbalances and high public debt in some countries. Since the outbreak of the economic crisis, macroeconomic reforms resulted in improved international competitiveness and lower public deficits. Several new institutions have been created on the European level, strengthening mutual economic surveillance and cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on econometric model which determines the character of money supply affected by the development of real gross domestic product (GDP) in European countries. Topics discussed include endogenous relationship between the exchange rate regime and the money supply; identification of a causal relationship from the standard equation of exchange; and difference between short- and long-run causality.

Through multifractal detrended moving-average cross-correlation analysis (MF-X-DMA) and partial moving-average cross-correlation coefficient analysis (PDMCA), this paper studies power-law cross-correlations between renminbi (RMB) onshore and offshore markets (2013–2018). The interaction between CNY and CNH market pairs was examined with attention to how the floating exchange rate regime reform of August 11, 2015 affects their interactions. The obtained results suggest that net power-law cross-correlations exist between the CNY and CNH exchange markets (with influences of autocorrelation, interest rate difference, US Dollar, and Oil signals removed) and that the August 11, 2015 (referred to as "811") exchange reform significantly affects the trend of multiscale cross-correlation coefficient curves. This study also verifies that the risk of offshore RMB markets in Europe and the UK is larger than in Hong Kong and the US when facing a large shock. The nonlinear causal effect analysis reveals that asymmetric bidirectional nonlinear causality exists between any market pair, and the degree of asymmetry appears to have declined after the 811 exchange rate regime reform. For the offshore RMB markets in the US, Europe, and UK, there is evidence of stronger causality running from the CNH to CNY than vice versa, which implies that the foreign impulses have had an influence on the domestic market, and the floating exchange rate reform effectively improves the RMB exchange rate formation mechanism. • We examine the net power-law cross-correlations between onshore and offshore renminbi exchange markets. • Asymmetric bidirectional causality between the onshore and offshore exchange rates is found. • The floating exchange rate reform effectively improves the RMB exchange rate formation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the roles of structural changes and exchange rates in the relationship between retail energy prices and crude oil costs. Using a dummy variable approach, this paper argues that once the structural change in this relationship is taken into consideration, the empirical results of studies that found evidence in support of asymmetric behavior, which is largely obscured at pump where prices include both tax and duty, no longer hold. Adopting a nonlinear Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) framework, this paper also shows that studies that failed to account for the exchange rate as part of the marginal cost of importing oil for countries with a high oil import dependency ratio may be misleading. Specifically, the results indicate that once the exchange rate effect is taken into consideration, the possibility of rent-seeking behavior in the gasoline markets of Italy and Spain disappears, while the rockets and feathers effect in the ex-tax gasoline, diesel, domestic heating oil, and industrial fuel oil markets of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain vanishes. Finally, employing instrumental variables and generalized method of moment estimators, this paper further finds that the results are robust and free from endogeneity issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]