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My dissertation covers three loosely connected topics in Macroeconomics and Banking. The first chapter, titled Effect of Failed Bank Mergers During the Crisis on Cost Efficiency, examines the effect of merging with failed banks during the crisis period on the acquiring banks' cost X-efficiency. Between December 31, 2006, and Decem- ber 31, 2010, the number of U.S. commercial banks and savings institutions declined significantly because of failures. The majority of failed banks were acquired by the existing banks. I utilize the Fourier flexible cost function form to estimate the cost X-efficiency, and find out that merging with failed banks does negatively affect the cost X-efficiency of the acquiring bank. Although the local market concentration does not change much after the merger, the decrease in cost X-efficiency may still indicate the increase of market power for acquiring banks. With the evolving technology, the cost of obtaining banking service from distant providers fell a lot compared with 30 or 40 years ago. Local market concentration may no longer be a good measure of market competitiveness, and the FDIC may need to develop other more relevant measures regarding merger regulations. The second chapter, titled Financial Regulation and Stability of the Banking System, builds a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model which includes both regulated and unregulated banks to study the effect of the capital requirement, which is imposed only on regulated banks, on the stability of the financial system. One of the most distinctive features of the recent financial crisis is the turmoil of the financial market. Financial institutions with high leverage were the first to bear the brunt, and the chain effect caused by their bankruptcy led the economy into a prolonged depression. In order to stabilize the financial market and prevent financial institutions from taking excessive risks, the government imposed capital requirements on the regulated banks. However, a large number of financial institutions, which perform similar functions as regulated banks, are not under government regulation. In this paper, I build a model which includes both regulated banks, referred to as commercial banks, and unregulated banks, referred to as shadow banks, to study and quantify the effects of capital requirements on the stability of the financial system. I find that when the capital requirement is high enough to help commercial banks to survive the bank runs, it does help to alleviate the negative impact of the crisis. However, if the capital requirement is not high enough, increasing capital requirements only causes decreased net output but does not help to stabilize consumption and capital price during the crisis. The third chapter is titled The Effect of Monetary Policy on Asset Price Volatility: Evidence from Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregression Approach. The great financial recession in 2007 - 2009 reactivated the discussion of the effect and the focus of monetary policies. Some researchers argue that whether the monetary authority should take action to fight against the asset price bubbles prior to 2007 aside from targeting inflation and GDP gap. However, one important fact that often get ne- glected is that the volatility of the financial market is also closely related to monetary policy shocks, and it has an important impact on economic output and unemployment in the economy. This paper utilizes two empirical methods, constant parameter structural vector auto-regression and time-varying parameter vector auto-regression, to study the relationship between monetary policy and financial market volatility. I find that under these two different methods, the financial market volatility responds differently to the monetary policy shocks.
International Finance and Financial Crises: Essays in Honor of Robert P. Flood, Jr. contains the proceedings of a conference held in honor of Robert P. Flood, Jr. Bob Flood has made important contributions to many areas of economic analysis, including regime switching, speculative attacks, bubbles, stock market volatility, macro models with nominal rigidities, dual exchange rates, target zones, and rules versus discretion in monetary policy. Contributors were invited to address any of the topics or others of their choosing. The results include five papers on topics in international finance; two of these papers, as well as the panel discussion, focus on speculative attacks and financial crises. The other three take new directions in exploring topics in which existing models leave much to be desired.
A study of asset price bubbles and the implications for preventing financial instability.
Economists broadly define financial asset price bubbles as episodes in which prices rise with notable rapidity and depart from historically established asset valuation multiples and relationships. Financial economists have for decades attempted to study and interpret bubbles through the prisms of rational expectations, efficient markets, equilibrium, arbitrage, and capital asset pricing models, but they have not made much if any progress toward a consistent and reliable theory that explains how and why bubbles (and crashes) evolve and are defined, measured, and compared. This book develops a new and different approach that is based on the central notion that bubbles and crashes reflect urgent short-side rationing, which means that, as such extreme conditions unfold, considerations of quantities owned or not owned begin to displace considerations of price.
This book deals at some length with the question: Since there are many more poor than rich, why don’t the poor just tax the rich heavily and reduce the inequality? In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the topic of inequality was discussed widely. Ending or reducing inequality was a prime motivating factor in the emergence of communism and socialism. The book discusses why later in the 20th century, inequality has faded out as an issue. Extensive tables and graphs of data are presented showing the extent of inequality in America, as well as globally. It is shown that a combination of low taxes on capital gains contributed to a series of real estate and stock bubbles that provided great wealth to the top tiers, while real income for average workers stagnated. Improved commercial efficiency due to computers, electronics, the Internet and fast transport allowed production and distribution with fewer workers, just as the advent of electrification, mechanization, production lines, vehicles and trains in the 1920s and 1930s produced the same stagnating effect.
This dissertation examines various issues associated with asset price bubbles. In the first essay, a Markov regime-switching model with time-varying transition probabilities is developed to identify asset price bubbles in the S&P 500 Index. The model nests two different methodologies; a state-dependent regime-switching model and a Markov regime-switching model. Three bubble regimes are identified; dormant, explosive, and collapsing. Time-varying transition probabilities are specified for each of the nine possible transitions in the Markov regime-switching model. Estimation of the model is done using conditional maximum likelihood with the Hamilton filter. Results show that transition probabilities depend significantly on trading volume and relative size of the bubble. Overall, the model works well in detecting multiple bubbles in the S&P 500 between January 1888 and May 2010. In the second essay, a cross-market propagation of asset price bubbles is analyzed using a three-regime multivariate Markov switching model. The three bubble regimes identified are dormant (characterized by high returns and low volatility), explosive (characterized by high returns and high volatility), and collapse (characterized by low returns and high volatility). Results show that bubbles in the price of crude oil are influenced by bubble sizes in the S&P 500 Index and the price of gold. The bubble dynamics in gold price are driven by the bubble size in the S&P 500 Index. Lastly, bubbles in the S&P 500 Index tend to be driven largely by bubbles in crude oil price. Gold appears to be the most stable asset, having the least impact from the rest of the market. The stability in gold price provides a case for gold serving as a safe haven asset in times of crisis or a hedge in normal times. The study uses monthly data from July 1989 to December 2014. Finally, the third essay investigates the role of the Federal Reserve in the housing bubble between 2000 and 2006 as well as the eventual collapse of the bubble during the Great Recession. A mean group panel VAR is estimated for U.S states that experienced housing bubbles during the period. Two transmission channels are identified: an interest rate channel and a credit channel. The interest rate channel is traced with 30-year fixed mortgage rates whereas the credit channel is traced with real estate loans by all commercial banks in the U.S. Results show that the interest rate channel produces a greater impact on housing bubbles, following an expansionary monetary policy shock. The credit channel has a lower impact on housing bubbles following a monetary policy shock. The direct impact of a monetary policy shock on real estate loans gives evidence on the lending behavior of commercial banks in periods leading up to the recession. Overall, evidence shows that the Federal Reserve had a significant role in the housing bubble and the subsequent Great Recession. The date for the study spans 1998 to 2008.
This dissertation examines the interconnectedness between money/credit creation and its empirical relevance to macroeconomic variables. It takes the position that the amount of money/credit created for GDP-related transactions inevitably influences the business cycle and inflation while the money/credit extension for non-GDP based transactions (mainly for purchasing financial assets) helps explain movements of interest rates, exchange rates, and an asset bubble/crash. With this approach, the main objectives of this dissertation is to demonstrate that 1) excess bank credit creation/depletion for households' spending is crucial in explaining US inflation, 2) the European Central Bank could successfully contain pressures in struggling sovereign bond markets, relying on its unique power to create its currency (the Euro) and 3) interest rate exogeneity is, if not theoretically impossible, difficult to attain due to market psychology and endogenous credit creation. Having recognized effects of money/credit creation on a macroeconomic environment, the dissertation naturally proceeds to suggest policy proposals that guide credit creation and allocation of credit for productive purposes and assign a proper role for public money creation to counter ebb and flow of private credit creation.