The Relationship Between Trade and Economic Growth in Iran: An Application of a New Cointegration Technique in the Presence of Structural Breaks

This paper examines the major determinants of GDP growth in Iran using annual time series data spanning from 1960 to 2003. The Iranian economy has been subject to a multitude of structural changes and regime shifts during the sample period. Thus, time series properties of the data are first analysed by Zivot-Andrews (1992) model. The empirical results based on this model indicate that there is not enough evidence against the null hypothesis of unit roots for all of the variables under investigation. Taking into account the resulting endogenously determined structural breaks; the Saikkonen and Luetkephol (2000) cointegration approach is then employed to determine the long-run drivers of economic growth. This cointegration technique accommodates potential structural breaks that could undermine the existence of a long-run relationship between GDP growth and its main determinants. Empirical estimates indicate that in the long-term, policies aimed at promoting various types of physical investment, human capital, trade openness and technological innovations will improve economic growth.structural break, unit root tests, cointegration technique, Iranian economy

Analysing the Trade-GDP Nexus in Iran: A Bounds Testing Approach

This paper examines the major sources of economic growth in Iran using annual time series data (1960 to 2003). The time series properties of the data are analysed by Perron’s innovational outlier and additive outlier models. The empirical results based these models show that there is not enough evidence against the null hypothesis of unit root for all of the variables under investigation. Moreover, we found that the most significant structural breaks over the last four decades which have been detected endogenously in fact correspond to the regime change (e.g the 1979 Islamic revolution) and the Iraqi war in the 1980s. Finally, an ARDL methodology is employed to obtain the short and long-term determinants of economic growth. The results show that while the effects of gross capital formation and oil exports are highly significant, as expected, non-oil exports and human capital have an even smaller effect than had been anticipated.structural break, unit root tests, ARDL method, Iranian economy

Structural Breaks in Trade and Income Per Capita in ASEAN-5 Countries: An Application of Innovational Outlier Models

The founder members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5) – Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore – increasingly adopted outward-oriented policies in trade and investment by enforcing reforms in the mid-1980s. This paper investigates the existence of endogenously determined structural breaks of the trade and income per capita by using historical time series data during the period from 1970 to 2003 for the ASEAN-5 by applying an Innovational Outliner (IO) model in the presence of a potential structural break. We find that significant structural breaks occurred for trade per capita in the mid-1980s, which coincides with the recession in the region. We also find that significant structural breaks occurred for Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in 1997, which coincides with the Asian crisis. The Philippines experienced structural breaks in 1985, which coincides with a recession.Trade and GDP per capita, IO model, structural break

Australia and New Zealand CER Agreement and Breakpoints in Bilateral Trade: An Application of the Wald-type Test

This paper investigates the impact of the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Agreement on bilateral trade of each member country by using historical time series data before and after the implementation of the CER. We determined the existence of endogenously determined structural breaks over the last 30 years. The Vogelsang (1997) Wald-type testing procedure is then used to test for the existence of a break at an unknown time in the trend function of the dynamic time series. The advantage of this model is that the procedure does not impose any restriction on the nature of the data since it allows for either trending or unit root series, or both, in the model. Using a Wald-type test for detecting breaks in the trend function of a univariate time series, we found that a significant trend break detected in New Zealand in 1988 coincided with the extensive review of the CER in 1988.Trend breaks, Wald-type testing, Australia-New Zealand integration

Sources of Inflation in Iran: An application of the ARDL Approach

This paper examines the major determinants of inflation in Iran using annual time series data (1971 to 2006) by applying the ARDL approach. Taking into account the special characteristics of Iran’s economy and by considering recent empirical studies in the context of inflation, an empirical model has been constructed which emphasizes the effects of liquidity, the exchange rate, GDP, the expected rate of inflation and imported inflation factors along with the dummy variable presenting the effect of Iran/Iraq war on Iran’s economy. The empirical results show that in the long-run, the main determinants of inflation in Iran are liquidity, the exchange rate, the rate of expected inflation and the rate of imported inflation. All these variables had significant effects on the inflation rate in the short run. Moreover the destructive eight year war with Iraq had a positive effect on the inflation rate in the Iranian economy. Finally, the error correction term (-0.3995) is found to be negative and statistically significant suggesting a quick adjustment process.Inflation, Liquidity, ARDL approach, Iran’s economy

Testing for Structural Breaks in Australia's Monetary Aggregates and Interest Rates: An Application of the Innovational Outlier and Additive Outlier Models

This paper employs all quarterly time series currently available to endogenously determine the timing of structural breaks for various monetary aggregates and interest rates in Australia over the last thirty years. The Innovational Outlier model (IO) and the Additive Outlier model (AO) are then used to test for nonstationarity. After accounting for the single most significant structural break, the results from both models clearly indicate that the null of at least one unit root cannot be rejected for almost all series examined. The structural breaks found coincide with important policy changes during the period of financial deregulation starting in the 1980s.Monetary aggregates, interest rates, Innovational Outlier Model, Additive Outlier Model

Structural Changes in the Iranian Economy: An Empirical Analysis with Endogenously Determined Breaks

This paper employs annual time series data (1960-2003) and the ZA (Zivot and Andrews, 1992) and the LP (Lumsdaine and Papell, 1997) approaches to determine endogenously the more likely time of major structural breaks in various macroeconomic variables of the Iranian economy. We have considered the presence of one and two unknown structural breaks in the data. The results obtained from these two approaches are consistent in that the time of one structural break in eight out of the ten variables examined in the paper is the same. The resulting structural breaks coincide with important phenomena in the economy such as the 1974 oil shock, the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Iraqi war or the implementation of the exchange rate unification policy in 1993 in the case of the official exchange rate.structural break, unit root test, Iranian economy

Multiple Structural Breaks in Australia's Macroeconomic Data: An Application of the Lumsdaine and Papell Test

This paper employs all available annual time series data to endogenously determine the timing of structural breaks for 10 macroeconomic variables in the Australian economy. The ADF (Augmented Dickey and Fuller) test and the LP (Lumsdaine and Papell, 1997) test are used to examine the time series properties of the data. The ADF test results provide no evidence against the unit root null hypothesis in all ten macroeconomic variables. After accounting for the two most significant structural breaks in the data impacting on both the intercept and trend, the results from the LP test indicate that the null of at least one unit root is rejected for four of the variables under investigation at the 10 per cent level or better. We also found that t he dates of structural breaks in most cases point to: (a) the oil/wages shock occurring in the 1973-1975 period, (b) the 1990-1991 recession; (c) the culmination of financial deregulation and innovation in the late 1980s; and (d) the 1997 Asian crisis.Unit roots Hypothesis, structural breaks, Australian economy

Multiple structural breaks in Australia's macroeconomic data: an application of the Lumsdaine and Papell Test

This paper employs all available annual time series data to endogenously determine the timing of structural breaks for 10 macroeconomic variables in the Australian economy. The ADF (Augmented Dickey and Fuller) test and the LP (Lumsdaine and Papell, 1997) test are used to examine the time series properties of the data. The ADF test results provide no evidence against the unit root null hypothesis in all ten macroeconomic variables. After accounting for the,two most significant structural breaks in the data impacting on both the intercept and trend, the results from the LP test indicate that the null of at least one unit root is rejected for four of the variables under investigation at the 10 per cent level or better. We also found that the dates of structural breaks in most cases point to: (a) the oil/wages shock occurring in the 1973-1975 period, (b) the 1990-1991 recession; (c) the culmination of financial deregulation and innovation in the late 1980s; and (4) the 1997 Asian crisis

Structural breaks, unit roots and postwar slowdowns in Iranian economy

This paper employs annual time series data (1970-2003) using Perron (1997) approaches to determine endogenously the more likely time of major structural breaks in various macroeconomic variables of the Iranian economy