Identification of common and idiosyncratic shocks in real equity prices: Australia 1982 to 2002

A structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model of real equity prices in Australia is specified to contain common shocks in international equity markets and domestic shocks in Australian financial and goods markets. Common shocks are identified through the long-run comovements of international equity markets, resulting in the model being characterized as having more shocks than variables. The empirical results show that the dot-com crisis of 2000 causes Australian real equity values to depreciate significantly below a precrisis baseline forecast, while contagion from the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 is found to have a much smaller negative impact

Shocks and systemic influences: contagion in global equity markets in 1998

The transmission of the financial crises in 1998 though international equity markets is estimated through a multi-factor model of financial markets specifically allowing for contagion effects. The application measures the strength of contagion emanating from the Russia crisis of 1998, and the LTCM near collapse, using a panel of 10 emerging and developed financial markets. Pre and post default periods for Russia are distinguished. The results show that contagion is significant and widespread from both crises, although the LTCM crises has more impact on developed than emerging markets. Consistent with the existing literature, regional effects are found to be strong during financial crises. Asian markets are found to be relatively immune from contagion, perhaps reflecting the effect of their own recent crisis

Are financial crises alike?

This paper investigates whether financial crises are alike by considering whether a single modeling framework can fit multiple distinct crises in which contagion effects link markets across national borders and asset classes. The crises considered are Russia and LTCM in the second half of 1998, Brazil in early 1999, dot-com in 2000, Argentina in 2001-2005, and the recent U.S. subprime mortgage and credit crisis in 2007. Using daily stock and bond returns on emerging and developed markets from 1998 to 2007, the empirical results show that financial crises are indeed alike, as all linkages are statistically important across all crises. However, the strength of these linkages does vary across crises. Contagion channels are widespread during the Russian/LTCM crisis, are less important during subsequent crises until the subprime crisis, where again the transmission of contagion becomes rampant

A Multi-Country Structural VAR Model

Traditionally, the VAR literature has focussed on at most two country/region models. A multi-country SVAR highlights the im- portance of various international inßuences on a small open economy Using the example of the effects of US and Japanese shocks on the Aus- tralian economy we show that incorporating both of these economies as international inßuences, and accounting for possible multicollinear- ity between output variables, makes a substantial difference to the amplitude of the impulse responses recovered from the system.structural VAR, open economy, international shocks

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.Copyright Information: 2013 Taylor & Franci

Web of shocks: Crises across Asian real estate markets

The behaviour of real estate markets during the 1997–98 financial crisis in Asian economies has received little attention despite the extensive research on other asset markets over this time. This paper examines the transmission of shocks across national real estate markets prior to and during the Asian crisis using a multivariate latent factor framework. The results reveal that diversification opportunities prior to the crisis are much reduced during the crisis. A comparison with regional equity markets shows that the transmission of shocks differs across the real estate and equity markets, providing evidence that investment in multiple asset classes provides some protection from large market downturns

Empirical modelling of contagion: a review of methodologies

The existing literature promotes a number of alternative methods to test for the presence of contagion during financial market crises. This paper reviews those methods and shows how they are related in a unified framework. A number of extensions are also suggested which allow for multivariate testing, endogenous issues and structural breaks