Financial Intermediation and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Baltic countries

The hypothesis that financial development promotes economic growth is largely supported by empirical studies. This hypothesis is tested for the three Baltic countries using a time series approach that allows for interactions between the three countries. We find that economic growth is a positive function of financial development, proxied by banking credit available to private sector, in the long run. The results also show that there are long run interactions between the three Baltic countries.Cointegration; Spillovers; Financial development; Emerging markets

Impact of Political News on the Baltic State Stock Markets

This paper studies the link between political news releases, and the returns and volatilities in the stock markets of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. Political news releases are viewed as proxies for political risk. The results indicate that political news events regarding domestic and foreign, excluding Russia, political issues led, on average, to lower uncertainty in the stock markets of Riga and Tallinn in 2001-2003. At the same time, political risk from Russia increased the volatility of the stock market in Tallinn. We found that there is only a weak relationship between political risks of different origins and the stock market volatility in the Baltic states in 2004-2007. In addition, we found a significant Monday effect, consistent with the trading behavior of institutional investors.Public information arrival; political risk; volatility; multivariate GARCH

Influence of News in Moscow and New York on Returns and Risks on Baltic State Stock Indices

The impact of news of the Moscow and New York stock market exchanges on the returns and volatilities of the Baltic state stock market indices is studied using daily return data for the period of 2000-2005. A nonlinear time series model that accounts for asymmetries in the conditional mean and variance functions is used for the em- pirical work. News from New York have stronger effect on returns in Tallinn, than news from Moscow. High risk shocks in New York have a strong impact on volatility in Tallinn, whereas volatility of Vilnius is more influenced by high risk shocks from Moscow. Riga seems to be autonomous to news arriving from abroad.Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Time series; Estimation; Finance

Back on the Map - Essays on Financial Markets in the Baltic States

This thesis consists of five self-contained papers, which are all related to the financial markets in the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Paper [I] studies the impact of news from the Moscow and New York stock exchanges on the returns and volatilities of the Baltic States' stock market indices using a time series model that accounts for asymmetries in the conditional mean and variance functions. We find that news from New York has stronger effects on returns in Tallinn. High-risk shocks in New York have a stronger impact on volatility in Tallinn, whereas volatility in Vilnius is more influenced by high-risk shocks from Moscow. Riga does not seem to be affected by news arriving from abroad. Paper [II] suggests a nonlinear and multivariate time series model framework that enables the study of simultaneity in returns and in volatilities, as well as asymmetric effects arising from shocks and exogenous variables. The model is employed to study the three Baltic States' stock exchanges. Using daily data, we find recursive structures, with returns in Riga, directly depending on returns in Tallinn and Vilnius, and Tallinn on Vilnius. For volatilities, both Riga and Vilnius depend on Tallinn. Paper [III] studies the link between political news, and the returns and volatilities in the Baltic States' stock markets. We find that domestic and foreign non-Russian political news led, on average, to lower uncertainty in the stock markets of Riga and Tallinn in 2001-2003. At the same time, political risk from Russia increased the volatility of the stock market in Tallinn. There is a weak relationship between political risk and the stock market volatility in the Baltic countries in 2004-2007. Paper [IV] studies the impact of market jumps on the time varying return correlations between stock market indices in the Baltic countries. An EARJI-EGARCH model facilitating direct modeling of the time varying return correlations is introduced. The empirical results indicate that there are quite a large number of identified jumps in the emerging Baltic States' stock markets. Isolated market jumps in one of the markets generally have no or small effects on the time-varying correlations. In contrast, simultaneous jumps of equal sign increase the average correlation, in some cases by as much as 100 percent. In Paper [V] the hypothesis that financial development promotes economic growth is tested for the three Baltic countries using a time series approach that allows for interactions between the countries. We find that economic growth is a positive function of financial development, proxied by the amount of bank credit to the private sector, in the long run. The results also show that there is long run interaction between the three Baltic countries.Financial Markets; Time series; GARCH; Asymmetry; News

The Impact of Stock Market Jumps on Time-Varying Return Correlations: Empirical Evidence from the Baltic Countries

In this paper we study the impact of market jumps on the time varying return correlations between stock market indices in the Baltic countries. An EARJI-EGARCH model facilitating direct modelling of the time varying return correlations is introduced. The empirical results indicate that there is a quite large number of identi…ed jumps in the emerging Baltic stock markets. The main …nding is that isolated market jumps in one of the markets generally have no or small e¤ects on the time-varying correlations. In contrast, simultaneous jumps of equal sign increase the average correlation, in some cases with as much as 100 percent.Correlated jumps; contagion

Financial intermediation and economic growth : evidence from the Baltic countries

 The hypothesis that financial development promotes economic growth is largely supported by empirical studies. This hypothesis is tested for the three Baltic countries using a time series approach that allows for interactions between the three countries. We find that economic growth is a positive function of financial development, proxied by banking credit available to private sector, in the long run. The results also show that there are long run interactions between the three Baltic countries.fulltexten får publiceras/M

Impact of political news on the Baltic State stock markets

This paper studies the link between political news releases, and the returns and volatilities in the stock markets of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. Political news releases are viewed as proxies for political risk. The results indicate that political news events regarding domestic and foreign, excluding Russia, political issues led, on average, to lower uncertainty in the stock markets of Riga and Tallinn in 2001-2003. At the same time, political risk from Russia increased the volatility of the stock market in Tallinn. We found that there is only a weak relationship between political risks of different origins and the stock market volatility in the Baltic states in 2004-2007. In addition, we found a significant Monday effect, consistent with the trading behavior of institutional investors

Back on the map : essays on financial markets in the Baltic States

 This thesis consists of five self-contained papers, which are all related to the financial markets in the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  Paper [I] studies the impact of news from the Moscow and New York stock exchanges on the returns and volatilities of the Baltic States' stock market indices using a time series model that accounts for asymmetries in the conditional mean and variance functions. We find that news from New York has stronger e¤ects on returns in Tallinn. High-risk shocks in New York have a stronger impact on volatility in Tallinn, whereas volatility in Vilnius is more in.uenced by high-risk shocks from Moscow. Riga does not seem to be affected by news arriving from abroad. Paper [II] suggests a nonlinear and multivariate time series model framework that enables the study of simultaneity in returns and in volatilities, as well as asymmetric effects arising from shocks and exogenous variables. The model is employed to study the three Baltic States' stock exchanges. Using daily data, we find recursive structures, with returns in Riga, directly depending on returns in Tallinn and Vilnius, and Tallinn on Vilnius. For volatilities, both Riga and Vilnius depend on Tallinn. Paper [III] studies the link between political news, and the returns and volatilities in the Baltic States' stock markets. We find that domestic and foreign non-Russian political news led, on average, to lower uncertainty in the stock markets of Riga and Tallinn in 2001-2003. At the same time, political risk from Russia increased the volatility of the stock market in Tallinn. There is a weak relationship between political risk and the stock market volatility in the Baltic countries in 2004-2007. Paper [IV] studies the impact of market jumps on the time varying return correlations between stock market indices in the Baltic countries. An EARJI-EGARCH model facilitating direct modeling of the time varying return correlations is introduced. The empirical results indicate that there are quite a large number of identified jumps in the emerging Baltic States' stock markets. Isolated market jumps in one of the markets generally have no or small e¤ects on the time-varying correlations. In contrast, simultaneous jumps of equal sign increase the average correlation, in some cases by as much as 100 percent. In Paper [V] the hypothesis that financial development promotes economic growth is tested for the three Baltic countries using a time series approach that allows for interactions between the countries. We find that economic growth is a positive function of financial development, proxied by the amount of bank credit to the private sector, in the long run. The results also show that there is long run interaction between the three Baltic countries

Influence of news from Moscow and New York on returns and risks of Baltic States’ stock markets

The impact of news from the Moscow and New York stock exchanges on the daily returns and volatilities of Baltic stock market indices is studied. A nonlinear time series model that accounts for asymmetries in conditional mean and variance functions is used for the empirical work. News from New York has stronger effects on returns in Tallinn than news from Moscow. High-risk shocks in New York have a stronger impact on volatility in Tallinn, whereas volatility in Vilnius is more influenced by high-risk shocks from Moscow. Riga seems not to be affected by news arriving from abroad.Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Time series, Estimation, Finance

The impact of stock market jumps on time-varying return correlations : empirical evidence from the Baltic countries

In this paper we study the impact of market jumps on the time varying return correlations between stock market indices in the Baltic countries. An EARJI-EGARCH model facilitating direct modelling of the time varying return correlations is introduced. The empirical results indicate that there is a quite large number of identi\u85ed jumps in the emerging Baltic stock markets. The main \u85nding is that isolated market jumps in one of the markets generally have no or small e¤ects on the time-varying correlations. In contrast, simultaneous jumps of equal sign increase the average correlation, in some cases with as much as 100 percentfulltexten får publiceras/M