Oil price volatility and the asymmetric response of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases

This paper analyzes the effect of volatility in oil prices on the degree of asymmetry in the response of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases. Several time series measures of the asymmetry between the responses of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases and several measures of the oil price volatility are constructed. In all models, the degree of asymmetry in gasoline prices declines with an increase in oil price volatility. The results support the oligopolistic coordination theory as a likely explanation of the observed asymmetry and are not consistent with the standard search theory and the search theory with Bayesian updating.gasoline price response, asymmetric response, search theory

Limited Information Bayesian Analysis of a Simultaneous Equation with an Autocorrelated Error Term and its Application to the U.S. Gasoline Market

Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms within the limited information Bayesian framework, we estimate the parameters of the structural equation of interest and test weak exogeneity in a simultaneous equation model with white noise as well as autocorrelated error terms. A numerical example and an estimation of the supply and demand equations of the U.S. gasoline market show that if we ignore autocorrelation we obtain unreasonable posterior distributions of the parameters of interest. Also we find that the hypothesis of the asymmetric effect of the changes in oil price on the changes in gasoline price is rejected. Oil inventory has a significant negative effect on the gasoline price.limited information Bayesian estimation, exogeneity, identifying restrictions, MCMC algorithms, U.S. gasoline market

The Long-Run Forecasting of Energy Prices Using the Model of Shifting Trend

This paper constructs long-term forecasts of energy prices using a reduced form model of shifting trend developed by Pindyck (1999). A Gibbs sampling algorithm is developed to estimate models with a shifting trend line which are used to construct 10-period-ahead and 15-period ahead forecasts. An advantage of forecasts from this model is that they are not very influenced by the presence of large, long-lived increases and decreases in energy prices. The forecasts form shifting trends model are combined with forecasts from the random walk model and the autoregressive model to substantially decrease the mean forecast squared error compared to each individual model.energy forecasting, oil price, coal price, natural gas price, shifting trends model, long term forecasting

The smooth transition autoregressive target zone model with the Gaussian stochastic volatility and TGARCH error terms with applications

This paper proposes to model the error term in smooth transition autoregressive target zone model as Gaussian with stochastic volatility (STARTZ-SV) or as Student-t with GARCH volatility (STARTZ-TGARCH). Using the dynamics of Norwegian krone exchange rate index, we show that both models produce standardized residuals that are closer to assumed distributions and do not produce a hump in the estimated marginal distribution of exchange rate which is more consistent with theoretical predictions. We apply developed models to test whether the dynamics of oil price can be well approximated by the Krugman’s target zone model. Our estimates of conditional volatility and marginal distribution reject the target zone hypothesis.target zone, oil price, exchange rate, stochastic volatility, griddy Gibbs, smooth transition

Expectations Anchoring in Inflation Targeting Regimes

Central banks adopt an inflation targeting policy with a goal to anchor inflation expectations. We argue that the expectations anchoring test developed in the context of the Krugman (1991) exchange rate targeting model is well-suited for inflation targeting applications. The test quantifies nonlinearity between realized and expected inflation for very high and very low inflation levels. It does not require comparison with the control group of non-targeting countries, avoiding critique of the benchmark approach. We test inflation targeting in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and find weak support for expectations anchoring.monetary policy, inflation, exchange rate, target zone model, expectations anchoring

Lags in the response of gasoline prices to changes in crude oil

Using weekly data for the period March 1991 to August 2002, we estimate the response of retail gasoline prices to changes in crude oil and spot gasoline prices in the US allowing for a possibility of two types of cost shocks to the gasoline market: long-term and short-term shocks. Our conclusion is that theoretical models should be developed that allow more than one type of input price changes and the different effect of input price changes on output prices. The empirical results support the conjecture of two types of cost shocks. As such, we find that lags in the response of retail gasoline prices to changes in crude oil prices may be due to the fact that approximately 97 % of changes in crude oil prices are viewed as short- term by the market participants. When two types of shocks are considered, there is large difference between the cumulative response function of gasoline prices to long-term and short-term shocks to crude oil prices. As such, this paper adds to our understanding of the price stickiness of gasoline prices.gasoline prices, cost shocks, Markov-switching model

International Evidence on the Efficacy of new-Keynesian Models of Inflation Persistence

In this paper we take an agnostic view of the Phillips curve debate, and carry out an empirical investigation of the relative and absolute efficacy of Calvo sticky price (SP), sticky information (SI), and sticky price with indexation models (SPI), with emphasis on their ability to mimic inflationary dynamics. In particular, we look at evidence for a group of 13 OECD countries, and we consider three alternative measures of inflationary pressure, including the output gap, labor share, and unemployment. We find that the Calvo SP and the SI models essentially perform no better than a strawman constant inflation model, when used to explain inflation persistence. Indeed, virtually all inflationary dynamics end up being captured by the residuals of the estimated versions of these models. We find that SPI model is preferable because it captures the type of strong inflationary persistence that has in the past characterized the economies of the countries in our sample. However, two caveats to this conclusion are that improvement in performance is driven mostly by the time series part of the model (i.e. lagged inflation) and that the SPI model overemphasizes inflationary persistence. Thus, there appears to be room for improvement via either modified versions of the above models, or via development of new models, that better "track" inflation persistence.sticky price, sticky information, empirical distribution, model selection