Financial Innovations and Macroeconomic Volatility


Book Description

The volatility of US business cycle has declined during the last two decades. During the same period the financial structure of firms has become more volatile. In this paper we develop a model in which financial factors play a key role in generating economic fluctuations. Innovations in financial markets allow for greater financial flexibility and generate a lower volatility of output together with a higher volatile in the financial structure of firms.




Macroeconomic Volatility, Institutions and Financial Architectures


Book Description

The deregulation of domestic financial markets and the capital account in developing countries has frequently been associated with financial turmoil and macro volatility. The book analyzes the experiences of several countries, drawing implications for building development-friendly domestic and international financial architectures.




Finance and Marcoeconomic Volatility


Book Description

Countries with more developed financial sectors, experience fewer fluctuations in real per capita output, consumption, and investment growth. But the manner in which the financial sector develops matters. The relative importance of banks in the financial system is important in explaining consumption, and investment volatility. The proportion of credit provided to the private sector, best explains volatility of consumption, and output. The authors generate their main results using fixed-effects estimates with panel data from seventy countries for the years 1956-98. Their general findings suggest that the risk management, and information processing provided by banks, maybe especially important in reducing consumption, and investment volatility. The simple availability of credit to the private sector, probably helps smooth consumption, and GDP.




Micro and Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Innovation


Book Description

SOMMARIO: G. Goisis - P. Parravicini, Introduction – 1. M. Bagella - R. Ciciretti, Financial markets and the post-crisis scenario – 2. G. Goisis, Micro and macroeconomic effects of financial innovation in a domestic and international perspective – 3. G. Goisis - M. L. Giorgetti - P. Parravicini - F. Salsano - G. Tagliabue, Economies of scale and scope in the European banking sector – 4. G. Goisis - P. Parravicini, Balance of payment deficits and the international financial downturn: a few alternative assumptions – 5. E. Lancellotti, The impact of financial innovation – 6. A. Montesano, Risk allocation and uncertainty: some unpleasant outcomes of financial innovation – 7. G. Palmerio, Some thoughts of financial innovation and financial crisis – 8. P. Porta, Great Depression n. 2: finance and the real world – 9. L. Prosperetti, Some regulatory lessons to be drawn from the financial crisis – 10. B. Rossignoli - F. Arnaboldi, Financial innovation: theoretical issues and empirical evidence in Europe – 11. G. Tagliabue, The role of controls in the international financial crisis – 12. S. Zamagni, The lesson and warning of a crisis foretold: a political economy approach.




Can Financial Innovation Help to Explain the Reduced Volatility of Economic Activity


Book Description

The stabilization of economic activity in the mid 1980s has received considerable attention. Research has focused primarily on the role played by milder economic shocks, improved inventory management, and better monetary policy. This paper explores another potential explanation: financial innovation. Examples of such innovation include developments in lending practices and loan markets that have enhanced the ability of households and firms to borrow and changes in government policy such as the demise of Regulation Q. We employ a variety of simple empirical techniques to identify links between the observed moderation in economic activity and the influence of financial innovation on consumer spending, housing investment, and business fixed investment. Our results suggest that financial innovation should be added to the list of likely contributors to the mid-1980s stabilization.




Volatility and Growth


Book Description

It has long been recognized that productivity growth and the business cycle are closely interrelated. Yet, until recently, the two phenomena have been investigated separately in the economics literature. This book provides the first consistent attempt to analyze the effects of macroeconomic volatility on productivity growth, and also the reverse causality from growth to business cycles. The authors show that by looking at the economy through the lens of private entrepreneurs, who invest under credit constraints, one can go some way towards explaining persistent macroeconomic volatility and the effects of volatility on growth. Beginning with an analysis of the effects of volatility on growth, the authors argue that the lower the level of financial development in a country the more detrimental the effect of volatility on growth. This prediction is confirmed by cross-country panel regressions. The data also suggests that a fixed exchange rate regime or more countercyclical budgetary policies are growth-enhancing in countries with a lower level of financial development. The former reduce aggregate volatility whereas the latter reduce the negative effects of volatility on long-term productivity-enhancing investment by firms. The book concludes with an investigation into how the interplay between credit constraints and pecuniary externalities is sufficient to generate persistent business cycles and to explain the occurrence of currency crises.










Financial Volatility and Real Economic Activity


Book Description

Published in 1999. The issue of financial volatility, especially since financial deregulation, has given rise to concerns regarding the effects of increased financial volatility on real economic activity. Two issues represent a substantial challenge to financial economists with respect to these concerns. The first relates to the identification of the causes of increased volatility in financial markets. Identification is a first step towards increasing both financial economists' and policy-makers' understanding of the interrelated causes of financial volatility. The second requires linking the effects of increased financial volatility to the real sector of the economy by examining the channels through which financial volatility influences fundamental economic variables. In order to address these two issues, the analysis initially develops and estimates a model which is capable of explaining the financial and business cycle determinates of movements in the conditional volatility of the Australian All Industrials stock market index. Evidence suggests that a significant linkage exists between the conditional volatility of the money supply. Models are then developed to examine how monetary volatility is transmitted to the volatility of financial asset prices, inflation and real output in an open economy. The results indicate that while financial volatility has increased to some extent since the late 1980s, this has been transferred non-uniformly towards increasing volatility of both real and financial activity.




Financial Innovations


Book Description