Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Publication
    Has Euro-area inflation persistence changed over time?
    (European Central Bank, 2004-04) ;
    This paper analyzes the stability over time of the econometric process for Euro-area inflation since 1970, focusing in particular on the behaviour of the so-called persistence parameter (the sum of the coefficients on the lagged dependent variables). Perhaps surprisingly, in light of the Lucas critique, our principal finding is that there appears to be relatively little instability in the parameters of the Euro-area inflation process. Full-sample estimates of the persistence parameter are generally close to one, and we fail to reject the hypothesis that this parameter has been stable over time. We discuss how these results provide some indirect evidence against rational expectations models with strong forward-looking elements, such as the New-Keynesian Phillips curve.
      611
  • Publication
    Monetary policy surprises and international bond markets
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2006-10-04) ; ;
    We examine the impact and possible pillovers effects of unanticipated monetary policy on international bond returns. First, we decompose international bond returns into news regarding future returns, real interest rates and future inflation in the spirit of Campbell and Ammer (1993) for Germany, the UK and the US. We next assess how excess bond returns in these three countries are affected by surprise changes in monetary policy in each country. Our measure of the unanticipated element of monetary policy is based on futures markets rather than the more traditional vector autoregression. Our results indicate that excess bond returns primarily react to domestic as compared to foreign monetary policy surprises. We also find there is a strong divergence between the effects of domestic monetary on excess bond returns in Germany relative to the UK with a surprise monetary tightening in former(latter) leading to a rise(fall)in the excess holding period return and this appears to be driven by news regarding lower(higher) inflation expectations and could be potentially rationalised by differences in the credibility of the monetary policy authority in each country.
      767
  • Publication
    Has Euro-area inflation persistence changed over time?
    (MIT Press, 2005-11) ;
    This paper analyzes the stability over time of the econometric process for euro-area inflation since 1970, focusing in particular on the behavior of the so-called persistence parameter (the sum of the coefficients on the lagged dependent variables). Perhaps surprisingly, in light of the Lucas critique, our principal finding is that there appears to be relatively little instability in the parameters of the euro-area inflation process. Full-sample estimates of the persistence parameter are generally close to 1, and we fail to reject the hypothesis that this parameter has been stable over time. We discuss how these results provide some indirect evidence against rational expectations models with strong forward-looking elements, such as the New Keynesian Phillips curve.
    Scopus© Citations 90  895
  • Publication
    European monetary policy surprises : the aggregate and sectoral stock market response
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2005-12) ; ;
    In this paper we investigate the stock market response to international monetary policy changes in the UK and Germany. Specifically, we analyse the impact of (un)expected changes in UK and German/euro area policy rates on UK and German aggregate and sectoral stock returns in an event study. The decomposition of the (un)expected changes in policy rates are based on futures markets. Overall, our results suggest that, UK monetary policy surprises have a significant negative influence on both aggregate and industry level stock returns in both the UK and Germany. The in uence of German/Euro area monetary policy shocks appears insignificant for both countries.
      1048
  • Publication
    Monetary shocks and REIT returns
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2007) ; ;
    We investigate the influence of unanticipated changes in US monetary policy on Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s). Although a number of studies have investigated the issue of interest rate changes, the effect of unanticipated changes has not previously been addressed in terms of possible effects on both REIT’s returns and volatility. The results show a strong response in both the first and second moments of REIT returns to unexpected policy rate changes. The results for the impact of the shock on both mean and volatility of returns is consistent with results from studies addressing broader equity markets. However, we find evidence both against behavioral changes in volatility coincident to US monetary policy decisions and asymmetric responses to the monetary policy shock.
      1105
  • Publication
    UK Stock returns & the impact of domestic monetary policy shocks
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2005-10-21) ; ;
    We investigate the influence of changes in UK monetary policy on UK stock returns and the possible reasons behind such a response. Firstly, we conduct an event study to assess the impact of unexpected changes in monetary policy on aggregate and sectoral stock returns. The decomposition of unexpected changes in the policy rate is based on futures markets data. Secondly, using a variance decomposition in the spirit of Campbell (1991) we attempt to identity the channels behind the response of stock returns to monetary policy surprises. The variance decomposition results indicate that the monetary policy shock leads to a persistent negative response in terms of future excess returns for a number of sectors.
      733
  • Publication
    Monetary policy & real estate investment trusts
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2007) ; ;
    This paper assesses the response of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT's) to unexpected changes in US monetary policy. A critical element in this study is the use of futures markets to isolate unexpected changes in the policy rate. We find a significant negative response of REIT returns to a surprise change in the policy rate. The paper then examines the potential sources behind such an observed response. We find important differences between the REIT market and the broader equity market. Intuitively the impact of monetary policy on dividend news appears to be more pronounced in the REIT case. However, the decomposition of the response to monetary shocks is largely driven by revision in expectations regarding future excess returns and these results are largely consistent with the findings for the overall stock market as reported in Bernanke & Kuttner (2005).
      401
  • Publication
    Foreign shocks and the volatility of the ISEQ
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2004-05-30) ; ;
    We investigate the influence of foreign monetary policy decisions on the volatility of the Irish stock market. Specifically, we examine the influence of US monetary policy announcements on the ISEQ. We find evidence of the so called calm before the storm i.e. there appears to be a decline in volatility on the day prior to an FOMC meeting and a subsequent increase in volatility after the results of such meetings are made known. We also find evidence to suggest that ISEQ volatility is influenced by surprise changes in US monetary policy. Moreover, US monetary surprises appear to affect Irish stock return volatility asymmetrically. In particular, higher than expected US federal funds, tend to increase Irish stock return volatility. This paper represents an important step in addressing the issues of spillover identification between the US and the Irish stock market.
      151
  • Publication
    International policy rate changes and Dublin interbank offer rates
    (University College Dublin. School of Business. Centre for Financial Markets, 2004) ; ;
    We investigate the influence of international interest rate changes on the Dublin inter bank money market rates (Dibor). Specifically, we analyse the impact of (un)expected changes in German(Euro) area and US policy rates on various Dibor rates between 1991 to 2002 in an event type study. Our decomposition of (un)expected changes of policy rates are based on future markets and is akin to Kuttner (2000). Overall, our results suggest that Dibor rates respond positively and significantly to unanticipated Euro and US policy rate changes while expected changes have an insignificant impact.
      1066