Panoeconomicus

Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World’s Economy by Adam Tooze Allan Lane, 2021.

Boris Begović — 2023-02-18

Philosophy of Economics: A Heterodox Introduction by Oliver Schlaudt Routledge, 2022.

Alpar Lošonc — 2023-02-18

Is World Trade Slowing Down? New Evidence on Trade-Income Elasticity

Amaya Altuzarra — 2023-02-18

This paper furthers and updates the research on the nature of the so-called global trade slowdown. Not only do we explain and discuss the determinants of this phenomenon, but we also offer an empirical description of the recent evolution of trade and trade elasticity. With the purpose of testing whether this is a structural phenomenon or not, we build an Error Correction Model for both world and regional data on trade and income using data from the World Bank for the period 1970-2017. World, OECD and Asian countries trade elasticity figures show a remarkable reduction after the hyperglobalization period (1986-2001), opposed to those of Latin America where trade volume has not stagnated so much. This slowdown might have major consequences for any country, but especially for those which have relied more intensively on trade as an engine for growth.

JEL: C22, F15.

Stability and Asymmetry in Okun’s Law. Evidence from Spanish Regional Data

Antonio Cutanda — 2023-02-18

This paper analyzes Okun’s Law for Spain using regional data. The results confirm a very high Okun coefficient for Spain, with a high degree of regional heterogeneity. Furthermore, we find that panel data techniques provide notably more stable estimates than time series techniques applied to the same regional data. Finally, the results reveal a remarkable degree of regional heterogeneity in cyclical asymmetry in Okun’s Law for the Spanish case.

JEL: E24, E32, R11.

ECOWAS Common Currency, a Mirage or Possibility?

Sagiru Mati — 2023-02-18

Unlike previous studies, the current study uses oil price and inflationary shocks to assess the feasibility of actualizing the ECOWAS Vision 2020, which is aimed at creating a monetary union. With the help of the Blanchard and Quah (BQ) decomposition for a sample from 1975:05 to 2018:08, two sets of models are estimated: models for inflationary shocks and models for oil price shocks. It is found that although the vision is a mirage, the creation of a common currency can serve as a shock absorber against the negative spillovers of global and regional inflationary shocks. The study also finds that oil price shocks lead to appreciation of the currency for the oil exporting country Nigeria, while Nigeria, The Gambia and Ghana stand out in their responses to oil price shocks. The study recommends that these countries cannot be part of the Vision and that more coordination among ECOWAS members is needed before this Vision can be actualised.

JEL: C13, E31, E52, E58, F33, F42.

Testing the Efficiency of Emerging Markets: Evidence from Nonlinear Panel Unit Tests

Neslihan Turguttopbaş — 2021-02-18

In this study, we investigate market efficiency considering nonlinearities by testing the weak-form market efficiency of the stock markets of Brazil, China, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa using recently proposed nonlinear panel unit root tests. The stock markets of these emerging countries are deliberately selected for their market capitalization to form a homogenous panel. The results of nonlinear models indicate that the stock market indexes are stationary and weak-form inefficient. This finding contributes to the contradictory results of the prior research using linear and nonlinear models about the efficiency of emerging stock markets in favor of nonlinear ones. Furthermore, we propose that studies using financial variables consider such nonlinearity in order to achieve more accuracy in findings related to such studies.

JEL: C22.

The Role of Destructive Mechanisms within Economic Evolution

Agnieszka Lipieta — 2022-02-18

This research is inspired by Joseph Schumpeter’s understanding of economic evolution. In his view, innovations promote economic development, whereas imitations promote the diffusion of innovations, leading the economy through a process that he defines as "creative destruction." A host of economists tend to agree on the importance and consequences of innovations and imitations within economic processes; however, opinions regarding creative destruction tend to differ. One view purports that creative destruction serves as a main variable, pushing the capitalist economic system toward equilibrium through imitation processes. A contrary view suggests that an equilibrium state actually promotes economic growth. Within this context, our research aims to model some mechanisms that may appear within economic evolution. Hurwicz’s concept of economic mechanisms is introduced in a modified ArrowDebreu model, as a way of examining Schumpeter’s ideas on the role of creative destruction in economic processes that does not decrease the positions of agents. In relation to this, the present work suggests that it is indeed possible to design a mechanism that would transform the economic system under consideration toward a state of equilibrium, without making the positions of any agents worse off.

JEL: D41, L20, O12.

The Impact of Obesity and Income on Happiness: Evidence from EU Countries

Saadet Kasman — 2023-02-18

The World Happiness Report 2018 ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and revealed a link between happiness and obesity. Despite the importance of this link, few studies have analyzed this relationship. Moreover, it may be the case that the relationship between happiness and obesity is non-linear. The relationship between happiness and income, however, has been studied by several researchers, particularly after the publication of Easterlin (1974). In his famous paradox, Easterlin found that after reaching a certain level, the further increase of material wealth no longer promotes happiness. Here, we investigate whether there is a quadratic relationship between happiness & obesity and happiness & income, for a panel of EU countries for the period 2005-2016, using the system GMM method. The empirical results suggest an inverse U-shaped relationship between happiness & obesity and happiness & income, implying that as obesity (income), represented by body mass index, increases, happiness first increases then stabilizes and finally decreases. Hence, the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between happiness and income supports the validity of the Kuznets curve hypothesis. Some control variables were also included in the regressions in order to solve omitted variable bias problems. The results indicate that income inequality and unemployment have a significantly negative impact on happiness.

JEL: D60, I31, J35.