Monetary policy and uncertainty spillovers: Evidence from a wavelet and frequency connectedness analysis

This research investigates the predictability of economic uncertainty indexes on the volatility of Bitcoin (BTC) during COVID-19. The economic uncertainty indexes include US economic policy uncertainty (EPU), Twitter economic uncertainty (TEU), Twitter market uncertainty (TMU), geopolitical risk index (GPR), and trade policy uncertainty (TPU) index. The empirical findings show that the Twitter market uncertainty (TMU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) uncertainty index are valuable predictors of BTC volatility. Moreover, the combination forecasts information for all economic uncertainty indexes is useful for BTC volatility forecasting. Also, we find evidence during high and low volatility and the Russia–Ukraine war. Our results show that Twitter market uncertainty and geopolitical risk uncertainty index are effective predictors of Bitcoin volatility during high volatility periods. During the Russia–Ukraine war, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), the Twitter market uncertainty index, and combination forecast information for all uncertainty indexes are effective for Bitcoin volatility prediction. Our findings are robust with the alternative method MCS test.

Risk aversion, uncertainty, and monetary policy in zero lower bound environments

1. Introduction The lending channel of monetary policy has been a topic of research for many economists and policymakers. The general wisdom is that when the central bank adopts a monetary policy tightening by raising the interest rates, this leads to a rise in the funding costs of and therefore a reduction in loan growth. The studies reveal that lending channel of monetary policy works for many economis but the reaction of to changes in monetary policy is not uniform and depends on various factors. In this regard bank fundamentals have a significant impact on the lending channel of monetary policy. Peek and Rosengren (1995) find that bank capitalization measured by the ratio of capital to total assets, affects the reaction of to monetary policy. Kishan and Opiela (2000) investigate lending channel of monetary policy for U.S. from 1980 to 1995 and they find that small and undercapitalized are more affected by monetary policy. Kashyap and Stein (2000) also analyze the monetary transmission mechanism for U.S. and find that the lending channel of monetary policy has larger impact on with lower ratios of cash and securities to assets. The studies also reveal that bank ownership and the level of competition in the market also affect the lending channel of monetary policy. Macit (2012) studies the Turkish banking sector from 2006 to 2010 and investigates whether the ownership structure of affects their response to monetary policy. He finds that public show the smallest reaction to monetary policy, whereas foreign are the most responsive banks. (2) Bhaumik, Dang and Kutan (2011) analyze the implications of bank ownership for lending channel of monetary policy for Indian banking sector. They find that bank ownership has significant impact on the reactions of to monetary policy. Olivero, Li and Jeon (2011) investigate the impact of level of competition in banking sector on the lending channel of monetary policy by looking at the data for commercial in 10 Asian and 10 Latin American countries from 1996 to 2006. They find that the lending channel of monetary policy is weakened as the level of competition increases. The contribution of this paper to existing literature is that it investigates the lending channel of monetary policy for Turkish banking sector and analyze whether banks' reactions to monetary policy change depending on their type. In particular, I investigate whether there is a systematic difference in the response of commercial and to changes in monetary policy. In Turkish banking sector there are three types of banks, namely commercial banks, banks, and investment and development banks. (3) Table 1 shows the number of and total asset size for each type by the end of the third quarter of 2011. In Turkish banking sector commercial significantly dominate the sector and they hold about 92.5% of the total assets in Turkish banking sector. Participation operate according to Islamic rules in their lending and deposit collection activities and they own about 4.4% of total assets in the sector. As opposed to commercial they do not promise a fixed interest payment to their depositors. Instead, the funds that are collected from depositors are utilized in trade and industry and the profit that is obtained from the lending pool is shared by the depositors. The name participation banks also stems from the fact that the depositors participate in profit or loss that results from the activities of the bank. As can be seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2, even though these occupy a small place in the sector, their rapid growth rate implies an important future potential for these banks. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] In order to investigate whether there is a difference in the reactions of commercial and to changes in monetary policy I look at the quarterly loan growth of these and see how it is affected from a change in monetary policy instrument. …

Empirical modelling of the monetary policy effects using conventional linear econometric models is put to a great test when interest rates approach the zero-lower bound. A possible remedy recently proposed in the literature is to introduce a shadow short rate (SSR) obtained from the yield curve model as an alternative monetary policy measure. This paper examines the usefulness of shadow rates as a policy stance measure for the Euro area. Moreover, the SSR can be used to study the country-specific monetary policy stance. We incorporate the shadow short rate in a standard vector autoregressive analysis to study the effects of monetary policy shocks both at the level of the Euro area and for two periphery EA countries, Italy and Spain, that endured significant financial stress during the crisis. Our analysis shows that monetary policy shocks identified form the SSR produce similar macro responses as shocks identified from the standard policy rate. The Euro area shocks can directly translate to a corresponding change in the country-specific financing conditions in the periphery, whereas the reverse effect is limited. The historical decomposition of the stochastic component of the SSR series shows that the unconventional policy measures were effective in stabilising the sovereign crisis in 2011, however, their relatively limited quantity provided only a weak stimulus to the economy.

In the interconnected global economy, the financial strategies of international corporations play a crucial role in navigating the dynamic landscape shaped by various factors, including monetary policies set by central banks worldwide. This narrative explores the intricate interplay between global monetary policy changes and the financial strategies of multinational corporations, investigating how shifts in these policies reverberate across borders, impacting corporate decision-making, risk management, and performance. Over recent decades, significant transformations in monetary policy frameworks have occurred, driven by evolving economic paradigms, financial crises, and geopolitical dynamics. Central banks have deployed a range of tools, from conventional inflation targeting to unconventional measures like quantitative easing, to stabilize economies and stimulate growth. However, the effectiveness and unintended consequences of these policies transcend domestic boundaries, permeating the international financial system and shaping the strategic imperatives of multinational corporations. The impact of global monetary policy changes on international companies' financial strategies is substantial. U.S. monetary policy shocks notably affect foreign firms, especially those with extensive global production linkages and financial constraints. Financial globalization has made domestic financial conditions more vulnerable to external shocks, reinforcing the case for price stability as an optimal monetary rule. The volatility of foreign currency exchange rates significantly affects international budgeting, while multinationals with foreign involvement exhibit lower leverage ratios and rely more on short-term borrowing. One primary channel through which global monetary policy changes influence international companies is by altering financing costs and access to capital. Changes in interest rates and liquidity conditions affect borrowing costs for firms operating across borders, impacting investment decisions, capital allocation, and capital structure optimization. Additionally, these changes induce currency fluctuations and volatility, necessitating robust currency risk management strategies to safeguard revenues and mitigate exchange rate exposure. Furthermore, global monetary policy changes affect asset prices, financial markets, and investor sentiment, shaping the risk-return dynamics faced by international companies. Expansive monetary policies often fuel asset price inflation and influence investment strategies, while abrupt policy shifts can trigger market dislocations and liquidity constraints. Beyond financial markets, monetary policy changes influence macroeconomic variables, such as economic growth, inflation, and trade patterns, shaping international companies' operating environments and strategic decisions. In conclusion, the interconnectedness of global financial markets accentuates the importance of agility, flexibility, and strategic foresight for multinational corporations in navigating the impact of monetary policy changes on their financial strategies and overall performance.

Financial stress, economic policy uncertainty, and oil price uncertainty

This study investigates the impacts of economic policy uncertainty on the Bitcoin market using the monthly data from January 2014 to December 2022. In so doing, six major uncertainty indices (Global Economic Policy Uncertainty, Equity Market Volatility, Twitter‐based Economic Uncertainty, Geopolitical risk index, The Cryptocurrency Policy Uncertainty Index, The Cryptocurrency Price Uncertainty Index), and in particular, two novel Cryptocurrency Uncertainty indexes as introduced by Lucey et al. (2022) are taken into account. Our findings uncover a negative connectedness between Bitcoin prices and the key selected uncertainty indices, suggesting that higher uncertainties result in lower Bitcoin fluctuation across time and frequency domains. Our results provide valuable information on constructing asset portfolios for investors who have investment strategies entailing Bitcoin since Bitcoin would be a diversifier under economic policy uncertainty shocks. Our results hold robust by using the alternative methodology.

These changes in China's stock market are influenced by factors such as the share-trading reform and the international financial crisis. During this period, a series of monetary policies implemented in China also had some profound effects on China's stock market. Capital market has always been the main transmission channel of monetary policy. In recent years, China's interest rate system, share-trading system and other reforms have been gradually implemented, and the reform of interest rate marketization has achieved certain results, but it has also brought more uncertainty to the transmission of stock market and monetary policy. With the continuous expansion of the stock market, it has played an important role in the transmission process of monetary policy. At the same time, monetary policy can affect the price of financial assets, thus changing people's behavioral decisions and achieving monetary policy goals. When the actual monetary policy changes beyond or below expectations, it will cause the change of stock price. The existence of expectation effect makes the relationship between monetary policy and stock price change more complicated: taking loose monetary policy as an example, when the actual degree of easing is greater than investors' expectations, stock prices will be positively stimulated by easing; When the degree of easing is less than investors' expectations, the stock price will turn downward. Therefore, it is worth studying to analyze the influence mechanism among monetary policy, stock market and real economy.

Monetary policy is aimed at attaining price stability, full employment and moderate long-term interest rates in the economy based on regulatory authority priorities, prevailing economic and financial conditions. Using annualized time series data from DMBs in Nigeria and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) as well as the simulates generalized impulse response functions, this study assessed the dynamic interactions between bank lending and monetary policy by observing how banks’ lending patterns are influenced by changes in monetary policy over the years in Nigeria.The result revealed that bank lending responds to short run changes in monetary policy but there is no long run influence from monetary policy to bank loan as banks adjust their portfolio mix in line with the prevailing monetary policy. Similarly, it revealed that changes in monetary policy often create fluctuations on bank health and as such regulatory authority must focus on factors such as monetary policy rate and bank capital that influence bank position in order to attain a significant economic performance using banks as a monetary policy transmission mechanism to the economy.

Relevance. The interconnectedness of global financial markets implies that shocks in one region can have widespread implications. The recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Western Europe, have significantly heightened Geopolitical Risk (GPR) and Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU). Country-specific financial stability can experience ripple effects from these external sources of risk, indicating a direct link between geopolitical events and economic policy uncertainties that contribute to financial stress. Research Objective. This study examines the risk spillovers from Global Geopolitical Risk (GLGPR) and Economic Policy Uncertainty (GLEPU) to the country-wise Financial Stress Index (FSI) of the USA, China, and Russia. Our goal is to determine which of these giants demonstrates superior resilience in terms of financial stability against these external sources of risks. Data and Methods. Using Cross-Quantilogram (CQ), Partial-CQ and Recursive-CQ (R-CQ), we evaluate a weekly high-frequency data from 2000 to 2023 to identify patterns of these spillover effects. Results. Our findings indicate that GLGPR has mixed spillover effects on the USA's FSI under varying market conditions, while the FSI shows long-term resilience to GLEPU. For China, GLGPR only boosts the FSI during long-term bullish markets, and GLEPU demonstrates pronounced adverse impact at the bullish market. In contrast, the Russian FSI reacts unevenly to both GLGPR and GLEPU, experiencing greater severity. Overall, the USA's financial market exhibits the highest resilience to GLEPU, while the Chinese market demonstrates the greatest resilience to GLGPR. In contrast, the Russian financial market shows the highest exposure to these global risks. Conclusions. No previous empirical study has examined the financial stress response of these three globally powerful economies to external sources of risk such as GLGPR and GLEPU. Most of the previous research focuses solely on stock market returns or their volatility in relation to these risks, whereas we focus on a composite measure of stability that encompasses all four sectors of a financial market. Our research fills this gap, particularly in the context of current geopolitical tensions among these global players, making it highly relevant for both academics and policymakers.

This dissertation consists of four essays, focusing on the relationship between financial risks, financial market uncertainty and macroeconomic conditions. The first essay estimates the effects of anticipated and unanticipated monetary policy changes on jump variation by employing high frequency non-parametric jump detection methods. We use an event study approach and a structural VAR framework in examining stock price jump variation for the aggregate economy, the financial, health, energy and telecommunication-information technology sectors (Tel-Info). We find that anticipated changes in the Fed funds have no significant effect on jumps. In contrast, jump variation in the price of financial market data increases with monetary policy surprises. We document evidence of asymmetries in the response of jumps to monetary policy changes. Monetary policy surprises and positive changes in the Fed target rate induce increment in jumps. Similar results exist in the sector analysis. In addition, this study uncovers no evidence of endogenous response between jumps and monetary policy surprises. The second essay estimates the response of uncertainty/risk aversion to monetary policy actions in both the financial sector and the aggregate economy using a Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model. When compared with other sectors, our constructs reveal that financial risk aversion/uncertainty has greater correlation with the aggregate risk aversion and uncertainty. Our analysis reveals that financial risk aversion and uncertainty exhibit stronger interdependence with monetary policy actions than aggregate uncertainty and risk aversion. The third essay provides the dynamic characterization of the link between ex-ante financial distress risk and the real economy. Using 219, 990 firm-year observations, an ex-ante measure of financial distress is generated at sector level. By employing simultaneous equation model, we provide a comprehensive set-up for predicting ex-ante financial distress risk and examining its effect on GDP growth. Over the period of 1970-2012, the results from the US firms reveal that ex-ante financial distress strongly relate to GDP growth. Ex-ante distress risk contracts GDP growth by up to 10%. Similar contractions in the growth of GDP are uncovered when a single equation approach is used in establishing the relationship between financial distress and growth in GDP. In addition, the results remain consistent when a confirmatory analysis is generated by using a weighted sector index of financial distress. The fourth essay examines liquidity risk and financial integration using bank level flows for 95 countries. The results suggest that global banking network influences liquidity risk. The more the banks are connected to each other the more they are prone to liquidity risk and the result is the same for intermediaries in the network formation. Borrowers that connect to important lenders are not at an advantage, but banks that have independent access to finance in the financial network are at an advantage. On a regional basis, banks in Europe, Africa and Asia and Pacific that have strong connections are prone to liquidity risk. American banks that function as intermediary in the network are prone to liquidity risk. Banks in the American region that have independent access to financing in the financial network are able to reduce liquidity creation, but their degree of connectivity worsens net stable funding.

Monetary policy changes have an irreplaceable impact on economic activity. Considering the close linkage among economic policies, we employ a bi-directional Granger causality test to investigate the potential linkages between monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) and other categorical economic policy uncertainty (CEPU) in the time and frequency domains. We consider all news-based U.S. categorical economic policy uncertainty indices (CEPU). All monthly CEPU indicators, covering January 1986 to January 2022, can be obtained from the website of Economic Policy Uncertainty. On an average, causality running from each CEPU to MPU is not apparent, while MPU can significantly affect six policy-related uncertainties: taxes, government spending, health care, national security, entitlement programs and regulation. A further frequency-domain study showed the dynamic changes in the relationship between them. For instance, we capture mid- and long-run causality running from tax uncertainty to MPU, while MPU has an impact on taxes in the medium run. Our findings provide policymakers with a better understanding of the nexus between MPU and other CEPU for formulating appropriate economic policies. Particularly, if a sectional government considers the long- and short-term effects of different policies when formulating strategies, risk transmission may be curbed to some extent.

We investigate the transmission of changes in bank capital requirements and supranational monetary policy, and their interaction effect, on euro area bank lending and lending rates. Our results show that - for weakly capitalized banks - increases in capital requirements are in the short-run associated with a decrease in the total of domestic and cross-border bank lending. In addition, we find that there is no similar effect of capital requirements for strongly capitalized banks. Furthermore, changes in the monetary policy stance are positively related to lending rates. Regarding the interacting effect of national capital requirements and supranational monetary policy, we observe that increases in capital requirements attenuate the general effects of monetary policy on interest rates. Overall, the transmission of an accommodating monetary policy to lending rates is attenuated by contemporaneous increases in bank capital requirements which additionally imply a transitory decrease of the loan growth of weakly capitalized banks.

PurposeThis paper aims to consider the role of geopolitical risk in explaining tourism demand in India, a major tourist destination of the Asian region. Furthermore, the study also considers how in addition to geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, economic growth, exchange rate, inflation and trade openness impact tourism demand.Design/methodology/approachThe Bayer and Hanck (2013) method of cointegration is applied to explore the relationship between geopolitical risk and tourism demand. Furthermore, the study has also used the auto distributed lag model to determine whether there is a long-run cointegrating association between tourism demand, geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, economic growth, exchange rate and trade openness. Finally, the vector error correction model confirms the direction of causality across the set of the major variables.FindingsThis paper finds that geopolitical risk adversely impacts inbound international travel to India. This study also obtains the consistency of the results across different estimation techniques controlling for important macro variables. The Granger causality test confirms the unidirectional causality from geopolitical risk to tourism and further from economic uncertainty to tourism. The findings from the study confirm that geopolitical risks have long-term repercussions on the tourism sector in India. The results indicate that there is an urgent need to develop a pre-crisis management plan to protect the aura of Indian tourism. The tourism business houses should develop skilful marketing strategies in the post-crisis to boost the confidence of the tourists.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides valuable practical implications to tourism business houses. The tourism business houses can explore geopolitical risk measure and economic policy uncertainty measure to analyse the demand for international tourism in India. Further, the major stakeholders can establish platforms to help tourists to overcome the fear associated with geopolitical risk.Originality/valueThis study is the first of its kind to explore the geopolitical risks and their long-run consequences in the context of tourism in India. The study puts emphasis on the role of national policy to maintain peace otherwise it would be detrimental to tourism.

Amid rising global inflation, Japan, which has long struggled with deflation, is now witnessing increasing prices. Inflation and the appointment of a new Bank of Japan governor in April 2023 bring the future of its monetary policy into question. Changes in monetary policy could significantly impact the economy, particularly public finances, given Japan’s high debt. The Bank of Japan must carefully observe market reactions to changes in monetary policy, while the government should aim to improve its fiscal situation. In the meantime, Japan must carefully consider the effectiveness and potential drawbacks of monetary and fiscal policies.