Negative Oil Price Research Articles

Oil price and the economic activity in GCC countries: evidence from quantile regression

Research background: The effects of oil price fluctuations on the macroeconomic performance in oil-importing and oil-exporting countries have stimulated considerable research activity. However, the debate is far from being closed.
 Purpose of the article: This paper revisits the impact of crude oil price on economic activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council oil-exporting countries. The study covers a relatively long period spanning from 1960 to 2018.
 Methods: The empirical investigation accounts for structural breaks, nonlinearity, and non-normal ?distribution of data. The Kapetanios (2005) structural breaks unit root test?? and ?Saikkonen?Lütkepohl (2000a, b, c) cointegration test with structural shifts are implemented to examine the stationary properties of data and the presence of cointegration between variables, respectively. Moreover, the quantile regression is employed to assess whether the impact of oil price on real GDP differs across different states of the economy.
 Findings & Value added: Empirical results suggest the absence of long-run cointegrating relationships between oil price and GDP in all countries. The quantile regression reveals that oil price does not affect real GDP in the same way across countries and for different business cycle phases. More specifically, the symmetric quantile regression findings reveal that oil price exerts a positive impact on GDP in all countries and that the effect is higher during the recession than expansion states. The asymmetric quantile regression shows that GDP reacts to positive oil price changes in all countries. However, only the Emirati and Omani GDPs are affected by negative oil price changes.

Distributional changes in oil price and inflation in the net oil exporting countries in Africa

The debate on oil price changes and inflation has attracted considerable empirical investigations among policy makers over the years. Most of the empirical literature so far studies disregard the likelihood that oil price changes may influence inflation along various consumer price index distribution. The paper employs a quantile regression model piloted by Koenker and Xiao (2004) to examine the distributional changes in oil price and their impact on inflation of the net oil exporting countries in Africa. By analyzing the behaviour of inflation in a wide range of quantiles, the technique allows us to capture possible variation and inflation distribution towards to its long-run equilibrium. Our results reveal that negative and positive changes in oil price impacts inflation negatively for majority of the quantiles. The paper also reveals significant disparity in magnitude and sign of the parameters. The result of the quantile regression shows an insignificant negative relationship between positive oil price and inflation across the quantiles at 5% level of significance. However, the opposite is the case when we modeled the negative oil price. It turns out to be a significantly negative coefficient at the lower quantile of 0.50 to higher levels of 0.90. The paper suggests that in order to stabilize the price, stakeholders must continue to monitor impending inflation volatility and take counteractive actions to sustain inflation potentials. The finding also implies that monetary policy makers have the ability to suppress the effects of hostile oil price changes on inflation

Oil price shocks, exchange rate and macroeconomic fluctuations in a small oil-exporting economy

This study investigates the macroeconomic effects of adverse oil price shocks on a small oil-exporting economy — the Azerbaijan economy. We estimate a recursive (near) VAR model by using monthly macroeconomic data from 2006 to 2018. The results indicate the Azerbaijan economy is adversely influenced by an oil price decline. Specifically, we find that a negative oil price shock deteriorates trade balance, causes a currency depreciation, increases inflation and falls economic activity. Furthermore, our findings imply that the oil price-led devaluation shapes the inflationary and recessionary consequences of this shock.

Asymmetric effect of oil prices on stock market prices: New evidence from oil-exporting and oil-importing countries

This paper examines the short-run and long-run effect of oil prices across bullish, bearish, and normal states of the stock markets in oil-exporting and oil-importing countries where oil-exporting countries include Russia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Norway and oil-importing countries include India, China, Japan and Norway. For this purpose, we use quantile ARDL model and compare its findings with the standard nonlinear ARDL model. Moreover, this study uses quantile nonlinear ARDL model where oil price series is decomposed into positive and negative oil price shocks. The nonlinear ARDL estimates do not support co-integration in the long-run whereas, in the short-run, it supports asymmetric effect in all countries except Norway. Besides, the quantile ARDL estimates indicate that oil prices asymmetrically affect stock prices both in the short-run and long-run and for all sample countries. Finally, the empirical estimates of the quantile nonlinear ARDL model are consistent with the estimates from the quantile ARDL model. The findings of this study provide important policy implications for investors, policymakers and other stakeholders.

Are the responses of output and investment to oil price shocks asymmetric?: The case of an oil-importing small open economy

In this paper, we investigate whether there are asymmetric effects of oil price changes on GDP, industrial production and investment in Turkey for the period between 1998:q1 and 2019:q2 applying the methodology advanced by Kilian and Vigfusson (Quant Econ 2(3):419–453, 2011a). Based on the results of the slope-based tests, we cannot find significant evidence against the null of symmetry in the effects of oil price shocks on real GDP growth, industrial production growth and investment. Next, we concentrate on the impulse response-based tests which allow us to examine the issue of asymmetry of the impulse response functions directly. Overall, both the results of the impulse response-based symmetry tests and the impulse response analysis present significant evidence confirming the asymmetry in the responses to real oil price shocks. That is, our findings show that the responses of all macroeconomic aggregates to positive oil price shocks are considerably greater than those of to negative oil price shocks, especially at short horizons. Moreover, the asymmetry seems to be more apparent in the responses of investment and industrial production growth. Our study also emphasizes the importance of using an appropriate model to analyze the underlying relations.

Asymmetric causality in quantiles analysis of the oil-food ‏ ‏nexus since the 1960s

This paper examines the causal relationship between crude oil price and world food price between January 1960 and September 2019. Different from prior studies, it implements an asymmetric causality in quantiles approach. Results report that oil price causes food price under all food market conditions, while the causality from food to oil price runs only during extreme oil market conditions. When accounting for asymmetry, results confirm the presence of Granger causality running from positive and negative oil price changes to food price at almost all quantiles. However, positive and negative food price changes Granger cause oil price only over the lower and upper tail of the oil price distribution. Finally, when controlling for structural breaks, findings suggest that the nature of the bidirectional causal relationship has changed since 2008. The findings of the paper have implications for policymakers and investors in the design of food security policies and investment decisions.

A dynamic quantile regression model for the relationship between oil price and stock markets in oil-importing and oil-exporting countries

This paper investigates the relationship between oil price and stock markets in the major oil-exporting (Russia, Norway, Canada) and oil-importing (USA, China, Japan) countries. We apply a time-varying asymmetric quantile regression (TV-AQR) model that conducts to provide a more comprehensive picture of the oil-stock market nexus by accounting for the time-varying propriety and the asymmetric effect of oil price on the stock returns under different market conditions. Using weekly data from January 2000 to October 2018, our results reveal that the reaction of the stock markets to crude oil price is time-varying and highly heterogeneous across conditional stock returns’ distribution. Moreover, the relationship between oil and stock markets is asymmetrical and the stock markets respond to negative oil price changes more intensively than to positive changes. We also find that the two considered markets are highly dependent during the financial crisis. These results carry crucial implications for investors as well as for policymakers regarding investment strategies and decision making.

Oil and Inflation Compensation: Evidence from Treasury Inflation-Protected Security Prices

Why did the correlation between oil prices and 10-year TIPS Break-even Inflation, a measure of long-term inflation compensation, increase dramatically after the financial crisis? Using a shadow-rate no-arbitrage term structure model, we demonstrate that this is because when nominal interest rates bind at the zero lower bound (ZLB), investors doubt the effectiveness of monetary policy to control deflation. As a result, investors adjust their long-term inflation expectations more rapidly after negative oil price changes and pay higher premiums to hedge long-run deflation risks. We explain these findings by a stylized dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model including oil supply shocks, oil demand shocks, and a Taylor rule with the ZLB constraint.

The impact of declining oil rents on tax revenues: Does the shadow economy matter?

Abstract We study the association between oil rents and tax revenues, highlighting the importance of the shadow economy (SE) as a moderating factor in this relationship. Declining oil rents may not lead to higher tax efforts in a state if the SE is sizable. Using a sample of 124 countries from 1991 to 2015, our panel data regression analysis illustrates the moderating role of the SE in the final effect of negative oil rent shocks on tax revenues. A decline in oil rents following negative oil price shocks ceases to have any significant positive impact on tax revenues in countries with an SE representing more than 35% of gross domestic product. The results are robust after controlling for country- and year-fixed effects, other determinants of tax revenues, and using a dynamic model.

Oil price uncertainty and U.S. employment growth

This paper studies the effects of oil price changes on U.S. aggregate and sectoral employment growth in the presence of time-varying oil price uncertainty. We estimate a bivariate GARCH-in-Mean VAR model using U.S. monthly data of oil prices and employment growth for the period 1974 m2:2018 m11. Based on the results, we show that an increase in oil prices reduces total employment growth and that in most private sectors, but the public sector is largely unaffected. The effects on employment growth in various ”hub” sectors are also different. Furthermore, employment growths at both aggregate and disaggregate levels respond asymmetrically to positive and negative oil price shocks, which could possibly be attributed to oil price uncertainty. This asymmetric impact is more evident when the model is estimated on the entire sample than on the 1970s sample, implying that the role of oil price uncertainty in accounting for variations in employment growth can differ over time. These findings underline the empirical relevance of oil price uncertainty for the U.S. labor market dynamics. • A theoretical model is developed to illustrate the relation between oil price uncertainty and employment. • A GARCH-in-mean-VAR model is estimated to empirically explore the effects of oil price changes on U.S. employment growth. • Oil price shocks have negative impact on employment growth in most sectors, but the public sector is largely unaffected. • Employment growth responds asymmetrically to oil price shocks, possibly attributed to oil price uncertainty.

Do financial development drive remittances? Empirical evidence from India

Remittances being a stable inflow of foreign currency, account for a substantial part of India's Balance of Payment account. In several developing countries, remittances exceed the receipts from the export of goods and services, and even capital flows such as Foreign Institutional Investment, Foreign Direct Investment, and Official Development Assistance. Remittances are known for their countercyclical nature during the sharp economic downturns, compared to other financial flows that are typically procyclical. Hence, it is known as a possible financing source for economic evolution in emerging economic systems. It is essential to determine the elements that drive remittances, as it may enable us to channelize this inflow to reap its developmental potential efficiently. Several macroeconomic determinants of remittances are well researched in the literature by researchers around the globe. However, not even a single study has been given to the financial development, determinants of remittances in the Indian setting. Therefore, this survey is a humble effort to bridge this gap. We utilize multiple regression and autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration which finds that several financial developments and financial openness variables have a substantial impact on remittances in the short run as well as in the long run. In accession to that, we incorporate each dummy variable for the global financial crisis and the concurrent negative oil price shock and negative output shock in the host nations. Remittances are found to be resilient during the crisis period while being adversely affected by the adverse economic shocks in the host nations.

EXPLORING THE INFLATIONARY EFFECT OF OIL PRICE VOLATILITY IN AFRICA’S OIL EXPORTING COUNTRIES

A range of explanations had been offered for the apparent change in oil price-inflation relationship outcomes ranging from the possible use of alternate energy sources, change in the structure of output regarding fewer oil intensive sectors and the role of fiscal and monetary in the affected oil-exporting countries. These changes had drawn the attention of stakeholders, government and the society at large to the anecdotal relationship among oil price volatility, inflation, and output in Africa oil-exporting countries. This study leans empirical credence to the impact of oil price volatility on inflation and economic performance in the Africa oil-exporting countries from 1995 through 2017. We employed the Pool Mean Group estimation procedure with the inference drawn at a 5% level of significance. We found that oil price volatility had a negative and significant effect on inflation in Africa oil-exporting countries. The study concluded that oil price volatility had a substantial impact on inflation in the Africa oil-exporting countries. The study, therefore, recommended that Africa oil-exporting countries should adopt precautionary measures to monitor inflation potentials due to different responses of inflation to positive and negative oil price shocks.

Asimetrik Döviz Kuru Dalgalanmaları ve Petrol Fiyat Şokları Nijerya’nın Büyümesinde Önemli Midir? Doğrusal Olmayan ARDL Analizinden Bulgular

This paper examines the nexus between exchange rate fluctuations, oil price shocks, and growth in Nigeria, considering misspecification issues, endogeneity bias, and small sample size, which have not received adequate attention. Using a non-linear ARDL model, findings show that accounting for oil price and exchange rate asymmetries is important in explaining growth in the country for the period 1981-2016. The results also indicate that in the long-run, an exchange rate depreciation has a significant positive impact on growth. A negative oil price shock exerts a positive long-run effect on growth while higher oil prices have a negative impact. The oil price impact not only validates the Dutch disease hypothesis, but also reflects the government’s limited fiscal buffers and savings over time. Contemporaneously, oil price shocks affect growth distinctly as high oil prices boost growth while negative shocks retrogress productivity. While the impact of currency depreciation on growth was found to be positive, an appreciation hurt growth in the short term. The findings reinforce the need for the government to urgently minimize the country’s vulnerability to global crude oil markets as well as dependence on imports to stabilize the Nigerian Naira/ US dollar exchange rate.

Revisiting oil-stock nexus during COVID-19 pandemic: Some preliminary results

We provide some preliminary estimates about the behaviour of oil-stock nexus during COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, we conduct distinct analyses for periods before and after the announcement of the pandemic. A panel Vector Autoregressive (pVAR) model is constructed to analyse the response of oil and stocks to shocks. A panel Logit model is also formulated to evaluate the probability of having negative oil price and stock returns between the two data samples. The pVAR analyses suggest that both oil and stock markets may experience greater initial and prolonged impacts of own and cross shocks during the pandemic than the period before it. This outcome is further corroborated by the panel Logit estimates suggesting that the probability of having negative oil and stock returns during the pandemic may be due uncertainty associated with the relevant markets.

Civil society, natural resources and dictatorship

ABSTRACT Resource-rich dictatorships are more inclined to repress civil society than others. In this paper, we analyze the collapse and persistence of authoritarian regimes in terms of oil price shocks and the organizational density of civil society. This organizational density indicates the ability of citizens to credibly threaten the dictator with a revolution and therefore induce regime change. In the civil society protest game, regime change becomes likely in the occurrence of a negative oil price shock, whereas a positive oil shock increases the extractive capacity of the dictator, thus preserving the authoritarian status quo. In the civil society persecution game, repression of failed revolutionaries can avert revolution if a negative oil price shock occurs and the organizational density of civil society is low ex-ante. Historical and contemporary illustrations are drawn from Iran and Russia, respectively.

Oil Price News and COVID-19—Is There Any Connection?

We evaluate the relative importance of COVID-19 infections and oil price news in influencing oil prices. We show that when the number of new COVID-19 infections surpasses 84,479, COVID-19 exerts a bigger effect on oil prices. Oil price news when conditioned on COVID-19 cases have limited effects on price. When oil price volatility is used as a threshold, at higher levels of volatility, both COVID-19 cases and negative oil price news influence oil prices.

The impact of the recent oil price decline on the GCC banking system

ABSTRACT This paper applies the econometric Chow test to determine the impact of the recent oil price decline on the GCC banking system for the period 2011–2017. Structural breaks in the performance of selected sample GCC banks, Saudi, UAE, and Qatar banks, are tested upon the occurrence of the recent oil price decline in 2014 for different aspects of bank performance: profitability, liquidity, credit quality, and capitalization. While Qatar banks are found to be resilient showing continuous performance over time, the Saudi banks are found to be significantly impacted by the decline experiencing negative structural breaks at the credit quality level but positive breaks at the capitalization level. However, UAE banks are found to have experienced negative breaks at the profitability, credit quality, and capitalization levels. The paper provides GCC banks with valuable insights about what bank aspects could be negatively impacted in the event of negative oil price shocks and what aspects could help mitigate the impact. This helps banks introduce necessary changes and preventive actions to better absorb future shocks.

Product market competition, oil uncertainty and corporate investment

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of product market competition on the oil uncertainty–investment relation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use firm-level financial data from the COMPUSTAT database, competition proxies from Hoberg and Phillips (2016) and macroeconomic data on crude oil price uncertainty. Corporate investment is measured as capital expenditure scaled by total assets or as the annual change in (net) total fixed assets plus depreciation. Since our panel data covers a short period (22 years) and the regressions include a combination of a lagged dependent variable and firm fixed effects, the authors apply Blundell and Bond’s (1998) GMM system when regressing corporate investment on the interaction between oil uncertainty and competition.FindingsConsistent with the theories in the irreversible investment literature, the authors first show that investments are negatively related to oil uncertainty. Second, they show that firms in competitive industries decrease their investments in response to heightened uncertainty by a higher degree than firms in concentrated industries, suggesting that competition can exacerbate negative investment outcomes when success is uncertain. The authors also examine how competition relates to investment asymmetric reactions to positive and negative oil price return volatilities and find a stronger negative relationships between competition and investment-positive oil price volatility, indicating that increasing the probability of a negative outcome due to uncertainty leads firms to reduce investment to a larger extent.Practical implicationsThe findings provide useful insights to guide corporate investment decisions under oil price change uncertainty. In particular, if firms can wait for the resolution of uncertainty before deciding to pursue irreversible investment in a competitive market, they can avoid potentially large losses by foregoing investment when the outcomes are unfavorable. This is because competition brings a greater uncertainty to firm performance if the investment outcome is poor, as firms in competitive industries share a large proportion of industry-wide profits with rivals and, thus, competition could erode profit margins and increases the likelihood of being driven out of the market. Hence, firms in competitive markets should balance between strategic preemptive motives and waiting for the resolution of uncertainty before deciding to pursue investment.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine the effect of competition on the relationship between investment and oil price uncertainty. Moreover, it is the first to examine the effect of competition on the asymmetric response of investment to oil price uncertainty emanating from positive and negative changes in oil price.

Oil Price Shocks, Fuel Subsidies and Macroeconomic (In)stability in Nigeria

This paper studies the macroeconomic implications of oil price shocks and the extant fuel subsidy regime for Nigeria. To do this, we develop and estimate a New-Keynesian DSGE model that accounts for pass-through effect of international oil price into the retail price of fuel. Our results show that oil price shocks generate significant and persistent impacts on output, accounting for about 22 percent of its variations up to the fourth year. Under our benchmark model (i.e. with fuel subsidies), we show that a negative oil price shock contracts aggregate GDP, boosts non-oil GDP, increases headline inflation, and depreciates the exchange rate. However, results generated under the model without fuel subsidies indicate that the contractionary effect of a negative oil price shock on aggregate GDP is moderated, headline inflation decreases, while the exchange rate depreciates more in the short-run. Counterfactual simulations also reveal that fuel subsidy removal leads to higher macroeconomic instabilities and generates non-trivial implications for the response of monetary policy to an oil price shock. Thus, this study cautions that a successful fuel subsidy reform must necessarily encompass the deployment of well-targeted safety nets as well as the evolution of sustainable adjustment mechanisms.

Oil Price Shocks, Protest and the Shadow Economy: Is there a Mitigation Effect?

In this paper, we study the impact of exogenous variations of international oil prices on the incidence of protest, while exploring the role of the shadow economy as a mitigating factor. We find that oil price shocks are negatively associated with protests, but the effect is less severe the higher the initial size of the shadow economy. To explain these results, we show that the size of the shadow economy responds counter-cyclically to oil-price-driven income shocks. In particular, we find that the decline in the GDP per capita growth following a negative oil price shock leads to an increase in the size of the shadow economy. This suggest that the shadow economy’s capacity to absorb persistent oil price fluctuations without provoking political unrest, should regard it as a mitigation tool rather than an economic burden.