QUANTITATIVE EASING AND THE UK STOCK MARKET: DOES THE BANK OF ENGLAND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION STRATEGY MATTER?

We use intraday aggregate stock market data and an event‐study framework to assess the UK's equity market reaction to the unexpected element of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) asset purchase announcements for the 2009–2017 period. We assess the reactions of equity returns and their volatility over various time frames, both preceding and following the MPC announcements. Our results show that the UK unconventional monetary policy shocks have a significant impact on domestic equity returns and volatilities. The strength of this impact depends on the Bank's information dissemination through inflation reports and the publication of the MPC's voting records. (JEL G14, E44, E52)     

Minimal path decomposition of complete bipartite graphs

This paper deals with the subject of minimal path decomposition of complete bipartite graphs. A path decomposition of a graph is a decomposition of it into simple paths such that every edge appears in exactly one path. If the number of paths is the minimum possible, the path decomposition is called minimal. Algorithms that derive such decompositions are presented, along with their proof of correctness, for the three out of the four possible cases of a complete bipartite graph.     

INFLATION DYNAMICS AND THE OUTPUT‐INFLATION TRADE‐OFF: INTERNATIONAL PANEL DATA EVIDENCE

We explore the impact of inflation and its variability on the output‐inflation trade‐off using a single‐step approach in a panel data context. Previous empirical approaches focus on either cross‐country or country‐by‐country time‐series analyses. We employ a dynamic heterogeneous panel specification using an all‐encompassing estimation framework accounting for parameter heterogeneity, cross‐sectional dependence, dynamics, and nonstationarity. Our sample covers 60 countries from 1970 to 2010. While inflation variability reduces the trade‐off for specific periods and country groups, an unambiguous and more pronounced negative relation emerges between the inflation rate and the trade‐off. The findings are consistent with the New Keynesian view. (JEL E31, E12, C23)     

Technological affluence and subjective well-being

This study measures the welfare effects of technological goods using a recent European pooled cross-sectional dataset. We find that fixed and mobile phones, music players and personal computers, including those with an Internet connection, are associated with significantly higher levels of well-being measured by individual self-reported life satisfaction. Further controlling for mobile and broadband country penetration levels, we provide evidence suggesting that the latter matters for life satisfaction, especially for the users who already possess the relevant devices. Keeping life satisfaction constant, we subsequently derive substantial GDP per capita estimates equivalent to a 10 percentage point increase in broadband and mobile phone penetration.     

National Pride: War Minus the Shooting

This study focuses on the determinants of self-reported measures of national pride. Using pooled cross-sectional data for European countries obtained from the Eurobarometer, it is estimated that pride is not correlated with GDP per capita nor with household income levels. Using the 2000 UEFA European Championship as a natural experiment, it is estimated that individuals from both host and winning nations report, on average, higher levels of national pride in the period immediately following the event, supporting theoretical arguments of a “feel-good” factor associated with sports events. Accounting for performance relative to expectations produces results along the same lines.     

Macroeconomic determinants of migration: the case of Germany, 1964-1988

Macroeconomic determinants of immigration are analysed with pooled cross-country and time series data on net immigration to Germany from European countries during 1964-1988.
Results demonstrate clearly that both high and low frequency determinants have been important. Long run trends are determined by the degree and speed of per capita income convergence between the sending and receiving countries, while year-to-year changes in net immigration flows are dominated by cyclical economic conditions.     

Risk assessment for handling hazardous substances within the European industry: Available methodologies and research streams

After the Seveso disaster occurred more than 40 years ago, there has been an increasing awareness of the potential impacts that similar accident events can occur in a wide range of process establishments, where the handling and production of hazardous substances pose a real threat to society and the environment. In these industrial sites denominated “Seveso sites,” the urgent need for an effective strategy emerged markedly to handle hazardous activities and to ensure safe conditions. Since then, the main challenging research issues have focused on how to prevent such accident events and how to mitigate their consequences leading to the development of many risk assessment methodologies. In recent years, researchers and practitioners have tried to provide useful overviews of the existing risk assessment methodologies proposing several reviews. However, these reviews are not exhaustive because they are either dated or focus only on one specific topic (e.g., liquefied natural gas, domino effect, etc.). This work aims to overcome the limitations of the current reviews by providing an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the risk assessment methodologies for handling hazardous substances within the European industry. In particular, we have focused on the current techniques for hazards and accident scenarios identification, as well as probability and consequence analyses for both onshore and offshore installations. Thus, we have identified the research streams that have characterized the activities of researchers and practitioners over the years, and we have then presented and discussed the different risk assessment methodologies available concerning the research stream that they belong to.     

Socioeconomic Indicators for Analyzing Convergence: The Case of Greece: 1960–2004

The purpose of this paper is to use socioeconomic indicators for analyzing convergence within Greece at regional (NUTS II) and prefecture levels (NUTS III) since 1960. We use two alternative approaches. The first one is based on the coefficient of variation and the second one on quality of life rankings. We confirm the decline of regional inequalities in Greece, with the exclusion of the 1980s. Regions with increased tourist and trade activity are also regions with high quality of life. Border regions are usually the laggards of social and economic development.

On the use of non-linear transformations in Stochastic Volatility models

Stochastic Volatility models have been considered as a real alternative to conditional variance models, assuming that volatility follows a process different from the observed one. However, issues like the unobservable nature of volatility and the creation of “rich” dynamics give rise to the use of non-linear transformations for the volatility process. The Box–Cox transformation and its Yeo–Johnson variation, by nesting both the linear and the non-linear case, can be considered as natural functions to specify non-linear Stochastic Volatility models. In this framework, a fully Bayesian approach is used for parametric and log–volatility estimation. The new models are then investigated for their within-sample and out-of-sample performance against alternative Stochastic Volatility models using real financial data series.