This paper considers the ability of large-scale (involving 145 fundamental variables) time-series models, estimated based on dynamic factor analysis and Bayesian shrinkage, to forecast real house price growth rates of the four US census regions and the aggregate US economy. Besides, the standard...

This paper uses a predictive regression framework to examine the out-of-sample predictability of South Africa’s equity premium, using a host of financial and macroeconomic variables. Past studies tend to suggest that the predictors on their own fail to deliver consistent out-of-sample forecast...

This paper examines asymmetries in the impact of monetary policy on the middle segment of the South African housing market from 1966:M2 to 2011:M12. We use Markov-switching vector autoregressive (MS-VAR) models in which parameters change according to the phase of the housing cycle. The results...

This paper analyses the relationship between house prices and the trade balance in South Africa using an agnostic identification procedure. This method allows a housing demand shock to be identified in an eight-variable VAR model by imposing sign restrictions on the impulse responses of consumer...

This paper compares the effects of real house price and real stock price shocks on consumption decisions in South Africa over the period 1966 to 2012 using a Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) approach.The sample comprises quarterly, seasonally adjusted South African data on consumption,...

This paper provides out-of-sample forecasts of linear and non-linear models of US and Census regions housing prices. The forecasts include the traditional point forecasts, but also include interval and density forecasts of the housing price distributions. The non-linear smooth-transition...

This paper applies the causality test in the frequency domain, developed by Breitung and Candelon (2006), to analyze whether sunspot numbers cause global temperatures, using monthly data covering the time period 1880:1-2013:9. While, standard time domain Granger causality test fails to reject...

The convergence of air pollutants is a major concern for policy makers since all the countries pursue the goal of allocating the emissions equally internationally in the future. Hence the examination of the existence of convergence is important for the climate change protection of the earth. In...

The global financial crisis that began in 2007-08 demonstrated how severe the impact of financial markets’ stress on real economic activity can be. In the wake of the financial crisis policy-makers and decision-makers across the world identified the critical need for a better understanding of...

This paper examines whether a volatility/risk transmission exists between world energy and the US financial markets during the pre-, the in-, and the post-2008 crisis periods by employing world oil prices and Cleveland financial stress index. It also explores causal dynamics and derives the...