This paper studies the interplay of fiscal policy and asset prices in a time varying parameter VAR. Using South African data since 1966 we are able to study the dynamic shocks of both fiscal policy and asset prices on asset prices and fiscal policy. This enables us to isolate specific periods in...

This paper evaluates the welfare gain from reducing inflation permanently from two percent to price stability and compares it the output cost associate with this transition. The paper emphasizes the distortions caused by the interaction of inflation and capital income taxation, in calculating...

We develop an empirical nonlinear model of equilibrium unemployment and test its policy implications for a number of OECD countries. The model here sees the natural rate and the associated equilibrium path of unemployment as endogenous, pushed by the interaction of shocks and the institutional...

The paper develops a Bayesian vector autoregressive (BVAR) model of the South African economy for the period of 1970:1-2000:4 and forecasts GDP, consumption, investment, short-term and long term interest rates, and the CPI. We find that a tight prior produces relatively more accurate forecasts...

This paper develops an estimable hybrid model that combines the theoretical rigor of a micro-founded DSGE model with the flexibility of an atheoretical VAR model. The model is estimated via maximum likelihood technique based on quarterly data on real Gross National Product (GNP), consumption,...

This paper develops a monetary endogenous growth model of a financially repressed economy, characterized by an Unofficial Financial Market and productive public expenditure, and, in turn, analyzes the effects of financial liberalization on the rate of growth and inflation. Following the current...

The authors of the present paper apply a discrete choice model to determine specific characteristics that influence South African grain farmers’ preferences in hedging against uncertainties. This is the first empirical study conducted in the country regarding such preferences of producers for...

The monetary policy transmission mechanism can broadly be categorised into three separate channels: the interest rate channel, the credit channel and the other asset price channel. This paper seeks to examine the bank-lending channel of the credit channel of monetary policy in South Africa by...

This paper analyzes whether a wealth of information contained in 126 monthly series used by large-scale Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (LBVAR) models, as well as Factor Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) models, either Bayesian or classical, can prove to be more useful in forecasting real...

This paper develops large-scale Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) models, based on 268 quarterly series, for forecasting annualized real house price growth rates for large-, medium- and small-middle-segment housing for the South African economy. Given the in-sample period of 1980:01 to...