Fiscal and Financial Responses to the Economic Downturn

2010 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. R51-R62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell ◽  
Dawn Holland
Keyword(s):  
Output Growth ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Quantitative Easing ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The Us ◽  
Potential Gdp ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Output Gaps ◽  
Active Policy

The financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 and worsened in the autumn of 2008 has involved a repricing of risk and a reduction in the level of potential output in the OECD of between 3 and 5 per cent. In addition it has caused a major recession, leaving output gaps in the UK, the US and the Euro Area currently standing at 3 to 5 per cent of potential GDP despite active policy responses. We show that monetary policy (and especially quantitative easing) has increased output growth in the US and the UK by half a per cent in 2009, and will do the same in 2010Q1. Fiscal policy is also shown to have been effective, but we argue that more could have been done if unfounded worries about excess borrowing had not arisen.

The World Economy

1995 ◽  
Vol 151 ◽  
pp. 30-52
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell ◽  
Nigel Pain ◽  
Julian Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Output Growth ◽  
Bretton Woods ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Exchange Rate Movements ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Output Gaps

Output growth throughout the OECD has been rising this year, and several economies including the US, Canada and the UK look as if are reaching their cyclical peak. Other economies, such as France, Italy and Spain, are still operating below capacity, but have been growing rapidly enough to prevent output gaps widening. Output gaps in Europe appear to be small, and Barrell and Sefton (below) calculate they could be approaching zero. This upturn in activity has been unlike most in the post-Bretton Woods era, as inflation has not, until recently, begun to rise. Inflation in the US was, it appears, lower in 1994 than in the previous four years, despite a strong output recovery. The appreciation of the yen, and the subsequent recession have, of course, kept Japanese inflation low. However, exchange-rate movements are part of a process of ‘sharing’ world inflation, and over the past three years there has been little to share. For example, inflation in Europe has been lower than we anticipated 18 months ago, even though a slowdown in activity was already apparent then.

scholarly journals Post-Crisis Potential Output in the Western Balkans

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Naida Čaršimamović Vukotić ◽  
Irena Jankulov Suljagić ◽  
Irina Smirnov
Keyword(s):  
Time Series Data ◽  
Output Growth ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Filter Method ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Potential Gdp ◽  
Potential Output Growth ◽  
Output Gaps

Abstract Spurred by the recent global economic crisis, there has been a resurgence of research on output gaps. As the crisis caused a decline in potential GDP due to a strong contraction in demand, it is expected that the recovery of potential output will be especially difficult in demand-driven small open economies, such as the Western Balkan countries, where recovery will strongly depend on global international trade recovery. The purpose of this research is to calculate and compare pre and post-crisis potential GDPs and GDP gaps for the Western Balkan countries. The symmetric filter method developed by Hodrick and Prescott is used to de-trend GDP time series data by decomposing it into growth and cyclical components. The results point to a strong decrease in potential output growth compared to the pre-crisis potential output growth of the Western Balkans.

The World Economy: The impact of rising oil prices and weak equity markets on global growth

2008 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Financial Innovation ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Output Growth ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

In interesting times several things may happen simultaneously, and they may have connected roots. The financial turmoil that developed initially in the US banking sector had its roots in financial innovation that had made available cheap finance and increased demand for housing. This wave of low cost finance had spread to Europe, and house prices rose in a correlated way. The increase in demand in the world economy that resulted from strong growth in lending and high asset values helped raise output growth outside the OECD, and this in turn put upward pressure on oil prices. Markets sometimes work slowly, and the effects of the increase in demand on prices appear to be coming through just as the asset bubble is collapsing. The sequence of events was not inevitable, as low personal sector saving in the US and the UK as well as elsewhere could have been offset by tighter fiscal policy, and better prudential regulation of lenders would also definitely have helped. The desire to move financial regulation from the central bank, as in the UK, may have been for good, competition based, reasons, but it has meant that financial sector oversight has not taken account of the macroeconomic implications of a wave of lending that rested on risky financial innovation and therefore it has not properly addressed the issue of systemic risk (see Barrell and Davis, 2005). The resulting financial turmoil has meant that banks have made losses, and have been unable to trust each other's solvency when making deals. As a result three month interbank rates have risen well above central bank intervention rates, as can be seen in figure 1.

The Effect of Quantitative Easing on Investment in the US and UK: An SVAR Approach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Russell
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Quantitative Easing ◽  
Structural Vector Autoregression ◽  
Bond Yields ◽  
Bond Yield ◽  
Downward Pressure ◽  
The Us ◽  
Historical Relationship ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England implemented asset purchase programs to provide further liquidity to faltering markets, and to continue to place downward pressure on market interest rates. Later called Quantitative Easing, the higher asset prices and lower market yields induced by the purchases were expected to translate into lower market borrowing costs and increased investment. This project focused on estimating the effect of Quantitative Easing on real investment in the US and UK up to 2010. First, the historical relationship between bond yields and investment was estimated using a time series econometric model called a structural vector autoregression. Next, using the historical relationship between bond yields and investment, the impact of the asset purchases on investment was calculated using the bond yield changes induced by  Quantitative Easing announcements. Deviations in bond yields on Quantitative Easing announcement dates suggested an impact on investment of 5.93% in the US, and an impact of 3.37% in the UK. Moreover, both the US and UK econometric results are statistically significant. Taking into account the econometric assumptions required to estimate the impact of Quantitative Easing on investment, the results in this project should be viewed with caution. However, the results will be useful in framing future thought on Quantitative Easing as a tool to provide macroeconomic stability 

scholarly journals Estimating the Output Gap for Saudi Arabia

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryadh M. Alkhareif ◽  
William A. Barnett ◽  
Nayef A. Alsadoun
Keyword(s):  
Output Growth ◽  
Total Output ◽  
Output Gap ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Real Gdp ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Production Function Approach ◽  
Potential Gdp ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Potential Output Growth

The objective of this paper is to estimate annual potential output growth and the output gap for the Saudi economy over the period 1980 to 2015, looking at both total output and non-oil output. The focus on the latter is so that the progress in diversifying the economy might be examined and the possible impact of diversification on potential output might be measured. We use three methods for estimating potential output proposed in the macroeconomic literature. The methodologies include the Hodrick-Prescott filter, Kalman filter, and the production function approach. We compare the three over the entire sample and the last five years. Our findings suggest that the output gap (the difference between actual and potential output, as measured by real GDP) is positive on average over the entire period (i.e., actual output has on average exceeded potential); however, the gap has turned negative and has shrunk in recent years, as fiscal expenditures, particularly in infrastructure, have acted to better align actual and potential. Our analysis also indicated that growth in both potential GDP and total factor productivity have accelerated in the 2011-2015 period. In contrast, growth in these factors has slowed in many other countries, particularly the advanced economies. This better performance of the Saudi economy is possibly due to the development of a resilient financial sector in the Saudi economy.

2015 Spillover Report

Policy Papers ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (43) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Output Growth ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Potential Output Growth ◽  
Output Gaps ◽  
The Impact

Many countries around the globe, particularly the systemic advanced economies, face the challenge of closing output gaps and raising potential output growth. Addressing these challenges requires a package of macroeconomic, financial and structural policies that will boost both aggregate demand and aggregate supply, while closing the shortfall between demand and supply. Each element of this package is important and one cannot substitute for the other: easy monetary policy will not raise potential output just as structural reforms will not close the output gap. This report studies the impact on emerging markets and nonsystemic advanced economies from monetary policy actions in systemic advanced economies, with a look also at knock-on effects from the decline in world oil prices.

The World Economy

2004 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 8-36
Keyword(s):  
Euro Area ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Output Gap ◽  
Inflation Expectations ◽  
Global Recession ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Output Gaps

Global inflationary pressures have been building over the last 12 months. These rising pressures reflect emergence from the global recession of 2001–2 and fiscal laxity in several of the world's largest economies, as well as a number of temporary factors such as rising commodity prices and indirect tax increases. Inflation expectations, as reflected by yield differences between indexed and ordinary government debt, have edged up in the US, the Euro Area and the UK, as illustrated in Chart 1. US and UK inflation expectations are about 0.8 percentage points higher than at the start of 2003, while Euro Area inflation expectations have risen by about 0.4 percentage points. Our inflation projections for the major economies are reported in Table 1. We forecast an acceleration of inflation in the US, Germany, France and the UK this year relative to 2003, and expect deflation in Japan to come to an end from the middle of 2004. Stronger inflationary pressures in the US partly reflect the positive output gap, while output gaps in Canada and the Euro Area are expected to remain negative until the end of 2005 and 2006, respectively. Our output gap estimates are illustrated in Chart 2.

Policy Responses to the Collapse of the Financial Sector: Introduction

2010 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. R1-R2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Barrell
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
Trade Credit ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Credit Rationing ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

The downturn in global economic activity that started in 2008 was turned into a major recession after the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. It appears that world output fell by more than 1 per cent in 2009, and OECD output probably fell by around 3½ per cent. The effects on output were more marked in the Euro Area and the UK than they were in the US or Canada, which partly reflects the policy responses chosen by Treasuries and Central Banks. The financial crisis that drove the recession affected banks in the US, the UK, the Euro Area and the rest of Europe rather more than it did those in Canada, Australia and Japan. However, recessions have been common, with only Australia and Poland appearing to avoid them. The financial crisis led rapidly to a freezing of trade credit, which caused world trade to decline very sharply at the beginning of 2009. The financial crisis also led to an increase in risk premia in investment decision-making and hence to a decline in the equilibrium capital output ratio, which caused a sharp reduction in the demand for capital goods. Combined with credit rationing effects for firms needing access to borrowing, this induced a collapse in investment. Trade channels made the crisis global, as did movements in exchange rates. Interest rates were cut sharply in the US, Europe and Japan, and approached levels seen in Japan for the previous decade. As a result the yen appreciated strongly, and the combination of the effects of this appreciation on competitiveness and the decline in investment goods trade meant that Japan suffered worse than most other countries, at least in the short term.

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