Macroeconomics Commons^™

Essays On Inequality And Macroeconomic Stability, Thomas Hauner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters. . .

Chapter 1: Aggregate Wealth and Its Distribution as Determinants of Financial Crises: Panel Evidence This essay investigates the relationship between wealth inequality and financial crises across a panel of nine advanced economies over the past 100 years. While substantiation of a role for income inequality is ambiguous in the literature, evidence is presented suggesting a unique capacity for the accumulation of assets to increase the likelihood of a future financial crisis episode. Testing long-run panel data with a reduced form, two-way fixed effects model, estimates suggest that increasing wealth inequality, in an …

Essays On The Law Of One Price In Financial Markets And The Recent Financial Crisis, Igor Sorkin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Essay 1: The theory of the Law of One Price (LOOP) is one of the most important theories in International Economics. I use financial markets to revisit the validity of the LOOP in the short run, and then extend the analysis into the long-run to examine whether events such as the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 can lead to the failure of the LOOP or worsen deviations from it. Using the data on Canadian companies cross-listed on the New York Stock Exchange, I find strong support that the LOOP holds in a cross-sectional framework despite the fact that the sample includes …

Examining Eurozone Divergence, Charles Noble

Economics Theses

This paper provides a brief history of European integration followed by an examination of the Eurozone financial crisis and the economic divergence among particular economies (Germany compared with Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland) it induced. Afterwards a list of structural and policy reforms meant to achieve economic convergence is provided. The paper concludes that in order for the Eurozone to achieve economic convergence, it would be best if Greece and Portugal exited the monetary union. The smaller, more homogeneous union could then more readily achieve economic convergence to function, both politically and economically, as a sustainable monetary union.

Do We Really Need To Start From Scratch?, Michal Gradzewicz, Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz

Joanna Tyrowicz

This paper presents views and believes of the authors on the relevance of the current economic theory for the understanding of the complex world we live in. Has the crisis indeed demonstrated that as profession we are misled by the beauty of the mathematical models and the only useful, workable solutions at hand were provided in early 1930s? The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the current state-of-the-art literature from the perspective of its usefulness in the context of economic crises. We argue that although we might be unable to answer many questions or to “predict” …

Financial Stability, Trade Openness And The Structure Of Banks’ Shareholders, Claudiu T. Albulescu

Claudiu T Albulescu

The adverse effect of financial crises upon the world’s economies represented the background for the development of a wide economic literature on financial stability. The assessment of this phenomenon stands for a complex exercise, as many techniques can be used for this purpose. Such a technique is the construction of an aggregate financial stability index which allows for a comparison between financial systems stability. Based on an aggregate index and on a panel of data, we show that, for several Eastern European Countries, the financial stability is largely influenced by the trade openness and by the quality of banks’ shareholders. …