• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-40
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• 2007

This paper mainly estimates a trajectory of GDP induced by variations in fiscal expenditure and taxation policy using three variable structural VAR models. By assigning different combinations of identifying restrictions on the disturbances and measuring the corresponding fiscal multipliers, we compare how robust the estimated values of fiscal multipliers are with respect to the restrictions. Then, considering the dependency of Korean economy on the foreign sector, we extend the three variable SVARs to four variable ones by adding a variable reflecting external shocks. Empirical analyses into the Korean quarterly data (from 1979 to 2000) with the three variable SVARs reveal that the size and the significance of the estimated fiscal multipliers in Korea are very small and low or they decay very fast. Results from the four variable SVARs confirm these results while the significance of the effectiveness of fiscal policy is enhanced in some cases.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.799-807
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• 2011

This study investigates long and short run responses of variables to exogenous shocks by imposing prior restrictions on a contemporaneous structural shock coefficient matrix of the model to identify shocks by endogenous variables in the vector autoregression. The relative importance of each structural shock in variation of each variable is calculated through the identification of proper restrictions (not based on any specific theory but on researcher judgment corresponding to actual situations) and an estimation of the structural vector autoregression. The results of the analyses are found to maintain consistency.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.253-269
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• 2005

One of the basic assumptions of the regression models is that the parameter vector does not vary across sample observations. If the parameter vector is not constant for all observations in the sample, the statistical model is changed and the usual least squares estimators do not yield unbiased, consistent and efficient estimates. This study investigates the regression model with some or all parameters vary across partitions of the whole sample data when the model permits different response coefficients during unusual time periods. Since the usual test for overall homogeneity of regressions across partitions of the sample data does not explicitly identify the break points between the partitions, the testing the equality between subsets of coefficients in two or more linear regressions is generalized and combined with the test procedure to search the break point. The method is applied to find the possibility and the turning point of the structural change in the long-run unemployment rate in the usual static framework by using the regression model. The relationships between the variables included in the model are reexamined in the dynamic framework by using Vector Autoregression.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.72-113
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• 2020

This study investigates the relationship between mineral exports to China, North Korea's most important source of foreign currency acquisition, and its imports of various items from China from the first quarter of 1995 through to the third quarter of 2019. The results from a cointegration analysis suggest that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between mineral exports and imports of food, fuel, and some intermediate goods, such as industrial supplies, parts, and accessories. The results from a vector autoregression using first-differenced variables indicate that the short-run relationship between mineral exports and imports is different between the period before and after the third quarter of 2010. Prior to structural changes, i.e., before the third quarter of 2010, import shocks affected mineral exports. However, after the third quarter of 2010, an increase in mineral exports led to an increase in the import of vehicles, intermediate goods, and luxury goods. This paper shows both the possibilities and the limits that mineral exports can contribute to North Korea's economic growth. The results, which show that mineral exports have a long-run relationship with intermediate goods, such as industrial supplies, parts and accessories, imply that mineral exports to China could have a positive effect on the North Korean economy. However, the fact that mineral exports do not have any significant effect on the import of machinery and equipment, which helps the accumulation of capital formation, shows that mineral exports have a limited effect on inducing long-term growth in the North Korean economy.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.37-60
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• 1992

This paper applies a Structural VAR approach to a 4 variable system in real GNP, M2, GNP deflator and nominal monthly earnings, disentangling 4 structural shocks, i.e., aggregate demand and supply shocks, wage pushes and various forms of regulations reinforced especially during stabilization process. Preliminary diagnostic tests confirm that the log level of each time series has at least one unit root, though the evidence is somewhat ambiguous for real GNP. One co-integration relationship is found among 4 variables, while no co-integration is found in a subsystem consisting of nomina) variables. The absence of co-integration among nominal variables strongly suggested that money is not neutral even in the long-run. The reduced form is estimated and the structural form is recovered using 6 additional identifying restrictions. Recovered structural shocks are able to capture main episodes of past 20 years, ranging from first and second oil shocks, to strong stabilization policy of early 80's and rapid wage hikes of late 80's. Overall responses of the economy to each structural shock are usually consistent with the standard Keynesian predictions, though some responses seem to be specific to Korean economic environment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.179-185
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• 2016

This study verifies whether speculative trading in commodity markets acted as the primary cause of the increase in commodity prices after the global financial crisis using the Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model. The effects of speculative trading on commodity prices increased by a factor of 3 to 6 after the crisis compared to those before the crisis. Although the demand related variables, such as industrial production, affected commodity prices significantly before the crisis, their effects decreased after the crisis. Consequently, the rebound of commodity prices after the crisis was mainly caused by the increase in speculative money, fortified by the expansion of the global liquidity supply. The global liquidity may well increase in the future, because the U.S. Federal Reserve Board is likely to continue to increase its interest rate. This study claims that when global liquidity shrinks as a result of a change in the Fed's monetary policy stance, speculative trading will slow down, leading to a decline in commodity prices.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.169-206
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• 2009

This study stems from a question, "How should we understand the pattern of the Korean economy after the 1990s?" Among various analytic methods applicable, this study chooses a Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) with long-run restrictions, identifies diverse impacts that gave rise to the current status of the Korean economy, and differentiates relative contributions of those impacts. To that end, SVAR is applied to four economic models; Blanchard and Quah (1989)'s 2-variable model, its 3-variable extensions, and the two other New Keynesian type linear models modified from Stock and Watson (2002). Especially, the latter two models are devised to reflect the recent transitions in the determination of foreign exchange rate (from a fixed rate regime to a flexible rate one) as well as the monetary policy rule (from aggregate targeting to inflation targeting). When organizing the assumed results in the form of impulse response and forecasting error variance decomposition, two common denominators are found as follows. First, changes in the rate of economic growth are mainly attributable to the impact on productivity, and such trend has grown strong since the 2000s, which indicates that Korea's economic growth since the 2000s has been closely associated with its potential growth rate. Second, the magnitude or consistency of impact responses tends to have subsided since the 2000s. Given Korea's high dependence on trade, it is possible that low interest rates, low inflation, steady growth, and the economic emergence of China as a world player have helped secure capital and demand for export and import, which therefore might reduced the impact of each sector on overall economic status. Despite the fact that a diverse mixture of models and impacts has been used for analysis, always two common findings are observed in the result. Therefore, it can be concluded that the decreased rate of economic growth of Korea since 2000 appears to be on the same track as the decrease in Korea's potential growth rate. The contents of this paper are constructed as follows: The second section observes the recent trend of the economic development of Korea and related Korean articles, which might help in clearly defining the scope and analytic methodology of this study. The third section provides an analysis model to be used in this study, which is Structural VAR as mentioned above. Variables used, estimation equations, and identification conditions of impacts are explained. The fourth section reports estimation results derived by the previously introduced model, and the fifth section concludes.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.1-23
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• 2014

This paper has studied the monetary policy in Korea with a time varying VAR model using four key macroeconomic variables. First, inclusion of the exchange rate was a crucial factor in evaluating Korean monetary policy since the monetary policy demonstrated sensitivity to exchange rate movements during the crisis periods of both the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008. Second, a specification of the stochastic volatilities in TVP-VAR model is important in explaining excessive movements of all variables in the sample. The overall moderation of variables in 2000s was more or less due to a reduction of the stochastic volatilities but also somewhat due to the macroeconomic fundamental structures captured by impulse response functons. Third, the degree of the monetary policy effectiveness of inflation was mitigated in recent periods but with increased persistence. Lastly, the monetary policy stance towards inflation stabilization has advanced ever since the inflation targeting scheme was adopted. However, there still seems to be a room for improvement in this aspect since the degree of the monetary policy stance towards inflation stabilization was relatively weaker than to output stabilization.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.3-62
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• 2004

This paper estimates Korea's natural rate of unemployment using various estimation methods such as pure time-series methods, reduced-form methods, and structural form methods, with discussion about relative advantages and disadvantages of each estimation method. This paper also provides the confidence interval of the estimated natural rate of unemployment by the Monte Carlo integration method. Though multivariate unobserved component model exhibits better performance in many aspects than other estimation methods, awareness should be raised for a potential misspecification problem of a multivariate unobserved component model. Considering that each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, it is recommended to make an inference on the natural rate of unemployment based on common results among various methods. Korea's natural rate of unemployment was estimated to be around 3.8~4.0% on average in the period of 1979:I~1987:IV, and to decline to 2.5~2.9% in the period of 1988:I~1997:IV. During the Asian crisis, it is estimated to peak at near 4.8% and to have been on a downward trend since then.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.457-467
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• 2015

Despite the recent phenomena of Chonsei price increase, low interest rate and low growth, the indexes of financial and insurance industry production showed the results contrary to the common belief that the financial industry is sensitive to such financial crises. This is because the index of financial industry has continuously maintained a certain level of increase as opposed to the index of all industry production. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the dynamic correlation between the index of financial industry production and Chonsei price increase. A vector autoregression (VAR) model, which doesn't have a cointegrating relationship, was used to define the Chonsei price index and the indexes of all industry production and financial and insurance industry, which are macro economic variables, and describe the data. The results of the analysis on the time series data of 183 months from January 2000 to May 2015 showed that Chonsei price increase was not directly derived from the index of financial industry, but the finance industrial index affected Chonsei price increase.