درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Trade liberalization of agricultural products and its effect on food prices, because of the importance of food in the household consumption basket, is one of the most important goals of governments for public access to health and food security. The present study investigated the effect of trade liberalization on domestic food prices in Iran. In this context, the single-equation error correction model (SEECM) was applied using the required time series data during 1989-2019. The results show that in the short-term, only increases in global food prices, liquidity, and exchange rates significantly affect domestic food prices. However, domestic food prices show more reaction to exchange rate fluctuations than to world prices. The estimated long-run equilibrium relationship demonstrated that world food prices have a positive and trade liberalization has a negative effect on domestic food prices. In addition, in the long run, the effect of liquidity on the domestic food price of food is more than other factors. The estimated error-correction term indicates that in the long run, if a shock occurs to the domestic food price, the domestic market can adjust it by only 35% annually. Considering the fluctuations of global prices and exchange rates, and their impacts on domestic prices, it is necessary to pay attention to these fluctuations in revising trade policies.

Income inequality has gained prominence by exacerbating the economic stability of both developed and developing countries over the past few decades. The intensity of this issue is non-trivial with economies witnessing failure in policies, indecorous economic governance, and the challenging economic ideologies. Impact of financial development on economic growth is an important channel in economic issues on which plenty of discussions and challenges have arisen. Financial development involves various dimensions of financial systems and markets. Islamic financial development (IFD) is one of these dimensions. This research investigates the impact of IFD on income inequality in 28 countries active in the IFD area, including 14 high-income and 14 middle-income and low-income countries, over 2013-2017 by considering the Kuznets curve hypothesis, financial curve hypothesis, and Kuznets financial hypothesis and through spatial econometrics technique. Results indicate that Islamic financial development (IFD) decreases income inequality. In addition, the findings of the study reveal that there is no clear-cut evidence to support the proposition of economic development along with financial growth, which would reduce the problem of income inequality. The results show that the GDP per capita, Inflation and Trade Openness increase the income inequality. In contrast, General government final consumption expenditure, urban population and age dependency ratio, help countries reduce income inequality.

Based on the theoretical literature, there are different and sometimes conflicting approaches about the effects of the shadow economy on per capita income. Considering the importance of this issue for economic policy, this study examines the effects of the shadow economy on per capita income for the period of 2005- 2017 using a panel generalized two stage estimator (PG2SLS) in two groups of developing and developed countries. Based on the results obtained in both groups, the size of the shadow economy has a negative effect on the per capita income. Also, the effects of the shadow economy on per capita income in developed countries are much higher than in developing countries, which is somewhat countrary to the theoretical framework. Stimating the model with the assumption of endogeneity of the shadow economy, for developing countries these effects have become negative and significant, but for developed countries these effects do not have the necessary significance.

EXTENDED ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Investigating the link between monetary policy and stock returns has been very important for monetary policymakers and financial market investors to employ appropriate monetary policy and make the right investment decisions. Moreover, it has been of great interest to economists whether monetary policy has the same sort of effects in bull and bear stock market cycles. If a monetary policy has asymmetric impacts, policy makers should consider stock market cycles while implementing it. The objective of the present study is to investigate the reaction of stock returns to monetary policy and asymmetries over bull and bear cycles in Iran. Moreover, the impact of monetary policy on the switching probabilities between bull and bear regimes is also examined. The theoretical framework for explaining the asymmetries over stock market cycles can be described by the models with financial restrictions. According to these models, financial restrictions are more in bear cycles because of lower net worth in these periods. The lower the net worth, the greater the external finance premium should be. Higher external finance premium create a financial propagation mechanism which amplifies the interest rate effects of monetary policy (Garcia and Schaller, 2002; Chen, 2007). METHODOLOGY To examine asymmetries we employ Markov-switching (MS) models developed by Hamilton (1989). Unlike linear models this approach is nonlinear and can handle asymmetries. Besides, Hamilton algorithm endogenously determines bull and bear stock market cycles based on the data. In this study Hamilton (1989) MS model is modified to allow monetary policy to affect stock returns. Moreover, basic MS model is extended to a time-varying transition probability MS model (TVTP-MS) to allow the probability of switching between regimes depending on monetary policy. FINDINGS According to the findings MS models identify two regimes with different means and variances conventionally labelled as bull and bear. Average expected durations of bull and bear regimes show that both regimes are highly persistent. They persists on average around 10 to 12 quarters. The results of MS models show that monetary policy significantly affect stock returns only in bear cycles. When a monetary policy is measured by real M2, it has a positive impact on stock returns. However, when it is measured by real interest rate it negatively affects stock returns. In other words, an increase in real M2 raises stock returns while increasing real interest rate reduces returns.To measure the impact of monetary policy on the dynamics of switching between regimes we estimate a TVTP-MS model. The results indicate that an expansionary monetary policy raises the probability of remaining in a bull regime. Furthermore, an expansionary monetary policy reduces the probability of switching from a bull regime to a bear one. In addition, an expansionary monetary policy decreases the probability of being trapped in a bear market while it can increase the probability of switching from a bear market to a bull one. CONCLUSION The results of a modified MS model indicate that monetary policy significantly affect stock returns only in bear cycles. More specifically, increase in real M2 raises stock returns while increasing real interest rate reduce returns for both nominal and real returns in bear regimes. These findings are in line with the prediction of the models with financial restrictions. Finally, Empirical results from estimating TVTP-MS models suggest that an expansionary monetary policy raises the probability of remaining in a bull regime while reduces the probability of being trapped in a bear regime.As a policy implication, monetary policy makers should consider stock market cycles in implementing monetary policies. Especially in bear market periods implementing an expansionary monetary policy may lessen the probability of remaining in bear markets and will raise the probability of switching from a bear regime to a bull one. Moreover, stock market investors should consider that the impact of monetary policy on stock returns may depend on the phase of stock market.