Previsões de inflação com a curva de Phillips

O objetivo do trabalho investigar qualidade das previsões da taxa de inflação brasileira utilizando-se uma alternativa tradicional unemployment rate Phillips curve. Utilizaremos diversas variáveis que espelham nível de atividade econômica no Brasil em substituição ao hiato entre taxa de desemprego taxa natural de desemprego (NAIRU). Essas variáveis serão trabalhadas e baseado em critérios mencionados ao longo do estudo, serão classificadas por nível de erro de previsibilidade. objetivo ao final do trabalho sugerir indicadores variáveis de nível de atividade disponíveis publicamente que melhor possam interagir com dinâmica da inflação brasileira.

Forecasting electricity load demand: analysis of the 2001 rationing period in Brazil

This paper studies the electricity load demand behavior during the 2001 rationing period, which was implemented because of the Brazilian energetic crisis. The hourly data refers to a utility situated in the southeast of the country. We use the model proposed by Soares and Souza (2003), making use of generalized long memory to model the seasonal behavior of the load. The rationing period is shown to have imposed a structural break in the series, decreasing the load at about 20%. Even so, the forecast accuracy is decreased only marginally, and the forecasts rapidly readapt to the new situation. The forecast errors from this model also permit verifying the public response to pieces of information released regarding the crisis.

Estudo comparativo do poder preditivo do PIB brasileiro por variáveis macroeconômicas em relação ao conjunto de variáveis da estrutura de taxa de juros

O trabalho busca comparar dois conjuntos de informações para a projeção das variações do PIB brasileiro: através de modelos econométricos aplicados sobre a série univariada do PIB, e a aplicação dos mesmos modelos, mas contemplando adicionalmente o conjunto de informação com dados da estrutura a termo de taxa de juros de swap PRÉ-DI. O objetivo é verificar, assim como descrito na literatura internacional, se informações de variáveis financeiras tem a capacidade de incrementar o poder preditivo de projeções de variáveis macroeconômicas, na medida em que esses dados também embutem as expectativas dos agentes em relação ao desenvolvimento do cenário econômico. Adicionalmente, o mesmo procedimento aplicado para os dados brasileiros é aplicado sobre as informações dos Estados Unidos, buscando poder fornecer ao estudo uma base de comparação sobre os dados, tamanho da amostra e estágio de maturidade das respectivas economias. Como conclusão do resultado do trabalho está o fato de que foi possível obter um modelo no qual a inclusão do componente de mercado apresenta menores erros de projeção do que as projeções apenas univariadas, no entanto, os ganhos de projeção não demonstram grande vantagem comparativa a ponto de poder capturar o efeito de antecipação do mercado em relação ao indicador econômico como em alguns casos norte-americanos. Adicionalmente o estudo demonstra que para este trabalho e amostra de dados, mesmo diante de diferentes modelos econométricos de previsão, as projeções univariadas apresentaram resultados similares.

Previsão da inflação no Boletim Focus: uma avaliação

Este trabalho investiga e analisa as diferenças das taxas anuais de inflação realizadas com relação às previsões dos agentes econômicos do mercado para um ano à frente. Os índices analisados foram o IPCA, IPA-M, IGP-M e o IGP-DI. Referente à previsão dos agentes para cada índice, foi feito uma análise estatística e uma análise de séries temporais através do modelo ARIMA. Este último explicou o erro de previsão dos agentes econômicos através de valores passados, ou defasados, do próprio erro de previsão, além dos termos estocásticos.

Compliance com os requisitos de divulgação do IFRS - International Financial Reporting Standards e sua relação com o erro de previsão dos analistas de mercado

O objetivo deste estudo é fazer uma análise da relação entre o erro de previsão dos analistas de mercado quanto à rentabilidade das empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA S.A. (Bovespa) e os requerimentos de divulgação do International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Isto foi feito através da regressão do erro de previsão dos analistas, utilizando a metodologia de dados em painel no ano de implantação do IFRS no Brasil, 2010, e, complementarmente em 2012, para referenciamento desses dados. Partindo desse pressuposto, foi determinado o erro de previsão das empresas listadas na Bovespa através de dados de rentabilidade (índice de lucro por ação/earnings per share) previstos e realizados, disponíveis nas bases de dados I/B/E/S Earnings Consensus Information, providos pela plataforma Thomson ONE Investment Banking e Economática Pro®, respectivamente. Os resultados obtidos indicam uma relação negativa entre o erro de previsão e o cumprimento dos requisitos de divulgação do IFRS, ou seja, quanto maior a qualidade nas informações divulgadas, menor o erro de previsão dos analistas. Portanto, esses resultados sustentam a perspectiva de que o grau de cumprimento das normas contábeis é tão ou mais importante do que as próprias normas. Adicionalmente, foi verificado que quando a empresa listada na BM&FBOVESPA é vinculada a Agência Reguladora, seu erro de previsão não é alterado. Por fim, esses resultados sugerem que é importante que haja o aprimoramento dos mecanismos de auditoria das firmas quanto ao cumprimento dos requerimentos normativos de divulgação, tais como: penalidades pela não observância da norma (enforcement), estruturas de governança corporativa e auditorias interna e externa.

Estimating Relative Risk Aversion, Risk-Neutral and Real-World Densities using Brazilian Real Currency Options

Building Risk-Neutral Densities (RND) from options data can provide market-implied expectations about the future behavior of a financial variable. And market expectations on financial variables may influence macroeconomic policy decisions. It can be useful also for corporate and financial institutions decision making. This paper uses the Liu et all (2007) approach to estimate the option-implied Risk-neutral densities from the Brazilian Real/US Dollar exchange rate distribution. We then compare the RND with actual exchange rates, on a monthly basis, in order to estimate the relative risk-aversion of investors and also obtain a Real-world density for the exchange rate. We are the first to calculate relative risk-aversion and the option-implied Real World Density for an emerging market currency. Our empirical application uses a sample of Brazilian Real/US Dollar options traded at BM&F-Bovespa from 1999 to 2011. The RND is estimated using a Mixture of Two Log-Normals distribution and then the real-world density is obtained by means of the Liu et al. (2007) parametric risktransformations. The relative risk aversion is calculated for the full sample. Our estimated value of the relative risk aversion parameter is around 2.7, which is in line with other articles that have estimated this parameter for the Brazilian Economy, such as Araújo (2005) and Issler and Piqueira (2000). Our out-of-sample evaluation results showed that the RND has some ability to forecast the Brazilian Real exchange rate. Abe et all (2007) found also mixed results in the out-of-sample analysis of the RND forecast ability for exchange rate options. However, when we incorporate the risk aversion into RND in order to obtain a Real-world density, the out-of-sample performance improves substantially, with satisfactory results in both Kolmogorov and Berkowitz tests. Therefore, we would suggest not using the “pure” RND, but rather taking into account risk aversion in order to forecast the Brazilian Real exchange rate.

Speculative attacks on debts and optimum currency area: a welfare analysis

Traditionally the issue of an optimum currency area is based on the theoretical underpinnings developed in the 1960s by McKinnon [13], Kenen [12] and mainly Mundell [14], who is concerned with the benefits of lowering transaction costs vis-à- vis adjustments to asymmetrical shocks. Recently, this theme has been reappraised with new aspects included in the analysis, such as: incomplete markets, credibility of monetary policy and seigniorage, among others. For instance, Neumeyer [15] develops a general equilibrium model with incomplete asset markets and shows that a monetary union is desirable when the welfare gains of eliminating the exchange rate volatility are greater than the cost of reducing the number of currencies to hedge against risks. In this paper, we also resort to a general equilibrium model to evaluate financial aspects of an optimum currency area. Our focus is to appraise the welfare of a country heavily dependent on foreign capital that may suffer a speculative attack on its public debt. The welfare analysis uses as reference the self-fulfilling debt crisis model of Cole and Kehoe ([6], [7] and [8]), which is employed here to represent dollarization. Under this regime, the national government has no control over its monetary policy, the total public debt is denominated in dollars and it is in the hands of international bankers. To describe a country that is a member of a currency union, we modify the original Cole-Kehoe model by including public debt denominated in common currency, only purchased by national consumers. According to this rule, the member countries regain some influence over the monetary policy decision, which is, however, dependent on majority voting. We show that for specific levels of dollar debt, to create inflation tax on common-currency debt in order to avoid an external default is more desirable than to suspend its payment, which is the only choice available for a dollarized economy when foreign creditors decide not to renew their loans.

A panel data approach to economic forecasting: the bias-corrected average forecast

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to econometric forecasting of stationary and ergodic time series within a panel-data framework. Our key element is to employ the (feasible) bias-corrected average forecast. Using panel-data sequential asymptotics we show that it is potentially superior to other techniques in several contexts. In particular, it is asymptotically equivalent to the conditional expectation, i.e., has an optimal limiting mean-squared error. We also develop a zeromean test for the average bias and discuss the forecast-combination puzzle in small and large samples. Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the feasible bias-corrected average forecast in finite samples. An empirical exercise based upon data from a well known survey is also presented. Overall, theoretical and empirical results show promise for the feasible bias-corrected average forecast.

A panel data approach to economic forecasting: the bias-corrected average forecast

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to econometric forecasting of stationary and ergodic time series within a panel-data framework. Our key element is to employ the bias-corrected average forecast. Using panel-data sequential asymptotics we show that it is potentially superior to other techniques in several contexts. In particular it delivers a zero-limiting mean-squared error if the number of forecasts and the number of post-sample time periods is sufficiently large. We also develop a zero-mean test for the average bias. Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of this new technique in finite samples. An empirical exercise, based upon data from well known surveys is also presented. Overall, these results show promise for the bias-corrected average forecast.

A panel data approach to economic forecasting: the bias-corrected average forecast

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to econometric forecasting of stationary and ergodic time series within a panel-data framework. Our key element is to employ the (feasible) bias-corrected average forecast. Using panel-data sequential asymptotics we show that it is potentially superior to other techniques in several contexts. In particular, it is asymptotically equivalent to the conditional expectation, i.e., has an optimal limiting mean-squared error. We also develop a zeromean test for the average bias and discuss the forecast-combination puzzle in small and large samples. Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the feasible bias-corrected average forecast in finite samples. An empirical exercise, based upon data from a well known survey is also presented. Overall, these results show promise for the feasible bias-corrected average forecast.

Common currency and economic integration in Mercosur

A América Latina tem uma longa história de tentativas de alcançar uma integração regional, embora seu sucesso tenha sido modesto. Este trabalho procura mostrar que isso essencialmente ocorre não tanto pelas práticas protecionistas nos vários países, mas devido à falta de uma moeda comum, ou, pelo menos, de uma taxa de câmbio rigorosamente administrada. Os autores analisaram o critério da área ótima de moeda que mostra ser prudente aumentar a integração econômica antes de tentar implementar a coordenação das taxas de câmbio. Entretanto, nós mostramos que no Mercosul já existem as condições mínimas para começar a trabalhar nessa direção. A diminuição da instabilidade cambial pode encorajar a entrada de investimentos e o comércio nas economias latino-americanas. Os autores também desenvolveram um exercício simplificado para entender como poderia ser viável alcançar estabilidade da taxa de câmbio em nos dois maiores países da região (Brasil e Argentina) e avançar na adoção de uma moeda comum.

Speculative attacks on debts, dollarization and optimum currency areas

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of the financial aspects of dollarization and optimum currency areas. Based on the model of self-fulfilling debt crisis developed by Cole and Kehoe [4], it is possible to evaluate the comparative welfare of economies, which either keep their local currency and an independent monetary policy, join a monetary union or adopt dollarization. In the two former monetary regimes, governments can issue debt denominated, respectively, in local and common currencies, which is completely purchased by national consumers. Given this ability, governments may decide to impose an inflation tax on these assets and use the revenues so collected to avoid an external debt crises. While the country that issues its own currency takes this decision independently, a country belonging to a monetary union depends on the joint decision of all member countries about the common monetary policy. In this way, an external debt crises may be avoided under the local and common currency regimes, if, respectively, the national and the union central banks have the ability to do monetary policy, represented by the reduction in the real return on the bonds denominated in these currencies. This resource is not available under dollarization. In a dollarized economy, the loss of control over national monetary policy does not allow adjustments for exogenous shocks that asymmetrically affect the client and the anchor countries, but credibility is strengthened. On the other hand, given the ability to inflate the local currency, the central bank may be subject to the political influence of a government not so strongly concerned with fiscal discipline, which reduces the welfare of the economy. In a similar fashion, under a common currency regime, the union central bank may also be under the influence of a group of countries to inflate the common currency, even though they do not face external restrictions. Therefore, the local and common currencies could be viewed as a way to provide welfare enhancing bankruptcy, if it is not abused. With these peculiarities of monetary regimes in mind, we simulate the levels of economic welfare for each, employing recent data for the Brazilian economy.

The forward- and the equity-premium puzzles: two symptoms of the same illness?

We build a pricing kernel using only US domestic assets data and check whether it accounts for foreign markets stylized facts that escape consumption based models. By interpreting our stochastic discount factor as the projection of a pricing kernel from a fully specified model in the space of returns, our results indicate that a model that accounts for the behavior of domestic assets goes a long way toward accounting for the behavior of foreign assets. We address predictability issues associated with the forward premium puzzle by: i) using instruments that are known to forecast excess returns in the moments restrictions associated with Euler equations, and; ii) by pricing Lustig and Verdelhan (2007)'s foreign currency portfolios. Our results indicate that the relevant state variables that explain foreign-currency market asset prices are also the driving forces behind U.S. domestic assets behavior.

The forward- and the equity-premium puzzles: two symptoms of the same illness?

Using information on US domestic financial data only, we build a stochastic discount factor—SDF— and check whether it accounts for foreign markets stylized facts that escape consumption based models. By interpreting our SDF as the projection of a pricing kernel from a fully specified model in the space of returns, our results indicate that a model that accounts for the behavior of domestic assets goes a long way toward accounting for the behavior of foreign assets prices. We address predictability issues associated with the forward premium puzzle by: i) using instruments that are known to forecast excess returns in the moments restrictions associated with Euler equations, and; ii) by pricing Lustig and Verdelhan (2007)’s foreign currency portfolios. Our results indicate that the relevant state variables that explain foreign-currency market asset prices are also the driving forces behind U.S. domestic assets behavior.