Constantinos Alexiou, Emmanouil Trachanas and Sofoklis Vogiazas
The authors explore the impact of financialization on income inequality for a panel of 19 OECD countries over the period 2000–2017. The authors control for the effect of banking…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explore the impact of financialization on income inequality for a panel of 19 OECD countries over the period 2000–2017. The authors control for the effect of banking crises, credit market regulation and globalization, among other factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use three proxies for income inequality and four proxies for financialization. The authors employ a panel fixed effects approach using Driscoll and Kraay’s (1998) nonparametric covariance matrix estimator, which produces standard errors that are robust to general forms of cross-sectional dependence.
Findings
The authors provide evidence which to a great extent supports the view that the process of financialization has increased income inequality. In the disposable Gini specifications, two out of the four financialization measures are found to significantly contribute to rising inequality whilst in the specification with the market income Gini coefficient, three out of the four financialization proxies appear to adversely affect inequality. In the specification with the Gini coefficient based on manufacturing pay, the evidence is weak. Furthermore, trade unions appear to play a significant role in reducing inequality in two out of the three Gini specifications while the effect of credit market regulation is rather ambiguous.
Originality/value
The authors’ findings suggest a positive relationship between financialization and income inequality; however, the results depend on the proxies used to measure financialization and income inequality. The authors conclude that the process of financialization in triggering income inequality is complex and merits additional research.
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Constantinos Alexiou and Emmanouil Trachanas
Motivated by the scant available evidence, this paper explores the relationship between government political party orientation and infant mortality.
Abstract
Purpose
Motivated by the scant available evidence, this paper explores the relationship between government political party orientation and infant mortality.
Design/methodology/approach
A panel quantile methodology is applied to a data set that consists of 15 countries of the G20 group over the period 2000–2018. The authors control for heterogeneous parameters across countries and quantiles and obtain estimates across the different points of the conditional distribution of the dependent variable.
Findings
The findings support the hypothesis that political party orientation has a significant effect on a population health indicator such as infant mortality. The analysis suggests that, to a great extent, left-wing government parties contribute to better health outcomes – when compared to right and centre political parties – both individually as well as interacted with government health expenditure. Moreover, the impact of redistributing policies appears to be of a paramount importance in alleviating infant mortality, while more education and lower unemployment can also contribute to better health outcomes.
Originality/value
The authors explore the relationship between the nature of government political party orientation (i.e. right, centre and left) and infant mortality whilst at the same time gauging the mediating effect of party orientation via government health expenditure on infant mortality. Additional aspects of the impact of other control variables, such as income inequality, unemployment and education on infant mortality are also investigated.
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Alexander Lubis, Constantinos Alexiou and Joseph G. Nellis
This paper examines the impact of using the reserve requirements, combined with foreign exchange (FX) intervention, as key instruments in an inflation-targeting framework.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the impact of using the reserve requirements, combined with foreign exchange (FX) intervention, as key instruments in an inflation-targeting framework.
Design/methodology/approach
In the context of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) framework and using Bayesian techniques, the authors estimate a model for the Indonesian economy using quarterly data spanning the period 2005Q2–2019Q4.
Findings
The reserve requirement is found to assume a complementary role to that of the interest rate policy and FX intervention when used to stabilise the macroeconomy.
Originality/value
This paper provides a benchmark for other emerging countries that consider adopting the inflation targeting framework and impose an FX intervention as part of their monetary policy.
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Constantinos Alexiou and Sofoklis Vogiazas
Housing prices in the UK offer an inspiring, yet a complex and under-explored research area. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical factors that affect UK’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Housing prices in the UK offer an inspiring, yet a complex and under-explored research area. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical factors that affect UK’s housing prices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilize the recently developed nonlinear ARDL approach of Shin et al. (2014) over the period 1969–2016.
Findings
The authors find that both the long-run and short-run impact of the price-to-rent (PTR) ratio and credit-to-GDP ratio on house prices (HP) is asymmetric whilst ambiguous results are established for mortgage rates, industrial production and equities. Apart from the novel framework of analysis, this study also establishes a positive association between HP and the PTR ratio which suggests a speculative behaviour and could imply the formation of a housing bubble.
Originality/value
It is the first study for the UK housing market that explores the underlying fundamental relationships by looking at nonlinearities hence, allowing HP to be tied by asymmetric relationships in the long as well as in the short run. Modelling the inherent nonlinearities enhances significantly the understanding of UK housing market which can prove useful for policymaking and forecasting purposes.
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Billy Prananta and Constantinos Alexiou
The authors explore the relationship between the exchange rate, bond yield and the stock market as well as the effect of capital market dynamics on the exchange rate before and…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explore the relationship between the exchange rate, bond yield and the stock market as well as the effect of capital market dynamics on the exchange rate before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ a non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) methodology using daily data of the Indonesian economy over the period 2012–2021.
Findings
Whilst, over the full sample period, the authors find no cointegration between the exchange rate, the 10-year bond yield and stock market, for the COVID-19 period, evidence of cointegration is present. Furthermore, the results suggest that asymmetric effects are evident both in the short as well as the long run.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between the exchange rate, bond yield and the stock market as well as the effect of capital market dynamics on the exchange rate before and during the COVID-19 pandemic has been explored in the case of the Indonesian economy.
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Constantinos Alexiou and Emmanouil Trachanas
Despite the existing conceptual analysis on the impact of trade unions on employees' welfare and the wider economy, the mediating effect of political party orientation (i.e.…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the existing conceptual analysis on the impact of trade unions on employees' welfare and the wider economy, the mediating effect of political party orientation (i.e., right, centre and left) on income inequality remains under researched. In this paper, the authors empirically explore the relationship between the nature of political party orientation, trade unions and income inequality.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use three different measures of income inequality and dummy variables that capture government party orientation with respect to economic policy for a panel of 17 OECD economies over the period 2000–2016. The authors employ a panel fixed effects approach and the Driscoll and Kraay's (1998) nonparametric covariance matrix estimator.
Findings
The empirical evidence indicates that strong unions and, to some extent, left party governance, are fundamental institutional elements to combat rising levels of income inequality whilst countries dominated by right-wing political parties appear to exacerbate income inequality. The results pertaining to the impact of centrist parties on income inequality are ambiguous suggesting that a potential fragmentation may exist in their political approach.
Originality/value
The evidence generated can have significant policy ramifications in alleviating rising levels of income inequality as well in relation to the declining unionization rates observed across advanced economies.
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Constantinos Alexiou, Joseph Nellis and Nikolaos Papageorgiadis
This paper aims to study the effects of the strength of patent enforcement on economic growth following the signing of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the effects of the strength of patent enforcement on economic growth following the signing of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the role of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in mediating and enhancing this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a generalized method of moments methodology, use is made of a new longitudinal index measuring the strength of enforcement-related aspects of patent systems.
Findings
Stronger levels of patent enforcement have a significant positive effect on the economic growth of both developed and developing countries. Importantly, inward FDI flows have a mediating role in positively boosting this effect for all countries and particularly for developed countries.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical study of the role of the strength of patent enforcement (“law in action”) in stimulating economic growth, as previous empirical studies have focused on the effect of the strength of patent law protection (“law on the books”). The failure in the past to allow for “law in action” was mainly due to the lack of available data that could proxy for the strength of patent enforcement levels in a country. This study utilizes a newly published, longitudinal index that captures the strength of the enforcement-related aspects of patent systems.
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Constantinos Alexiou and Sofoklis Vogiazas
We investigate the impact of the strength of intellectual property (IP) institutions on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).
Abstract
Purpose
We investigate the impact of the strength of intellectual property (IP) institutions on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).
Design/methodology/approach
We use two different measures of IP on a sample of 21 European countries in the period 2003–2015. Panel quantile methodology is applied to assess the relationship at several points of the conditional distribution of OFDI.
Findings
We provide novel and robust evidence revealing a highly negative relationship between OFDI and the strength of IP institutions in Europe. This relationship which is more pronounced in the median and upper-quantiles, bolsters the conventional theoretical expectation that high institutional distance between home and host countries is inversely related to OFDI. Equally important is the preliminary evidence of the non-linear impact of IP at the median and upper-quantiles as well as the impact of other controlling variables such as GDP, population, trade openness and unit labour costs on Chinese OFDI.
Originality/value
The ensuing theoretical implications are of great significance for future studies on the institutional distance and drivers of OFDI by emerging economies as well as for European policymakers in so far as the strengthening of IP institutions constitutes a gravitational point for inward investment flows from China.
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Glauco De Vita, Constantinos Alexiou, Emmanouil Trachanas and Yun Luo
Despite decades of research, the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and foreign direct investment (FDI) remains ambiguous. Using a recently developed patent…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite decades of research, the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and foreign direct investment (FDI) remains ambiguous. Using a recently developed patent enforcement index (along with a broader IPR index) and a large sectoral country-to-country FDI dataset, the authors revisit the FDI-IPR relationship by testing the impact of IPRs on UK and US outward FDI (OFDI) flows as well as earnings from outward FDI (EOFDI).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use disaggregated data for up to 9 distinct sectors of economic activity from both the US and UK for OFDI flows and EOFDI, for a panel of up to 42 developed and developing countries over sample periods from 1998 to 2015. The authors employ a panel fixed effects (FE) approach that allows exploiting the longitudinal properties of the data using Driscoll and Kraay's (1998) nonparametric covariance matrix estimator.
Findings
The authors do not find any consistent evidence in support of the hypothesis that countries' strength of IPR protection or enforcement affects inward FDI, or that sector of investment matters. The results prove robust to sensitivity checks that include an alternative broader measure of IPR strength, analyses across sub-samples disaggregated according to the strength of countries' IPRs as well as developing vs developed economies and an extended specification accounting for dynamic effects of the response of FDI to both previous investment levels and IPR (patent) protection.
Originality/value
The authors make use of the largest most granular sectoral country-to-country FDI dataset employed to date in the analysis of the FDI-IPR nexus with disaggregated data for OFDI and EOFDI across up to 9 distinct sectors of economic activity from both the US and UK The authors employ a more sophisticated measure of IPR strength, the patent index proposed by Papageorgiadis et al. (2014), which places emphasis on the effectiveness of enforcement practices as perceived by managers, together with the overall administrative effectiveness and efficiency of the national patent system.
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Constantinos Alexiou, Sofoklis Vogiazas and Nikita Solovev
The relationship between institutional quality and economic growth is revisited.
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between institutional quality and economic growth is revisited.
Design/methodology/approach
A panel cointegration methodology and causality analysis are applied to 27 postsocialist economies over the period from 1996 to 2016.
Findings
Utilizing the Worldwide Governance Indicators as a means of assessing the quality of institutions, it is found that in the long run, economic growth is positively associated with the rule of law and voice and accountability. In the short run, regulatory quality retains a positive effect, but voice and accountability demonstrate a puzzling negative effect on economic growth that merits further analysis. In exploring the causal dimension of our variables, supporting evidence of the strong links between the quality of institutions and economic growth is provided, hence rendering robust results.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that an ARDL methodological framework, which addresses potential endogeneity issues, is used to investigate the relationship between institutional quality and growth in the context of postsocialist economies.