Department of Economics

Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for College of Business, Florida Atlantic University.

Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for College of Business, Florida Atlantic University.

Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for College of Business, Florida Atlantic University.

Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for College of Business, Florida Atlantic University.

For the last fifty years, the efficient market hypothesis has been the central
pillar of economic thought and touted by all, despite Sanford Grossman’ and
Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz’ objection in 1980. Andrew Lo updated the
efficient market hypothesis in 2004 to reconcile irrational human behavior and
cold, calculating automatons. This thesis utilizes 33 years of oil futures, GARCH
regressions, and the Jensen-Shannon informational criteria to provide extensive
empirical objections to informational efficiency. The results demonstrate
continuously inefficient oil future markets which exhibit decreased informational
efficiency during recessionary periods, advocating the adaptive market
hypothesis over the efficient market hypothesis.

In finance, the term 'duration' means the effective length of a financial obligation which is discharged in installments. This concept has a number of applications in finance like calculating the change in the price of bonds due to the change in interest rates, immunizing the value of bonds, etc. Common stocks are also financial obligations and are considered to have durations. For bonds and similar strong contractual obligations, duration and its applications are clear cut and are used widely. For common stocks duration evaluation is difficult and its practical applications hardly exist. Moreover, there are no publications of numerical results where duration was applied to common stocks. These facts make it doubtful whether duration can be applied to common stocks. The results of the empirical research here, with numerical results, make it doubtful that duration can be applied to common stocks or to explain price fluctuations of common stocks.

This thesis reviews the causes of and policies used to end hyperinflation using the Brazilian experience between 1980 and 1995. The work of Thomas Sargent in (Hall, 1982) and Phillip Cagan (1956) found a number of common features regarding the causes and the ending of hyperinflation in a number of European countries in the early 1920s and 1940s. They noted that vigorous monetary and fiscal measures were needed to finally end the rapid rise in prices. Second, there was a final jump in the money supply in the months after the rise of prices had ended. Third, the price level did not decline after inflation terminated. And fourth, in each case, the tax burden was increased (through an increase in taxes and a cut in government expenditures). The thesis found that the Brazilian hyperinflation displayed the characteristics previously found by Cagan and Sargent. Furthermore, the policies used to end the inflation and resulting impacts were very much in line with the experiences of the countries studied by Cagan and Sargent.

This study subjects the world's major stock markets to cointegration tests in an effort to respond to the common investigation that the major equity markets tend to move together with the U.S. market. The relationships between the United States and Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom will be investigated. Not only will the entire period of 1970-1991.3 be examined, but the pre-1987 crash and the post-1987 crash periods as well. In addition, the Chow test will be employed to probe for any structural change occurrence relating to the worldwide stock market crash of October 1987. Evidence of cointegration is found to exist vis-a-vis the U.S. with the U.K. and Germany for the entire period; however, since the crash, only the U.K. and Japan have exhibited equilibrium relations. Absolutely no cointegration was detected for Canada nor France with the U.S. market.

Countless studies have been conducted to determine how the real estate market reacts to the economy. The most accurate studies contemplate both macroeconomic and microeconomic variables simultaneously. In analyzing real estate markets, both monetary policy and regional factors must be examined to obtain an accurate portrayal of both national and local trends. One regional factor that has affected all real estate markets, especially in the southern states, is local land use legislation. Due to rapid increases in population, various states have enacted growth management policies to ensure stable expansion within their regions. This study utilizes data for Broward County, Florida, to assess the impact of land use legislation on the local real estate market in comparison to macroeconomic variables. The empirical results clearly demonstrate that legislation can exert a greater influence on local housing market activity during certain periods than can macroeconomic factors such as interest rates.

The main contribution of this thesis is the determination of how long it takes for an adjustment in the short-term interest rate to effect inflation. In order to ascertain this, a good amount of economic theory is covered, including a rudimentary explanation of inflation and interest rates, a brief history of monetary policy in the United States, an analysis of the relationship between long- and short-term interest rates, the importance of credibility and inertia, and a detailed review of interest rate policy since 1979. This, in conjunction with empirical analysis, does in fact offer an answer to this question.