An Event Study of COVID-19 Central Bank Quantitative Easing in Advanced and Emerging Economies
Essays in Honor of M. Hashem Pesaran: Prediction and Macro Modeling
ISBN: 978-1-80262-062-7, eISBN: 978-1-80262-061-0
Publication date: 18 January 2022
Abstract
This chapter conducts an event study of 30 quantitative easing (QE) announcements made by 21 central banks on daily government bond yields and bilateral US dollar exchange rates in March and April 2020, in the midst of the global financial turmoil triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. The chapter also investigates the transmission of innovations to long-term interest rates in a standard GVAR model estimated with quarterly pre-COVID-19 data. The authors find that QE has not lost effectiveness in advanced economies and that its international transmission is consistent with the working of long-run uncovered interest rate parity and a large dollar shortage shock during the COVID-19 period. In emerging markets, the QE impact on bond yields is much stronger and its transmission to exchange rates is qualitatively different than in advanced economies. The GVAR evidence that the authors report illustrates the Fed’s pivotal role in the global transmission of long-term interest rate shocks, but also the ample scope for country-specific interventions to affect local financial market conditions, even after controlling for common factors and spillovers from other countries. The GVAR evidence also shows that QE interventions can have sizable real effects on output driven by a very persistent impact on long-term interest rates.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This chapter is prepared for the Conference in Honor of M. Hashem Pesaran. We thank Alexander Chudik, Cheng Hsiao, and Allan Timmermann (the conference organizers), M. Hashem Pesaran, and conference participants for comments and suggestions. We are also grateful to Rashad Ahmed, Gianluca Benigno, Rich Clarida, Tito Cordella, Karen Dynan, Jason Furman, Alicia Garcia Herrero, Jens Iverson, Daniel Nathan, Elina Ribakova, Siyi Shen, Jeongwon Son, Stephen Williamson, Beth Wilson, Stefania D’Amico, and Charles Wyplosz for helpful comments and discussions. Reid Brotmann provided excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are of the authors.
Citation
Rebucci, A., Hartley, J.S. and Jiménez, D. (2022), "An Event Study of COVID-19 Central Bank Quantitative Easing in Advanced and Emerging Economies", Chudik, A., Hsiao, C. and Timmermann, A. (Ed.) Essays in Honor of M. Hashem Pesaran: Prediction and Macro Modeling (Advances in Econometrics, Vol. 43A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 291-322. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0731-90532021000043A014
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022 Alessandro Rebucci, Jonathan S. Hartley and Daniel Jiménez