C33 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal ModelsReturn

Nowadays, the examination of bond markets is becoming more prominent as there have been significant changes in the financial market and economic policy processes due to the diverse economic shocks. The room for manoeuvre available for monetary policy is no longer a function of base rates, but rather of the growth of central bank balance sheets – which can also have side-effects on bond yield progresses. Also, QE is only the privilege of large central banks, if smaller central banks use these programs the yield premium will be elevated. Six European small open economies (Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden) outside the Eurozone were investigated on quarterly basis between 2007 and 2020 with Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration technique.  The aim of our research was to identify the effects of the recent economic shocks - the economic crisis of 2008, the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis and the current corona virus epidemic - on the evolution of international bond yield premia time series in the light of monetary policy, macro variables and financial markets. The results were typically in line with expectations, except that no significant bond market impact of portfolio capital flow could be measured on the sample. The main outcome proved that the unconventional monetary policy increased yield premiums in these analysed countries, meaning that QE is not for small and open economies.

The paper examines and analyzes the process of real convergence in the Visegrad countries at regional level NUTS 2. Theoretical background of the paper defines the methodological concept and definition of convergence, focusing on the concept of beta convergence, which is the case of unconditional (absolute) convergence. This approach is based on the neoclassical growth model. The empirical part of the article focuses on the analysis of beta convergence in NUTS 2 regions of the Visegrad Four countries in the reference period 1995 - 2006. Beta convergence is analyzed by nonlinear regression econometric model, which is formulated in two variations based on the mathematical concept of deterministic convergence. To estimate both models, indicator of gross domestic product per capita in constant prices was used.