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Kaufmann, Daniel
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Kaufmann, Daniel
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daniel.kaufmann@unine.ch
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- PublicationAccès librePrivate money and money market integration: the role of payments infrastructure in 19th century SwitzerlandUsing newly collected discount rate data for six Swiss cities, we find no evidence of increasing integration during a 30-year period of lightly regulated free banking. We attribute this to two structural issues: banks had incentives to protect their local monopolies, and the inherent instability of free banking meant that there was always a risk (which varied across banks) of a bank run. We use a novel counterfactual to show that these risks increased discount rate dispersion, and argue that as a result, public regulation of payments infrastructure was necessary for money market integration.
- PublicationAccès libreMulti-dimensional monetary policy shocks based on heteroscedasticityWe propose a two-step approach to estimate multi-dimensional monetary policy shocks and their causal effects requiring only daily financial market data and policy events. First, we combine a heteroscedasticity-based identification scheme with recursive zero restrictions along the term structure of interest rates to disentangle multi-dimensional monetary policy shocks and derive an instrumental variables estimator to estimate dynamic causal effects. Second, we propose to use the Kalman filter to compute the linear minimum mean-square-error prediction of the unobserved monetary policy shocks. We apply the approach to examine the causal effects of US monetary policy on the exchange rate. The heteroscedasticity-based monetary policy shocks display a relevant correlation with existing high-frequency surprises. In addition, their dynamic causal effects on the exchange rate are similar. This suggests the approach is a valid alternative if high-frequency identification schemes are not applicable.
- PublicationAccès libreThree essays in macroeconomics with applications in textual analysisL'analyse textuelle en économie consiste à examiner des données textuelles non structurées afin d'en extraire des informations sur les variables économiques. Cette approche se distingue de la lecture traditionnelle par sa capacité à traiter des volumes importants de texte et à générer des résultats reproductibles, révélant souvent des modèles que les lecteurs humains pourraient manquer. Avec l'essor des données numériques et des « large language models », l'analyse textuelle est devenue pertinente en économie, où elle aide à mesurer des variables difficiles à quantifier, à suivre les cycles économiques et à identifier des relations causales.
Cette thèse contribue à cette littérature en pleine expansion avec trois essais qui utilisent l'analyse textuelle pour répondre à des questions de macroéconomie.
Le premier chapitre développe un indicateur quotidien des cycles économiques pour la Suisse. En utilisant des données des marchés financiers et des articles de journaux, une « courbe de fièvre » est créée, offrant des prévisions plus précises de l'activité économique que les indicateurs existants.
Le deuxième chapitre se concentre sur le démêlage des effets des différents chocs de politique monétaire américaine sur le taux de change, en s'appuyant sur une nouvelle méthodologie qui identifie les chocs à partir des changements dans la matrice de variance-covariance des variables financières.
Le troisième chapitre construit un indicateur historique des cycles économiques pour la Suisse de 1821 à aujourd'hui. En utilisant des données textuelles telles que des archives d'entreprises et des journaux, une chronologie des fluctuations économiques est proposée, en phase avec les événements bien connus.
ABSTRACT:
Textual analysis in economics involves examining unstructured text data to extract meaningful insights about economic variables. This approach differs from traditional reading in its ability to handle extensive amounts of text and to generate reproducible results, often uncovering patterns that human readers might miss. With the rise of digital data and large language models, textual analysis has become increasingly relevant in economics, where it helps measure hard-to-quantify variables, track business cycles, and identify causal relationships.
This dissertation contributes to this growing literature with three essays that utilize textual analysis to address questions in macroeconomics.
The first chapter develops a daily business cycle indicator for Switzerland. Using financial market and news data, a timely “fever curve” is created, offering more accurate nowcasts of economic activity than existing indicators.
The second chapter focuses on disentangling the effects of different U.S. monetary policy shocks on the exchange rate based on a new methodology that identifies shocks based on changes in the variance-covariance matrix of financial variables.
The third chapter constructs a historical business cycle indicator for Switzerland from 1821 to the present. Using textual data from company records and newspapers, a chronology of Swiss economic fluctuations is provided, aligning with well-known events and offering new insights into historical business cycles. - PublicationAccès libreAI in economic research: A guide for students and instructorsThis report documents the use and misuse of generative artificial intelligence in academic economic research and provides guidelines for university students and instructors. It primarily addresses students and instructors in a master’s program in economics; however, the use cases and guidelines may be useful in other fields and academic research in general.
- PublicationAccès libreDo Sticky Wages Matter? New Evidence from Matched Firm Survey and Register Data(2022)
;Anne Kathrin FunkWe study the causal effects of downward nominal wage rigidity after a deflationary monetary policy shock using Swiss data on employee‐level contractual wages matched with income and employment from social security register data. We exploit the discontinuity around the origin of the wage growth distribution to compare the outcomes of individuals with wage freezes (treatment group) and small wage cuts (control group) before and after an unexpected decision by the Swiss National Bank leading to a 1% decline of the price level. Locally (that is, near the origin of the wage growth distribution), downward nominal wage rigidities cause a 4.4% decline in income and a 0.7 percentage point increase in the probability of unemployment. In the aggregate, income declines by 0.3% and the probability of unemployment increases by 0.05 percentage points. - PublicationAccès libreOvernight rate and signalling effects of central bank bills(2022)
;Fabio CanetgWe analyse the impact of interest-bearing central bank bills on financial market variables in Switzerland. The unique institutional setting allows us to identify the causal effects of two orthogonal shocks occurring on days with central bank bill auctions through heteroscedasticity: an overnight interest rate shock and a signalling shock. The first shock raises the overnight interest rate and modestly appreciates the exchange rate. The signalling shock appreciates the exchange rate more strongly. In addition, it lowers stock prices, long-term interest rates, as well as inflation expectations, and it raises corporate bond spreads. The signalling shock is economically more important for forward-looking variables than the overnight rate shock. The results suggest that liquidity-absorbing operations between official monetary policy decisions affect financial market variables by revealing information about the central bank’s future policy actions. - PublicationAccès libreDo Bonuses Offset the Allocative Effects of Downward Rigid Base Wages?(2022)
;Anne Kathrin FunkWe measure the labor market outcomes of employees with downward rigid base wages after an unexpected deflationary shock in Switzerland using a firm survey matched with Social Security register data. The employees that additionally receive downward flexible compensation, such as bonuses, are less likely to lose their job after a deflationary shock than those only receiving a base wage. Only a modest share of employees receives downward flexible compensation, however. Therefore, these compensation schemes do not offset the overall allocative effects of downward rigid base wages. - PublicationAccès libreA daily fever curve for the Swiss economy(2020-7-9)
; Because macroeconomic data is published with a substantial delay, assessing the health of the economy during the rapidly evolving COVID-19 crisis is challenging. We develop a fever curve for the Swiss economy using publicly available daily financial market and news data. The indicator can be computed with a delay of 1 day. Moreover, it is highly correlated with macroeconomic data and survey indicators of Swiss economic activity. Therefore, it provides timely and reliable warning signals if the health of the economy takes a turn for the worse. - PublicationAccès libreWas kann die SNB noch tun?(2020-5-17)
; ;Rathke, AlexanderSturm, Jan-EgbertDie SNB hält in der Corona-Krise an ihrer bisherigen Strategie fest. Es stellt sich die Frage, welche zusätzlichen Massnahmen sie ergreifen könnte, um einen schwerwiegenden Wirtschaftseinbruch abzumildern. Ein klar begrenzter, einmaliger Beitrag der SNB in den Ausgleichsfonds der ALV würde eine Erhöhung der Lohnnebenkosten verhindern und somit die Wirkung der automatischen Stabilisatoren unterstützen. - PublicationAccès libreWie weiter mit der Tiefzinspolitik? Szenarien und AlternativenDiese Studie zeigt wie sich ein vorzeitiger Ausstieg aus der Tiefzinspolitik auf den Wechselkurs und die schweizerische Wirtschaft auswirken würde. Ein überraschender Ausstieg aus der Tiefzinspolitik würde den Schweizer Franken um 3-7% aufwerten. Zudem würde dies zu einem Rückgang der Wirtschaftsaktivität und der Konsumentenpreise führen. Es gibt jedoch alternative geldpolitische Strategien, die den Franken schwächen und die Nominalzinsen erhöhen. Dies würde eine höhere Inflationsrate erfordern. Cette étude démontre les effets d'une sortie prématurée de la politique de taux d'intérêt bas sur le taux de change et l'économie suisse. Si la BNS venait à inopinement abandonner la politique de taux d'intérêt bas, le franc suisse s'apprecierait de 3 à 7%. En plus, l'activité économique et les prix à la consommation baisseraient. Cependant, il existe des stratégies alternatives de politique monétaire qui déprécient le franc suisse et augmentent les taux d'intérêt nominaux. Cela nécessiterait une augmentation de l'inflation. This study shows the effect of a premature exit from the low interest rate policy on the exchange rate and the Swiss economy. A premature exit from the low interest rate policy would appreciate the Swiss franc by 3-7%. In addition, economic activity and consumer prices would decline. However, there are alternative monetary policy strategies that depreciate the Swiss franc and raise nominal interest rates. This would require a higher inflation rate.