Simón Sosvilla-Rivero

• Ph D in Economics
• Professor (Full) at Complutense University of Madrid

We analyse the impact of financial restructuring and economic crises on the evolution of productivity growth within bank branches. We apply the DEA-Malmquist framework for this analysis, utilizing both production and profit approaches. The study is based on data derived from the annual balance sheets of a major Spanish commercial bank for 2011–2014...

This paper empirically investigates the short- and long-term impact of public expenditure on economic growth. We use annual data from 28 European Union (EU) countries for the 1995–2022 period and estimate a growth model augmented for public expenditure employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) panel data approach. Our results support the...

Using data from 37 OECD countries during the 1980–2020 period, this paper seeks to quantify the potential role and impacts of pension expenditures for reducing old-age poverty (66–75 and 76-and-over age groups). To that end, we applied panel data techniques controlling for key macroeconomic and demographic variables. Our results suggest that pensio...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the propagation of consumer and business confidence in the euro area with a particular focus on the global financial crisis (GFC), the European sovereign debt crisis (ESDC) and the COVID-19-induced Great Lockdown. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply Diebold and Yilmaz’s connectedness framew...

Multiple interconnected channels link banks and governments: the sovereign-exposure channel (banks hold significant amounts of sovereign debt), the safety net channel (government guarantees protect banks), and the macroeconomic channel (bank and government health affect and is affected by economic activity). However, the sovereign-bank nexus in eur...

The choice of the optimal sovereign risk indicator is crucial in the context of the euro area (EA) countries, which faced a fierce sovereign debt crisis. Traditional indicators of sovereign risk (CDS, bond yields, and credit rating) do not take into consideration the priority structure of creditors and are highly influenced by market sentiment. We...

We examine the relationship between currency and commodity returns around the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. We find that the expected positive contemporaneous relationship between currency and commodity returns reverses and becomes negative during this period of extreme geopolitical risks. In addition to commodity returns, currency returns...

Previous research considered the impacts of fiscal policy on economic activity in Spain using Vector autoregression (VAR) models. In this paper, we contribute to the existing literature by making use of autoregressive distributed lag estimation procedures that present significant advantages over the VAR alternative. Our econometric methodology is d...

In this paper, we use several indicators of trade informativeness to search for informed traders on the final trading days of Banco Popular, the first and only bank resolution case to date in the euro area. In particular, we use the model proposed by Preve and Tse (2013) to estimate the adjusted daily probability of informed trading and the probabi...

This article tries to shed light on the historical analogies of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, we compare the sample distribution of Dow Jones Industrial Average Index returns for a 420-day period (from 2 January 2020 to 31 August 2021), with all historical sample distributions of returns computed using a moving window of 420 days in t...

Faced with the need to adjust public pension systems to meet changing demographic, economic and social conditions, most developed countries have created government reserve funds to ensure macroeconomic sustainability. This paper aims to study the importance that this reserve fund plays in the sustainability of the Spanish public pension system. Usi...

We use panel data for 115 countries over the period 1995-2016 to model the heterogeneity of the debt-growth nexus along with the underlying factors that might explain it. The grouped fixed effect (GFE) estimator is used to endogenously classify countries into groups and a multinomial logit model is employed to explore the drivers of the detected he...

Using a unique database, this paper examines the interconnection among stress indicators of the Spanish financial markets during the period of January 1999 to April 2021, applying both the connectedness framework and the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressive connectedness approach. Our results suggest that 15.67% of the total variance of for...

This paper examines the interconnection between four implied volatility indices representative of the investors' consensus view of expected stock market volatility at different maturities during the period from 3 January 2011 to 4 May 2018. To this end, we first perform static analysis to measure the total volatility connectedness in the entire per...

The choice of the optimal sovereign risk indicator is crucial in the context of the euro area (EA) countries, which faced a fierce sovereign debt crisis. Traditional indicators of sovereign risk (CDS, bond yields, and credit rating) do not take into consideration the priority structure of creditors and are highly influenced by market sentiment. We...

Fiscal sustainability remains a paramount challenge in the Euro Area (EA) countries after the sharp rise in public debt-to-GDP ratios in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. Using data from 11 EA countries over the period 1980–2019, we apply panel data techniques to examine the effects of population aging on fiscal sustainability, control...

This paper examines the purchasing power parity behaviour for Argentina during the 1810–2016 period. To that end, we use cointegration analysis and error correction models allowing for structural breaks. We find a long‐run relationship between the AR$/USD exchange rate and the price differential between Argentina and the USA. In particular, we offe...

We propose a new flexible inflation targeting index, the economic stability index (ESI), that could enable the European Central Bank (ECB) to implement more effective monetary policy for the euro area (EA). This index incorporates separately weighed house prices and stock prices. Furthermore, by weighting the housing sector in both normal and bubbl...

This paper examines the volatility interconnection between the main cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies during the period of February 2014-September 2018 using both a framework proposed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2014) and the modified approach of Antonakakis and Gabauer (2020). Our results suggest that a 34.43%, of the forecast errors’ total v...

In this paper, we use a specification of the standardized duration to test unobserved heterogeneity in a nonlinear version based on a self-exciting threshold autoregressive conditional duration model. We illustrate the relevance of this procedure for identifying the presence of heterogeneous agents in the final days of trading of Banco Popular, the...

We investigate cross-sectional connectedness between Euro Area banking and sovereign risk. Average ‘distance-to- default’ based on all publicly listed banks headquartered in a particular country is used as an indicator of banking risk, while 10-year sovereign yield as the measure of sovereign risk. We find evidence of clustering among banks and sov...

This paper empirically investigates volatility transmission among stock and foreign exchange markets in seven major world economies during the period July 1988 to May 2018. To this end, we first perform a static and dynamic analysis to measure the total volatility connectedness in the entire period (the system-wide approach). Second, we make use of...

This paper focuses on the influence of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policies on non-financial firms. It sheds light on non-financial firms’ decisions regarding leverage, and on how the ECB’s conventional and unconventional policies may have affected them. The paper also examines how these policies influenced non-financial firms’ decis...

New evidence is presented on the nexus between the sovereign and banking sector risk. Applying the contingent claims methodology to the peripheral euro area countries over the 2004Q4-2013Q2 period, we build indicators of sovereign and bank risk and assess their interconnection in comparison with existing market-based indicators of bank and sovereig...

New empirical evidence is presented on the impact of public debt on economic growth. To that end, we employ the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach using annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for the 1961-2013 period. In particular, we allow for different e...

This paper focuses on how the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policies influenced non-financial firms. The paper’s two main contributions are, first, to shed light on non-financial firms’ decisions on leverage, and how the ECB’s conventional and unconventional policies may have affected them. Second, the paper also examines how these policie...

This paper empirically investigates the short and the long run impact of public debt on economic growth. We use annual data from both the central and the peripheral countries of the euro area (EA) for the 1961–2013 period and estimate a production function augmented with a debt stock term by applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds...

Expectations are at the centre of modern macroeconomic theory and policymakers. In this article, we examine the predictive ability and the consistency properties of macroeconomic expectations using data of the European Central Bank (ECB) Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). In particular, we provide evidence on the properties of forecasts for...

This paper empirically analyses the evidence of intra-spillovers and inter-spillovers between foreign exchange and stock markets in the seven economies which constitute the majority of foreign exchange transactions (i.e. the United Kingdom, the United States, the Euro area, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan). Daily data during the period 1...

In this paper, we analyse the effects of all sources of nonfinancial debt (household, corporate as well as government) accumulation on economic growth in ten euro-area countries during the 1980–2015 period. To this end, we make use of three models (a baseline, an asymmetric and a threshold model) based on the empirical growth literature augmented b...

This study investigates the interconnection between five implied volatility indices representative of different financial markets during the period 1 August 2008–29 December 2017. To this end, we first perform a static and dynamic analysis to measure the total volatility connectedness in the entire period (the system-wide approach) using a framewor...

This paper shows that systemic banks are prone to increase their regulatory capital ratio through a decline in risk-weighted assets density and an intense use of lower level capital. The market access of systemic banks and the fact that they were singled out for higher capital requirements seem to have biased them towards lower level capital, consi...

This paper seeks to explain the office market dynamics in Madrid by using cointegration models. Specifically, we focus on the equilibrium path of stock, vacancy rate and letting rents, and feedback with two exogenous economic determinants, namely, service sector employment and gross domestic product. We apply for the first time a single-equation er...

This article uses the DCC-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model to investigate the existence of time-varying correlations between public debt and economic growth. To that end, we use annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the euro area for the period 1961–2015. The results suggest that the relationships...

The objective of this paper is to examine whether the threshold beyond which a public debt change may have a detrimental effect on economic growth changes across euro area countries during the 1961–2015 period. In contrast with previous studies, we do not use panel estimation techniques, but implement a time-series analysis for each country based o...

We propose a new flexible inflation targeting index, the Economic Stability Index (ESI) that could enable the European Central Bank (ECB) to implement more effective monetary policy for the Euro Area (EA). This index incorporates separately weighed house prices and stock prices. Furthermore, by weighting the housing sector in both normal and bubble...

Based on a data set of 115 economies, this article empirically investigates the relation between public debt and economic growth. Using the World Bank’s classification for income groups, we initially find that those countries that present the lowest public debt are characterized by the highest economic growth, while the smallest growth rates are as...

This paper tries to contribute to the understanding of sovereign debt crises' pattern by empirically investigating the determinants of the recent euro area crisis to assess if its transmission was due to "pure" or "fundamentals-based" contagion. Using sovereign bond yield spreads with respect to Germany for a sample of ten central and peripheral co...

We measure the connectedness in EMU sovereign market volatility between April 1999 and January 2014, monitoring stress transmission and identifing episodes of intensive spillovers from one country to the others. We first perform a static and dynamic analysis to measure the total volatility connectedness in the entire period using a framework recent...

In this article, we present an analysis of the effectiveness of various portfolio optimization strategies applied to the stocks included in the Spanish Ibex 35 index, for a period of 14 years, from 2001 until 2014. The period under study includes episodes of volatility and instability in financial markets, incorporating the Global Financial Crisis...

This study attempts to identify and trace inter-linkages between sovereign and banking risk for each main country in the euro area. To this end, we use an indicator of banking sector risk in each country based on the Contingent Claim Analysis literature, and 10-year government yield spreads over Germany as a measure of sovereign risk. We apply a dy...

This paper measures the connectedness in European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) sovereign and bank CDS between April 2008 and December 2014, in order to understand the transmission of stress during the euro crisis. To this end, we perform a connectedness analysis using the framework proposed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2014). Second, we make use of...

This paper empirically analyses the evidence of intra-spillovers and inter-spillovers between foreign exchange and stock markets in the seven economies which concentrate the majority of foreign exchange transactions (i.e. United Kingdom, Euro area, Australia, Swiss, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan), using daily data, during the period 1990 to 2015...

This paper contributes to the literature by empirically examining whether the influence of public debt on economic growth differs between the short and the long run and presents different patterns across euro-area countries. To this end, we use annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)...

New evidence is presented on the impact on the US dollar–euro (USD–EUR) exchange rate of the unconventional monetary policy conducted by the US Federal Reserve (FED) and the European Central Bank (ECB). To that end, we employ an event study approach using daily the USD–EUR exchange rate for the period from 2 January 2007 to 31 January 2015. Our res...

This article examines the impact on the US dollar–euro (USD–EUR) exchange rate of the unconventional monetary policy conducted by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB). To that end, we make use of time-series analysis to obtain a reasonable long-run and short run representation of the data generation process and use dummy...

New evidence is presented on the sudden shift in the sentiment of market participants with the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis. Since volatility reflects the extent to which the market evaluates the arrival of new information and provides useful insights into the dynamics of EMU sovereign debt markets, we analyze their spillovers. To that end...

New evidence is presented on the possible existence of bi-directional causal relationships between public debt and economic growth in both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union. We test for heterogeneity in the bi-directional Granger-causality across both time and space during the period between 1980 and 2013....

New evidence is presented on the sudden shift in the sentiment of market participants with the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis. Since volatility reflects the extent to which the market evaluates the arrival of new information and provides useful insights into the dynamics of EMU sovereign debt markets, we analyze their spillovers. To that end...

In this paper, we present an analysis of the effectiveness of various portfolio optimization strategies applied to the stocks included in the Spanish Ibex 35 index, for a period of 14 years, from 2001 until 2014. The period under study includes episodes of volatility and instability in financial markets, incorporating the Global Financial Crisis an...

In this paper, we present an analysis of the effectiveness of various portfolio optimization strategies applied to the stocks included in the Spanish Ibex 35 index, for a period of 14 years, from 2001 until 2014. The period under study includes episodes of volatility and instability in financial markets, incorporating the Global Financial Crisis an...

In this paper, we present an analysis of the effectiveness of various portfolio optimization strategies applied to the stocks included in the Spanish Ibex 35 index, for a period of 14 years, from 2001 until 2014. The period under study includes episodes of volatility and instability in financial markets, incorporating the Global Financial Crisis an...

In this article, we test three popular versions of the monetary model (flexible price, forward-looking and real interest differential models) for the OECD member countries by applying Johansen cointegration technique. Based on country-by-country analysis, we conclude that monetary models do not provide the expected results. We reveal several shortc...