Abstract:

Applying a novel econometric method, nonparametric causality-in-quantiles approach, this paper investigates the causal effects of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on Turkish changes in exchange rates and volatility with the monthly data spanning from February 1998 to December 2019. This approach of gives an opportunity to investigate the (non)causality in the θ-th quantile only in mean (first moment,i.e., m=1) or variance (second moment,i.e.,m=2) as well as the (non)causality in the mean and variance (m=1 and 2) successively. In sum, this approach calculates volatility by squaring returns. We use EPU indexes of the United States, Australia, European Union, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom and their currencies (USD, AUD, EUR, JPY, CAD, GBP, respectively) vis-à-vis Turkish Lira (TRY) and find that the EPUs of Australia, the European Union and Japan affect the returns of the AUD/TRY, EUR/TRY and JPY/TRY exchange rates, respectively. These results show that the EPU indices of these countries can give an idea about the returns and volatility of the relevant Turkish changes in exchange rates. The findings of this paper provide important implications for policymakers, investors, firms, exporters, and importers. Also, some studies can be carried out on the effects of the EPU index that will be created to Türkiye on the Turkish exchange rates or the other Turkish financial assets.

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