The aim of this study is to determine whether environmental taxes affect levels of pollution and energy consumption. Using a panel of European Union (EU) members and Norway, there is a significant negative relationship between environmental taxes and pollution, but no relationship between environmental taxes and energy consumption.

The aim of this study is to determine whether the domestic economy as represented by the interest rate, the international economic status as represented by the exchange rate or both determine sovereign Credit Default Swap (CDS) spreads. Using a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) and Granger noncausality tests, the results suggest that it is the exchange rate that has the most important effect on sovereign CDS spreads, with domestic interest rates having only a limited effect. There is also some evidence of causality running from the CDS spread to the exchange rate.

This aim of this study was to determine the extent of any convergence in house prices across China, using a regional panel data set. The results showed little evidence of convergence across the regions, although there is evidence of a ripple effect starting in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, although only the former two regions are affected by the distance from them to the respective cities.

The aim of this study is to determine the nature of the relationship between house prices of different types of housing across the UK regions. We use an Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach to determine the long-run relationships between house prices as well as an error correction model to estimate the short-run dynamics between house prices. The data include house prices across the regions of Great Britain and for new, old and modern houses. The results suggest that house price shocks ripple across regions, although the nature of the relationship varies across housing types. We further simulate the impact of house price shocks and reveal a complex structure whereby a house price shock in region A impacts upon prices in other regions, which in turn feedback into region A in a recursive ripple.

This study employs an Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity-in-Mean (EGARCH-M) model to determine whether regional house prices in the UK share any of the properties associated with assets such as equities. The results suggest there is some evidence of a positive risk–return relationship as well as evidence of asymmetric adjustment, implying housing should be treated similarly to other assets, with important implications for the pricing of risk by mortgage lenders. However there are differences across the regions, which can be partially explained by using London house prices as a determinant of other regional prices and incorporating interest rates into the model.