IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/intfin/v22y2019i3p380-398.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gold and inflation: Expected inflation effect or carrying cost effect?

Author

Listed:
  • Yingying Xu
  • Zhi‐Xin Liu
  • Chi‐Wei Su
  • Jaime Ortiz

Abstract

This study examines whether the expected inflation effect hypothesis adequately explains the causal relationship between inflation expectations and gold returns. A bootstrap full‐sample Granger causality test shows that gold returns cause inflation expectations rather than the reverse. To account for possible structural changes, we apply bootstrap subsample Granger causality tests with 60‐month windows. The results suggest that both professional forecasters' and consumers' inflation expectations have negative effects on gold returns in some but not all sample periods, contradicting the expected inflation effect hypothesis. No causality is found in other periods, consistent with the carrying cost hypothesis that the expected gain from gold due to higher inflation is offset by its carrying cost. Holding gold will not necessarily hedge against inflation because gold returns do not necessarily correlate with inflation expectation. Therefore, the carrying cost hypothesis more accurately explains the relationship between gold returns and inflation expectation than the expected inflation effect hypothesis does.

Suggested Citation

  • Yingying Xu & Zhi‐Xin Liu & Chi‐Wei Su & Jaime Ortiz, 2019. "Gold and inflation: Expected inflation effect or carrying cost effect?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 380-398, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intfin:v:22:y:2019:i:3:p:380-398
    DOI: 10.1111/infi.12347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/infi.12347
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/infi.12347?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Timmermann, Allan, 2005. "Small sample properties of forecasts from autoregressive models under structural breaks," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1-2), pages 183-217.
    2. Blose, Laurence E., 2010. "Gold prices, cost of carry, and expected inflation," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 35-47, January.
    3. Dirk G. Baur & Brian M. Lucey, 2010. "Is Gold a Hedge or a Safe Haven? An Analysis of Stocks, Bonds and Gold," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 217-229, May.
    4. Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Lahiani, Amine & Heller, David, 2016. "Is gold a hedge against inflation? New evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 54-66.
    5. Tully, Edel & Lucey, Brian M., 2007. "A power GARCH examination of the gold market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 316-325, June.
    6. Aizenman, Joshua & Inoue, Kenta, 2013. "Central banks and gold puzzles," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 69-90.
    7. Martin Feldstein, 1983. "Inflation, Tax Rules, and the Prices of Land and Gold," NBER Chapters, in: Inflation, Tax Rules, and Capital Formation, pages 221-228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. N. Gregory Mankiw & Ricardo Reis & Justin Wolfers, 2004. "Disagreement about Inflation Expectations," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2003, Volume 18, pages 209-270, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Dirk Baur & Duy Tran, 2014. "The long-run relationship of gold and silver and the influence of bubbles and financial crises," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1525-1541, December.
    10. Bampinas, Georgios & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2015. "Are gold and silver a hedge against inflation? A two century perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 267-276.
    11. Andrews, Donald W K & Ploberger, Werner, 1994. "Optimal Tests When a Nuisance Parameter Is Present Only under the Alternative," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(6), pages 1383-1414, November.
    12. Balcilar, Mehmet & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin & Arslanturk, Yalcin, 2010. "Economic growth and energy consumption causal nexus viewed through a bootstrap rolling window," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1398-1410, November.
    13. Kwiatkowski, Denis & Phillips, Peter C. B. & Schmidt, Peter & Shin, Yongcheol, 1992. "Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root : How sure are we that economic time series have a unit root?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 159-178.
    14. Balcilar, Mehmet & Bonato, Matteo & Demirer, Riza & Gupta, Rangan, 2017. "The effect of investor sentiment on gold market return dynamics: Evidence from a nonparametric causality-in-quantiles approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 77-84.
    15. R. Scott Hacker & Abdulnasser Hatemi-J, 2006. "Tests for causality between integrated variables using asymptotic and bootstrap distributions: theory and application," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(13), pages 1489-1500.
    16. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    17. Baur, Dirk G. & McDermott, Thomas K., 2010. "Is gold a safe haven? International evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1886-1898, August.
    18. Thi Hong Van Hoang & Amine Lahiani & David Heller, 2016. "Is gold a hedge against inflation? New evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach," Post-Print hal-02012307, HAL.
    19. Panagiotis Mantalos & Ghazi Shukur, 1998. "Size and Power of the Error Correction Model Cointegration Test. A Bootstrap Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(2), pages 249-255, May.
    20. Saira Tufail & Sadia Batool, 2013. "An Analysis of the Relationship between Inflation and Gold Prices: Evidence from Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 1-35, July-Dec.
    21. Dean Croushore, 1993. "Introducing: the survey of professional forecasters," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Nov, pages 3-15.
    22. Stephen G. Cecchetti & Rita S. Chu & Charles Steindel, 2000. "The unreliability of inflation indicators," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 6(Apr).
    23. Ghazi Shukur & Panagiotis Mantalos, 2000. "A simple investigation of the Granger-causality test in integrated-cointegrated VAR systems," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(8), pages 1021-1031.
    24. Andrews, Donald W K, 1993. "Tests for Parameter Instability and Structural Change with Unknown Change Point," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 821-856, July.
    25. Hansen, Bruce E, 2002. "Tests for Parameter Instability in Regressions with I(1) Processes," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 45-59, January.
    26. Aye, Goodness C. & Chang, Tsangyao & Gupta, Rangan, 2016. "Is gold an inflation-hedge? Evidence from an interrupted Markov-switching cointegration model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 77-84.
    27. Stephen G. Hall & George S. Tavlas, 2013. "The Debate About The Revived Bretton-Woods Regime: A Survey And Extension Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 340-363, April.
    28. Wei Long & Dingding Li & Qi Li, 2016. "Testing explosive behavior in the gold market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1151-1164, November.
    29. Iqbal, Javed, 2017. "Does gold hedge stock market, inflation and exchange rate risks? An econometric investigation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-17.
    30. Toda, Hiro Y. & Yamamoto, Taku, 1995. "Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1-2), pages 225-250.
    31. Yingying XU & Zhixin LIU & Jaime ORTIZ, 2018. "Actual and Expected Inflation in the U.S.: A Time-Frequency View," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(1), pages 42-62, December.
    32. Mehmet Balcilar & Zeynel Ozdemir, 2013. "The export-output growth nexus in Japan: a bootstrap rolling window approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 639-660, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qin, Meng & Su, Chi-Wei & Tao, Ran & Umar, Muhammad, 2020. "Is factionalism a push for gold price?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Su, Chi-Wei & Pang, Lidong & Umar, Muhammad & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2022. "Does gold's hedging uncertainty aura fade away?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Xiao-lin Li & Mehmet Balcilar & Rangan Gupta & Tsangyao Chang, 2016. "The Causal Relationship Between Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Returns in China and India: Evidence from a Bootstrap Rolling Window Approach," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(3), pages 674-689, March.
    4. Yingying Xu & Zhi-Xin Liu & Hsu-Ling Chang & Adelina Dumitrescu Peculea & Chi-Wei Su, 2017. "Does self-fulfilment of the inflation expectation exist?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(11), pages 1098-1113, March.
    5. Feng-Li Lin & Mei-Chih Wang & Hsien-Hung Kung, 2020. "Housing and Stock Market Nexus in the US," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 114-130.
    6. Adnan Khurshid & Yin Kedong & Adrian Cantemir Calin & Khalid Khan, 2017. "The Effects of Workers’ Remittances on Exchange Rate Volatility and Exports Dynamics - New Evidence from Pakistan," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 20(63), pages 29-52, March.
    7. Yingying Xu & Chi-Wei Su & Jaime Ortiz, 2021. "Is gold a useful hedge against inflation across multiple time horizons?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1175-1189, March.
    8. David Su & Xin Li & Oana-Ramona Lobonþ & Yanping Zhao, 2016. "Economic policy uncertainty and housing returns in Germany: Evidence from a bootstrap rolling window," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 34(1), pages 43-61.
    9. Kai-Hua Wang & Jia-Min Kan & Cui-Feng Jiang & Chi-Wei Su, 2022. "Is Geopolitical Risk Powerful Enough to Affect Carbon Dioxide Emissions? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, June.
    10. Ming-Hsien YANG & Chih-She WU, 2015. "Revisit Export and GDP Nexus in China and Taiwan: A Rolling Window Granger Causality Test," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(604), A), pages 75-92, Autumn.
    11. Chi Wei Su & Zhi-Feng Wang & Rui Nian & Yanping Zhao, 2017. "Does international capital flow lead to a housing boom? A time-varying evidence from China," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(7), pages 851-864, October.
    12. repec:agr:journl:v:3(604):y:2015:i:3(604):p:75-92 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Chiwei Su & Yingying Xu & Hsu Ling Chang & Oana-Ramona Lobont & Zhixin Liu, 2020. "Dynamic Causalities between Defense Expenditure and Economic Growth in China: Evidence from Rolling Granger Causality Test," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 565-582, July.
    14. Goodness C. Aye & Mehmet Balcilar & John P. Dunne & Rangan Gupta & Rene� van Eyden, 2014. "Military expenditure, economic growth and structural instability: a case study of South Africa," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 619-633, December.
    15. Nyakabawo, Wendy & Miller, Stephen M. & Balcilar, Mehmet & Das, Sonali & Gupta, Rangan, 2015. "Temporal causality between house prices and output in the US: A bootstrap rolling-window approach," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 55-73.
    16. Aye, Goodness C. & Balcilar, Mehmet & Bosch, Adél & Gupta, Rangan, 2014. "Housing and the business cycle in South Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 471-491.
    17. Chi-Wei Su & Jiao-Jiao Fan & Hsu-Ling Chang & Xiao-Lin Li, 2016. "Is there Causal Relationship between Money Supply Growth and Inflation in China? Evidence from Quantity Theory of Money," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 702-719, August.
    18. Liu, Guanchun & He, Lei & Yue, Yiding & Wang, Jiying, 2014. "The linkage between insurance activity and banking credit: Some evidence from dynamic analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 239-265.
    19. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Mensi, Walid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Sohail, Asiya & Al-Yahyaee, Khamis Hamed, 2019. "Does gold act as a hedge against different nuances of inflation? Evidence from Quantile-on-Quantile and causality-in- quantiles approaches," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 602-615.
    20. Liu, Guan-Chun & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Lee, Chi-Chuan, 2016. "The nexus between insurance activity and economic growth: A bootstrap rolling window approach," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 299-319.
    21. Mehmet Balcilar & Zeynel Ozdemir, 2013. "The export-output growth nexus in Japan: a bootstrap rolling window approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 639-660, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:intfin:v:22:y:2019:i:3:p:380-398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1367-0271 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.