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Taxonomy of Global Risk, Uncertainty, and Volatility Measures

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Abstract

A large number of measures for monitoring risk and uncertainty surrounding macroeconomic and financial outcomes have been proposed in the literature, and these measures are frequently used by market participants, policy makers, and researchers in their analyses. However, risk and uncertainty measures differ across multiple dimensions, including the method of calculation, the underlying outcome (that is, the asset price or macroeconomic variable), and the horizon at which they are calculated. Therefore, in this paper, we review the literature on global risk, uncertainty, and volatility measures drawing on internal and external academic research as well as ongoing monitoring conducted by the Federal Reserve Board?s economics divisions to catalog measures by method of data collection, computation, and subject. We first explore a set of non asset-marketbased measures of risk and uncertainty, including news-based and survey-based uncertainty measures of monetary policy and macroeconomic outcomes. We then turn to asset-market-based measures of risk uncertainty for equity prices, interest rates, currencies, oil prices, and inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel O. Beltran & Deepa Dhume Datta & Thiago Revil T. Ferreira & Matteo Iacoviello & Mohammad Jahan-Parvar & Canlin Li & Juan M. Londono & Marius del Giudice Rodriguez & John H. Rogers & Bo Sun, 2017. "Taxonomy of Global Risk, Uncertainty, and Volatility Measures," International Finance Discussion Papers 1216, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:1216
    DOI: 10.17016/IFDP.2017.1216
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    Cited by:

    1. Gomez-Gonzalez, Jose Eduardo & Hirs-Garzon, Jorge & Uribe, Jorge M., 2020. "Global effects of US uncertainty: real and financial shocks on real and financial markets," Working papers 69, Red Investigadores de Economía.
    2. Converse, Nathan & Mallucci, Enrico, 2023. "Differential treatment in the bond market: Sovereign risk and mutual fund portfolios," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    3. Altig, David & Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nicholas & Davis, Steven J. & Meyer, Brent & Parker, Nicholas, 2022. "Surveying business uncertainty," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 282-303.
    4. Chen, Ying & Kimura, Yosuke & Inoue, Kotaro, 2025. "How does managerial perception of uncertainty affect corporate investment during the COVID-19 pandemic: A text mining approach," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Oguzhan Ozcelebi & José A. Pérez‐Montiel, 2023. "Examination of the impacts of the immediate interest rate of the United States and the VIX on the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 1157-1180, October.
    6. Fiori, Giuseppe & Scoccianti, Filippo, 2023. "The economic effects of firm-level uncertainty: Evidence using subjective expectations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 92-105.
    7. Fassas, Athanasios P. & Siriopoulos, Costas, 2021. "Implied volatility indices – A review," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 303-329.
    8. Liang, Chin Chia & Troy, Carol & Rouyer, Ellen, 2020. "U.S. uncertainty and Asian stock prices: Evidence from the asymmetric NARDL model," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Julius Loermann, 2021. "The impact of CHF/EUR exchange rate uncertainty on Swiss exports to the Eurozone: evidence from a threshold VAR," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1363-1385, March.
    10. Ines Buono & Flavia Corneli & Enrica Di Stefano, 2024. "Capital inflows to emerging countries and their sensitivity to the global financial cycle," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 17-34, April.
    11. Roman Grynberg & Teresa Kaulihowa & Fwasa K Singogo, 2019. "Structural Changes of the 21st Century and their Impact on the Gold Price," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 11(3), pages 72-83.
    12. Laura Nowzohour & Livio Stracca, 2020. "More Than A Feeling: Confidence, Uncertainty, And Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 691-726, September.
    13. Canales, Mario & Lopez-Martin, Bernabe, 2024. "Exchange rates, uncertainty, and price-setting: Evidence from CPI microdata," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    14. Donadelli, Michael & Lalanne, Marie, 2020. "Sex and “the City”: Financial stress and online pornography consumption," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    15. Julius Loermann, 2018. "The Impact of CHF/EUR Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Swiss Exports to the Eurozone: Evidence from a Threshold VAR," FIW Working Paper series 189, FIW, revised Feb 2019.
    16. Goodell, John W. & Goyal, Abhinav & Urquhart, Andrew, 2021. "Uncertainty of uncertainty and firm cash holdings," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    17. Mario Canales & Bernabe Lopez-Martin, 2021. "Uncertainty, Risk, and Price-Setting: Evidence from CPI Microdata," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 908, Central Bank of Chile.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk; Uncertainty; Volatility; Monetary policy; Geopolitical risk; Equities; Interest rates; Exchange rates; Commodities; Inflation; Variance risk premium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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