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A Gold Bubble?

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Abstract

In this paper we use a test developed by Phillips et al. (2011) to identify a bubble in the gold market. We find that the price of gold followed an explosive price process between 2002 and 2012 interrupted only briefly by the subprime crisis in 2008. We also provide a theoretical foundation for such bubble tests based on a behavioural model of heterogeneous agents and demonstrate that periods of explosive price behaviour are consistent with increased chartist activity in the gold market. The identification strategy yields economically intuitive results and is a simple alternative to using more complex estimation techniques commonly used in the heterogeneous agents literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk G Baur & Kristoffer Glover, 2012. "A Gold Bubble?," Working Paper Series 175, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    • Handle: RePEc:uts:wpaper:175
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    File URL: http://www.finance.uts.edu.au/research/wpapers/wp175.pdf
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    1. 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.
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    11. Vipin Arora & Shuping Shi, 2013. "A Heterogenous Agent Foundation for Tests of Asset Price Bubbles," CAMA Working Papers 2013-35, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
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    Cited by:

    1. Beckmann, Joscha & Berger, Theo & Czudaj, Robert, 2015. "Does gold act as a hedge or a safe haven for stocks? A smooth transition approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 16-24.
    2. Didier Sornette & Peter Cauwels & Georgi Smilyanov, 2017. "Can We Use Volatility to Diagnose Financial Bubbles? Lessons from 40 Historical Bubbles," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 17-27, Swiss Finance Institute.
    3. Koy, Ayben, 2018. "Testing Multi Bubbles for Commodity Derivative Markets: A Study on MCX," Business and Economics Research Journal, Uludag University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 9(2), pages 291-299, April.
    4. Su, Chi-Wei & Li, Zheng-Zheng & Chang, Hsu-Ling & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2017. "When Will Occur the Crude Oil Bubbles?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1-6.
    5. Zhao, Yanping & Chang, Hsu-Ling & Su, Chi-Wei & Nian, Rui, 2015. "Gold bubbles: When are they most likely to occur?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 34, pages 17-23.
    6. O'Connor, Fergal A. & Lucey, Brian M. & Batten, Jonathan A. & Baur, Dirk G., 2015. "The financial economics of gold — A survey," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 186-205.
    7. Brian Lucey & Fergal A. O'connor, 2012. "Do Bubbles occur in Gold Prices? Evidence from Gold Lease Rates and Markov Switching Models," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp418, IIIS.
    8. Wei Long & Dingding Li & Qi Li, 2016. "Testing explosive behavior in the gold market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1151-1164, November.
    9. Brian M. Lucey & Fergal A. O’Connor, 2013. "Do bubbles occur in the gold price? An investigation of gold lease rates and Markov Switching models," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 13(3), pages 53-63, September.
    10. Pedro Antonio Martin-Cervantes & Salvador Cruz-Rambaud, 2020. "Date-stamping the Tadawul bubble through the SADF and GSADF econometric approaches," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(2), pages 1475-1485.
    11. Chemkha, Rahma & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Ghorbel, Ahmed & Tayachi, Tahar, 2021. "Hedge and safe haven properties during COVID-19: Evidence from Bitcoin and gold," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 71-85.
    12. repec:zbw:rwirep:0502 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Hassan, M. Kabir & Rashid, Md. Mamunur & Alhenawi, Yasser, 2021. "Are safe haven assets really safe during the 2008 global financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Yudhvir Seetharam & Lauren Bodington, 2015. "Gold in the South African Market: A Safe Haven or Hedge?," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot GmbH, Berlin, vol. 61(4), pages 331-352.
    15. Joscha Beckmann & Theo Berger & Robert Czudaj, 2014. "Does Gold Act as a Hedge or a Safe Haven for Stocks? A Smooth Transition Approach," Ruhr Economic Papers 0502, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Białkowski, Jędrzej & Bohl, Martin T. & Stephan, Patrick M. & Wisniewski, Tomasz P., 2015. "The gold price in times of crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 329-339.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    bubble; gold; investor behaviour; explosive process; heterogeneous agents; chartists;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles

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