The Impact of Stock Prices on Consumption and Interest Rate in Turkey: Evidence from a Time Varying Vector Autoregressive Model

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the spillovers from stock prices onto consumption and interest rate for Turkey by using a time-varying vector autoregressive model with stochastic volatility. A three-variable time-varying vector autoregressive model is estimated to capture the time-varying nature of the macroeconomic dynamics in the Turkish economy between real consumption, nominal interest rate and real stock prices. In order to obtain the macroeconomic dynamics in a small open economy, the data covers the period 1987:Q1 until 2013:Q3 in Turkey. The sample data is gathered from the official website of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Overall, this study provides the evidence of significant time-varying spillovers on consumption and interest rate coming from the stock market during financial crises and implications of monetary policy in Turkey. In addition, a time-varying vector autoregressive model with stochastic volatility offers remarkable results about the impact of price shock on consumption levels in Turkey.