Is OPEC a Cartel? Evidence from Cointegration and Causality Tests

Is OPEC a Cartel? Evidence from Cointegration and Causality Tests

The energy shocks of the 1970's had significant effects on the global economy. Were they engineered by an effective cartel of OPEC members acting to share the market by controlling output and influencing market prices? If OPEC was an effective cartel sharing the market among its members, there would be a long-run relationship between each member's individual production and total OPEC output. On...

OPEC and Venezuelan oil production: Evidence against a cartel hypothesis

This study revisits the OPEC cartel hypothesis using a case study. A test is conducted to see if Venezuela has its production Granger cause its OPEC quota or whether the OPEC quota for Venezuela Granger causes Venezuelan production. The results show both occur at different times. In the short run, OPEC’s oil production quota for Venezuela Granger causes Venezuelan production. However, shortly a...

Divorce and Female Labor Force Participation: Evidence from Times-Series Data, Causality Tests, and Cointegration

Wagner’s Law Revisited: Cointegration and Causality tests for New Zealand

Wagner’s Law states that the share of government expenditure in GNP will increase with economic development; many associated empirical studies substitute GNP with GDP. This paper presents an empirical investigation into the validity of Wagner’s Law for New Zealand over the period 19602007 and compares the results obtained using these two measures of output. Application of the autoregressive dis...

Determinants of Healthcare Expenditure in Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Countries: Evidence from Panel Cointegration Tests

Background Over the last decade there has been an increase in healthcare expenditures while at the same time the inequity in distribution of resources has grown. These two issues have urged the researchers to review the determinants of healthcare expenditures. In this study, we surveyed the determinants of health expenditures in Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) countries.   Methods We us...