Time-varying frequency connectedness analysis across crude oil, geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty and stock markets

As the world is currently in turmoil, geopolitical crises and economic policy uncertainties are increasing significantly. This study aims to provide insight into the dynamics of time-frequency spillovers in the domains of crude oil, geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty and stock markets. It represents the first investigation analyzing the time-varying frequency connectedness across the aforementioned domains by adopting the time-varying parameter vector autoregression connectedness combined with the time-varying frequency connectedness measurement [Chatziantoniou et al., 2023]. The study covers the period from January 2004 to February 2023, including the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the turmoil caused by the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The analysis finds that short-term frequencies dominate return connectedness, indicating a rapid information processing mechanism responsive to short-run shocks. The stock market indices of oil-exporting countries, the US and the UK act as the primary transmitters of return spillovers. Volatility connectedness is driven by long-term frequencies, with Russia, Canada and the UK serving as the primary volatility spillover transmitters. Economic policy uncertainty is primarily influenced by oil-importing countries. Geopolitical risk mostly serves as the spillover receiver from crude oil, while it primarily transmits spillovers to economic policy uncertainty during major events such as terror attacks, conflicts and wars. The 2022 Russian-Ukrainian conflict amplifies spillovers to economic policy uncertainty. Intriguingly, conflicts deepen economic policy uncertainty, and prior to the conflict, stock market volatility had assimilated the influence of geopolitical risk shocks. The study also employs network topology to visualize spillover transmission mechanisms during the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian conflict.