Search results for " exchange rate"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
The effects of competitiveness on trade balance: The case of Southern Europe
2016
AbstractAccording to conventional wisdom, “peripheral” Southern European members of the euro area (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) suffer from a problem of competitiveness. Since their membership of the euro area renders devaluation impossible, adjustment should come through decreasing wages and prices in these countries, which, by improving the trade balance, should lead to a recovery of previous levels of employment and growth. In this paper, the authors estimate trade balance equations for the Southern European countries, both for total trade and for the trade performed with the European Union, taking three alternative measures of the real exchange rate, based on consumption price ind…
Trade balances and exchange rates in the long run for European Union countries
2000
This paper has found evidence that real effective exchange rates have a positive impact on the trade balance in the long run for major European Union countries. This result sheds more light on the long-run statistical relationship between those two variables, at least in the context of the Community. The existence of that link is sustained by the effects that income variables have on the trade balance. The outcomes of this analysis in support of a long-run equilibrium relationship are consistent with the imperfect substitutes model, confirming the validity of this model for economic policy implementation purposes. Low, long-run elasticities of the trade balance with respect to the real effe…
The real exchange rate in the long run: Balassa-Samuelson effects reconsidered
2017
Historical data for over hundred years and 14 countries is used to estimate the long-run effect of productivity on the real exchange rate. We find large variations in the productivity effect across four distinct monetary regimes in the sample period. Although the traditional Balassa-Samuelson model is not consistent with these results, we suggest an explanation of the results in terms of contemporary variants of the model that incorporate the terms of trade mechanism. Specifically we argue that changes in trade costs over time may affect the impact of productivity on the real exchange rate over time. We undertake simulations of the modern versions of the Balassa-Samuelson model to show that…
Short-Run Dynamics of the Trade Balance in the EMU-12 Countries
2016
During the pre-EMU period real effective exchange rate or domestic and foreign GDP per capita growth rate differential Granger-caused aggregate trade balance in most of the EMU-12 countries. However, our data-driven paper provides evidence that during the EMU period neither the growth differentials nor the CPI-based real effective exchange rates have Granger-caused the aggregate trade balances. When we decompose the aggregate trade balances into the intra balances (trade balance vis-a-vis the euro area) and the extra balances (trade balance vis-a-vis the rest of the world), we find that typically the change in the dynamics of the aggregate trade balance resulted from a change in the dynamic…
Monetary policy and the exchange rate during the Asian crisis: identification through heteroscedasticity
2005
Abstract This paper examines whether a monetary policy tightening (i.e., an increase in the domestic interest rate) was successful in defending the exchange rate from speculative pressures during the Asian financial crisis. We estimate a bivariate VECM for four Asian countries, and improve upon existing studies in two important ways. First, by using a long data span we are able to compare the effects of an interest rate rise on the nominal exchange rate during tranquil and turbulent periods. Second, we take into account the endogeneity of interest rates and identify the system by exploiting the heteroscedasticity properties of the relevant time series, following Rigobon [Identification thro…
Primary commodity prices: co-movements, common factors and fundamentals
2011
The behavior of commodities is critical for developing and developed countries alike. This paper contributes to the empirical evidence on the co-movement and determinants of commodity prices. Using nonstationary panel methods, the authors document a statistically significant degree of co-movement due to a common factor. Within a Factor Augmented VAR approach, real interest rate and uncertainty, as postulated by a simple asset pricing model, are both found to be negatively related to this common factor. This evidence is robust to the inclusion of demand and supply shocks, which both positively impact on co-movement of commodity prices.
Stock Returns and Exchange Rate Volatility Spillovers in the MENA Region
2010
In this article, we examine the presence of volatility spillovers between nominal exchange rates and stock returns in three MENA countries: Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. The multivariate GARCH model we use does not produce evidence of cross-market effects for the general stock indices returns. Nevertheless, bidirectional shock and volatility spillovers between exchange rates and stock returns exist at the industry sector level. These findings are more pronounced in Egypt and Turkey. The different results are due to the different exchange rate regimes/policies adopted by the three countries. While exchange rates in Egypt and Turkey were allowed to float, Morocco followed a more tightly managed…
The Euro's Effect on Trade Balance Dynamics
2015
During the pre-EMU period changes in real effective exchange rate or faster-than-trading-partners growth rates Granger caused changes in trade balance in most of the EMU-12 countries. However, our data driven article provides evidence that after the adoption of euro, these Granger causalities disappeared. We decompose trade balances into intra balances (trade balance vis-a-vis the euro area) and extra balances (trade balance vis-a-vis the rest of the world), and find that the disappearance of dynamic feedback effect typically occurred in the intra balances rather than in the extra balances. Our results imply that debtor countries cannot reduce their trade deficits in the short-run by enhanc…
The Euro-Dollar Exchange Rate: Is it Fundamental?
2002
In this paper we have applied two approaches to the study of the dollar real exchange rate in relation with the Euro-area currencies. First, using dynamic panel techniques, we estimate an error correction model for the dollar real exchange rate versus seven developed countries, four of them Euro-area members. Second, we aggregate the European variables and estimate a model for the Euro-dollar real exchange rate using time series techniques. After identification and model selection, the same specification can be adopted in the two cases, in an eclectic model including real interest rate and productivity differentials, together with relative fiscal policy and net foreign asset positions. This…
The Equilibrium Real Exchange Rate of Germany
1997
The NATREX model defines the fundamental determinants of the equilibrium real effective exchange rate in the medium to longer run. The PPP theory is a special case of the NATREX when a linear combination of the fundamentals, which are productivity and social thrift, is stationary. The differences in social thrift under Schmidt and Kohl, and the effects of the European terms of trade upon the q-ratio, explain the variations in the NATREX in the preunification period. The actual real exchange rate of the German mark converged to the NATREX. In the postunification period, the medium run NATREX increased due to the rise in time preference and the cyclically adjusted q-ratio. The actual real exc…