Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy Rodrigo Caputo Roberto Chang editors Central Bank of Chile / Banco Central de Chile COMMODITY PRICES AND MACROECONOMIC POLICY Rodrigo Caputo Roberto Chang Editors Central Bank of Chile / Banco Central de Chile BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 1 01-12-15 12:08 Series on Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies The Book Series on “Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies” of the Central Bank of Chile publishes new research on central banking and economics in general, with special emphasis on issues and fields that are relevant to economic policies in developing economies. The volumes are published in Spanish or English. Policy usefulness, high-quality research, and relevance to Chile and other economies are the main criteria for publishing books. Most research in this Series has been conducted in or sponsored by the Central Bank of Chile. Book manuscripts are submitted to the Series editors for a review process with active participation by outside referees. The Series editors submit manuscripts for final approval to the Editorial Board of the Series and to the Board of the Central Bank of Chile. Publication in both paper and electronic format. The views and conclusions presented in the book are exclusively those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Central Bank of Chile or its Board Members. Editors: Norman Loayza Diego Saravia Editorial Board: Ricardo J. Caballero, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Vittorio Corbo, Centro de Estudios Públicos Sebastián Edwards, University of California at Los Angeles Jordi Galí, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Gian Maria Milesi-Ferreti, International Monetary Fund Carmen Reinhart, Harvard University Andrea Repetto, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez Andrés Solimano, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Assistant Editor: Consuelo Edwards BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 2 01-12-15 12:08 COMMODITY PRICES AND MACROECONOMIC POLICY Rodrigo Caputo Roberto Chang Editors Central Bank of Chile / Banco Central de Chile Santiago, Chile BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 3 01-12-15 12:08 Copyright © Banco Central de Chile 2014 Agustinas 1180 Santiago, Chile All rights reserved Published in Santiago, Chile by the Central Bank of Chile Manufactured in Chile This book series is protected under Chilean Law 17336 on intellectual property. Hence, its contents may not be copied or distributed by any means without the express permission of the Central Bank of Chile. However, fragments may be reproduced, provided that a mention is made of the source, title, and author. ISBN (Printed) 978-956-7421-50-3 ISBN (Electronic) 978-956-7421-51-0 Intellectual Property Registration 260.280 ISSN 0717-6686 (Series on Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies) Production Team Editors: Rodrigo Caputo Roberto Chang Supervisor: Roberto Gillmore Copy Editor: Alan Higgins Designer: Mónica Widoycovich Proof Reader: Dionisio Vio Technical Staff: Carlos Arriagada Printer: Andros Impresores BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 4 01-12-15 12:08 Contributors The articles presented in this volume are revised versions of the papers presented at the Eighteen Annual Conference of the Central Bank of Chile on Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy held in Santiago on 23rd October 2014. The list of contributing authors and conference discussants follows. Contributing Authors Joshua Aizenman Markus Kirchner University of Southern Central Bank of Chile, California, Los Angeles, CA, Santiago, Chile USA and National Bureau of Economics Research, Juan Pablo Nicolini Cambridge, MA, USA Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN, Roberto Chang USA and Universidad Torcuato Rutgers University, New Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Jersey, NY, USA and National Argentina Bureau of Economics Research, Cambridge, MA, USA Daniel Riera-Crichton Bates College, Lewiston, Paul Collier ME, USA Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University Radoslaw (Radek) Stefanski and The International Growth University of St Andrews, St Centre, Oxford, United Kingdom Andrews, Fife, Scotland and OxCarre, Oxford, United Jorge Fornero Kingdom Central Bank of Chile, Santiago, Chile Andrés Yany Central Bank of Chile, Constantino Hevia Santiago, Chile Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 5 01-12-15 12:08 Discussant Martin Bodenstein Andrés Fernández National University of Inter-American Development Singapore, Singapore, Bank, Washington, DC, USA Singapore Alfonso Irarrázabal César Calderón BI Norwegian School of World Bank, Economics and Norges Bank, Washington, DC, USA Oslo, Norway Rodrigo Caputo Kim Ruhl Central Bank of Chile, New York University, Santiago, Chile New York, NY, USA BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 6 01-12-15 12:08 TABLE OF CONTENTS Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy: An Overview Rodrigo Caputo and Roberto Chang 1 Commodity Price Fluctuations and Monetary Policy in Small Open Economies Roberto Chang 19 Monetary Policy and Dutch Disease: The Case of Price and Wage Rigidity Constantino Hevia and Juan Pablo Nicolini 51 Liquidity and Foreign Asset Management Challenges for Latin American Countries Joshua Aizenman and Daniel Riera-Crichton 91 Terms of Trade Shocks and Investment in Commodity-Exporting Economies Jorge Fornero, Markus Kirchner, and Andrés Yany 135 Government Size, Misallocation and the Resource Curse Radoslaw (Radek) Stefanski 197 Resource Revenue Management: Three Policy Clocks Paul Collier 245 BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 7 01-12-15 12:09 BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 8 01-12-15 12:09 COMMODITY PRICES AND MACROECONOMIC POLICY: AN OVERVIEW Rodrigo Caputo Central Bank of Chile Roberto Chang Rutgers University and NBER World commodity prices and their macroeconomic impact, especially on emerging economies, have long been a main concern in economic research. Decades ago, the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis of secularly deteriorating terms of trade (Prebisch, 1950; Singer, 1950) was the subject of intense debate and became a cornerstone of major development theories and, especially in Latin America, of influential policy approaches.1 In a related fashion, extensive literature has studied the long-run behavior of commodity prices. Although there is some controversy about the main drivers of the relative prices of commodities, there is consensus that, since the nineteenth century, four commodity “super cycles” have taken place. These super cycles have been related to strong demand associated with moments of rapid industrialization and urbanization in major areas of the world. Each of them, lasting on average 20 years, ended once the supply of commodities increased to match the growing demand (Canuto, 2014). Recent events have brought similar issues back to the top of the economics agenda. During the current commodity super cycle, which began in the late 1990s, the world economy has seen wide swings in the world prices of primary items such as oil, food, and metals. Echoing past debates, commodity prices are again posing urgent 1.Both Structuralism and Dependency Theory relied heavily of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis. These theories, in turn, underpinned the strategy of Industralization via Import Substitution. For a recent empirical evaluation of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis, see Aretski and others (2013). Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy, edited by Rodrigo Caputo and Roberto Chang. Santiago, Chile. © 2015. Central Bank of Chile. 1 BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 1 01-12-15 12:09 2 Rodrigo Caputo and Roberto Chang Figure 1. Copper Pricesa 1.50 1.25 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 Log copper price 0.00 World log price of copper -0.25 Long-run component -0.50 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 Months Source: Central Bank of Chile. a. Monthly data spanning January 2000 – October 2015. questions to academics and policymakers. The questions are both positive (such as, what is the impact of commodity price shocks on macroeconomic aggregates?) and normative (how should monetary and fiscal policy best react to those shocks?); they pertain to both the short run (are copper funds and other stabilization schemes a good idea?) and the long-run (should developing countries try to change their productive structures to diversify exports away from primary products?). Research on these and related issues is badly needed, particularly for emerging economies that are heavily exposed to commodity price fluctuations. To contribute to the debate, this volume gathers six studies written for the XVIII Annual Research Conference of the Central Bank of Chile. The unifying theme of the conference was to examine appropriate macroeconomic policies in light of the increased volatility of world commodity prices. The studies in this volume explore different dimensions and aspects of that theme, as well as diverse policy alternatives, instruments, and strategies. This diversity, to a large extent, reflects the many facets of the problem suggested by the raw behavior of commodity prices. To understand this, it is illustrative to glance at the data. In figure 1, the trajectory of the world price of copper since 2000 is plotted in black.2 2.The raw series is the world copper price, US$/lb, taken from the Central Bank of Chile’s website. Figure 1 shows the natural log of the price. BCCh Vol 22 Series on Central Banking.indb 2 01-12-15 12:09 Commodity Prices and Macroeconomic Policy: An Overview 3 Figure 2. Chile: Copper Prices and Real Exchange Rate over the Cycle
Recommended publications
  • Purchasing Power Parity Refers To
    Purchasing Power Parity Refers To Isogamy and airworthy Englebert douching wrongly and unhusks his enchanter howsoever and uninterruptedly. Thaxter remains introvert after Werner giddies discreditably or miscues any mela. Evan comminates regretfully. We aim of real exchange rates do not be traced to eliminate the indicated reference country to purchasing power, the problem of the advantage of property cannot reject unit labor Big Mac appears to tack a poor predictor of acurrency crisis. This journal presents economic performance of a wide is essential concept of baskets composition most goodsare not at parity refers to. According to which an ability to the inclusion of the example of currencies in different populations living of ppp much of living, to affect both tests. PPP exchange rate even though within average person simply be consuming a surgery different bench of joy and services. Existence of factor of both the effective inputs of a weighted averages, resulting in value of exchange by a high general purchasing power parity refers to purchasing power comes from household expenditure in northern italy. The purchasing power parity to purchasing power parity refers to the differences between purchasing power parity. As such, these indices are weighted averages ofthe individual prices. He finds no evidence of PPP for all price indices studied. According to PPP theory the British pound would have depreciated an article in the pound off of the dollar became the Japanese yen should have appreci- ated. Want and thank TFD for its existence? Spain and reference period to purchased form or income. There to purchasing power parity refers to some of exports for measurement and institutions, while purchasing power between competitive prices are.
    [Show full text]
  • II Long-Run Movements in Real Exchange Rates
    II Long-Run Movements in Real Exchange Rates Peter Isard and Steven Symansky Economists have shown little ability to explain which observed changes in currency values are exchange rate movements from day to day, likely to persist. Accordingly, economists are contin- month to month, or even year to year. As revealed by uing to address a number of unresolved issues about several extensive studies undertaken in the early the nature of the long-run relationships between ex- 1980s, which focused on the currencies of major in- change rates and national price or cost levels. This dustrial countries, the most widely used structural section reviews these issues and summarizes exist- models of exchange rates could not outperform a ing attempts to shed light on them empirically. It naive random-walk model over horizons of twelve also examines empirical evidence from the APEC re- months or less, even in predicting the realized be- gion,4 which presents a wide range of economic ex- havior of exchange rates using the realized values of periences, including a number of economies in the "exogenous" explanatory variables (Meese and which real output has expanded rapidly, thus provid- Rogoff, 1983a and 1983b). Moreover, subsequent ing an attractive focus for a study of the long-run be- efforts to improve the structural models have havior of exchange rates. achieved very limited success in outperforming the random-walk model over short-term horizons.1 Much greater success has been achieved, how- Historical Perspectives ever, in explaining the behavior of exchange rates for the APEC Region over relatively long time intervals.
    [Show full text]
  • Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme
    From: Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities Access the complete publication at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264189232-en Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme Please cite this chapter as: OECD/Eurostat (2012), “Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme”, in Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264189232-4-en This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Calculation and aggregation of PPPs 12 Chapter 1: Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities 23 Purpose of the Eurostat-OECD PPP programme1 1.1 Introduction 1.1 The Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme was established in the early 1980s to compare on a regular and timely basis the GDPs of the Member States of the European Union and the Member Countries of the OECD. This remains the purpose of the Programme, although its coverage has been broadened to include countries that are not members of either the European Union or the OECD. These are either countries that have applied to join the European Union or the OECD or countries with which Eurostat and the OECD have programmes of technical cooperation in statistics.
    [Show full text]
  • Anwar Shaikh and Isabella Weber
    Anwar Shaikh and Isabella Weber The U.S.-China Trade Balance and the Theory of Free Trade: Debunking the Currency Manipulation Argument May 2018 Working Paper 05/2018 Department of Economics The New School for Social Research The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the New School for Social Research. © 2018 by Anwar Shaikh and Isabella Weber. All rights reserved. Short sections of text may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit is given to the source. Anwar Shaikh* The New School for Social Research Department of Economics Isabella Weber Goldsmiths University of London Institute of Management Studies The U.S.-China Trade Balance and the Theory of Free Trade: Debunking the Currency Manipulation Argument Abstract The U.S.-China trade imbalance is commonly attributed to a Chinese policy of currency manipulation. However, empirical studies failed to reach consensus on the degree and kind of RMB misalignment. We argue that this is not a consequence of poor measurement but of theory. The conventional principle of comparative advantage suggests real exchange rates will adjust so as to balance trade. Therefore, the persistence of trade imbalances tend to be interpreted as arising from currency manipulation. In contrast, the Smithian-Harrodian theory explains trade imbalances as the outcome of free trade and sees unequal real competitiveness as the root cause of the U.S.-China trade imbalance. JEL Codes: B17, F10, F31, F32, F60 * Corresponding author: Anwar Shaikh, Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research, 6 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003.
    [Show full text]
  • The Next Generation of the Penn World Table* by Robert C. Feenstra
    The Next Generation of the Penn World Table* by Robert C. Feenstra University of California, Davis and NBER Robert Inklaar University of Groningen Marcel Timmer University of Groningen Revised, April 2015 Abstract We describe the theory and practice of real GDP comparisons across countries and over time. Version 8 of the Penn World Table expands on previous versions in three respects. First, in addition to comparisons of living standards using components of real GDP on the expenditure side, we provide a measure of productive capacity, called real GDP on the output side. Second, growth rates are benchmarked to multiple years of cross-country price data so that they are less sensitive to new benchmark data. Third, data on capital stocks and productivity are (re)introduced. Applications including the Balassa-Samuelson effect and development accounting are discussed. * This research received support through grants from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation. We thank Bettina Aten, Andy Atkeson, Susanto Basu, Angus Deaton, Erwin Diewert, Alan Heston, Chad Jones, Prasada Rao, Andres Rodriguez-Clare and Carlos Vegh for helpful comments as well as other seminar participants at the University of Groningen, University of Pennsylvania, Norwegian School of Economics and Business and the Economic Growth group of the National Bureau of Economic Research. 1. Introduction For over four decades, the Penn World Table (PWT) has been a standard source of data on real GDP across countries. Making use of prices collected across countries in benchmark years by the International Comparisons Program (ICP), and using these prices to construct purchasing-power-parity (PPP) exchange rates, PWT converts gross domestic product (GDP) at national prices to a common currency – U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Masterthesis.Pdf (8.185Mb)
    Norwegian School of Economics Bergen, Fall 2014 An assessment of the claimed renminbi misalignment through the application of the Penn effect model Mandeep Grewal and Marielle Hvide Supervisor: Ingvild Almås Master Thesis in Economics and Business Administration, Specialisation: Economics and Financial Economics NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS This thesis was written as a part of the Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration at NHH. Please note that neither the institution nor the examiners are responsible − through the approval of this thesis − for the theories and methods used, or results and conclusions drawn in this work. 2 Abstract In this thesis we explore the claimed renminbi misalignment through the application of the Penn effect model. The Penn effect model estimates equilibrium exchange rates by exploiting the empirical relation between real incomes and price levels. This thesis has three contributions to the excising literature on the topic. Firstly, we apply the most recent and comprehensive data set available for international price comparisons, published by the International Comparison Program (ICP) in May 2014. This is believed to improve the reliability of the misalignment calculation by reducing measurement errors in price levels. Secondly, the functional form of the Penn effect is investigated in detail. Thirdly, a method of correcting measurement errors in real incomes and price levels is presented. This is done by exploiting the strong empirical relation between food share and income, named the Engel’s Law. The analysis yields two contrasting findings. First of all, the Penn effect in the ICP data is best approximated by a dummy regression allowing for different slope and intercept between OECD and non-OECD countries.
    [Show full text]
  • China's Growing Role in World Trade
    This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: China's Growing Role in World Trade Volume Author/Editor: Robert C. Feenstra and Shang-Jin Wei, editors Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press Volume ISBN: 0-226-23971-3 Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/feen07-1 Conference Date: August 3-4, 2007 Publication Date: March 2010 Chapter Title: China's Current Account and Exchange Rate Chapter Author: Yin-Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, Eiji Fujii Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10461 Chapter pages in book: (231 - 271) 7 China’s Current Account and Exchange Rate Yin- Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, and Eiji Fujii 7.1 Introduction China—and Chinese economic policy—has loomed large on the global economic stage in recent years. Yet, even as arguments over the normalcy of the Chinese trade balance and the value of the Chinese currency continue, there is substantial debate in both academic and policy circles surrounding what the determinants of these variables are. Interestingly, there are very few studies that simultaneously assess the Chinese exchange rate and trade/current account balance. This is partly an outcome of the peculiar characteristics of the Chinese economy. In this study, we attempt to inform the debate over the interactions between the exchange rate and the current account by recourse to two key methodologies. First, we identify the equilibrium real exchange rate from the standpoint of cross- country studies. Second, we attempt to obtain more precise estimates of Chinese trade elasticities, both on a multilateral and bilateral (with the United States) basis.
    [Show full text]
  • Big Mac Index and Effective Exchange Rates: the Us Dollar, the Euro, and the Yuan
    BIG MAC INDEX AND EFFECTIVE EXCHANGE RATES: THE US DOLLAR, THE EURO, AND THE YUAN Thomas J. O’Brien* Santiago Ruiz de Vargas** April 2016 ABSTRACT This study is an investigation of currency misvaluation estimates relative to several different effective exchange rate (EER) baskets, given The Economist’s two Big Mac index methods of intrinsic currency valuation (raw and adjusted). We find that a currency’s misvaluation estimates have tended to be relatively consistent across the different EER basket compositions for the adjusted Big Mac method but not for the raw Big Mac method. For the adjusted Big Mac method, the Chinese yuan’s estimated undervaluation gradually diminished after January 2011 until the yuan was slightly overvalued as of January 2016. *Department of Finance, University of Connecticut, School of Business, 2100 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269-1041; [email protected] **Financial Advisory Services, NOERR AG, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, Brienner Str. 28, 80333 Munich; [email protected] For helpful suggestions and discussions, we thank Kenneth Clements, Assaf Eisdorfer (especially), Lok Sang Ho, and Jiawei Si. BIG MAC INDEX AND EFFECTIVE EXCHANGE RATES: THE US DOLLAR, THE EURO, AND THE YUAN The term effective exchange rate (EER) refers to an exchange rate between a given currency and a basket of currencies. That is, an EER is essentially a currency index from the perspective of the given currency. An EER is deemed to be a more effective way to measure a given currency’s value than a bilateral exchange rate between the given currency and another individual currency (Chinn, 2006). With an EER and a standard of intrinsic foreign exchange (FX) value, like purchasing power parity (PPP) for example, one can estimate a given currency’s overall misvaluation versus other currencies in general.
    [Show full text]
  • Purchasing Power Parity and Country Characteristics: Evidence from Panel Data Tests
    Purchasing Power Parity and Country Characteristics: Evidence from Panel Data Tests Joseph D. Alba Division of Economics Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 and David H. Papell * Department of Economics University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-5882 September 2005 Abstract We examine long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) using panel data methods to test for unit roots in US dollar real exchange rates of 84 countries. We find stronger evidence of PPP in countries more open to trade, closer to the United States, with lower inflation and moderate nominal exchange rate volatility, and with similar economic growth rates as the United States. We also show that PPP holds for panels of European and Latin American countries, but not for African and Asian countries. Our findings demonstrate that country characteristics can help explain both adherence to and deviations from long-run PPP. JEL classification: F31, O57 Keywords: Purchasing power parity, country characteristics, panel unit root tests. *Corresponding author: David H. Papell; Address: Department of Economics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5019; E-mail: [email protected]; Telephone: 713-743-3807; Fax: 713-743-3798. We are grateful to Carlos Vegh and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. Papell thanks the National Science Foundation for financial support. I. Introduction Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) has been one of the most enduring concepts in international economics. In its strongest form, absolute PPP implies that one could buy the same basket of goods in any country for the same value when prices are denominated in a common currency. This concept is based on the law of one price, which presumes that arbitrage in a wide range of goods equalizes prices across countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Nber Working Paper Series China's Current Account
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES CHINA'S CURRENT ACCOUNT AND EXCHANGE RATE Yin-Wong Cheung Menzie D. Chinn Eiji Fujii Working Paper 14673 http://www.nber.org/papers/w14673 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 January 2009 Paper prepared for NBER conference on "China's Growing Role in World Trade," organized by Rob Feenstra and Shang-Jin Wei, in Cape Cod, MA, August 3-4, 2007. We thank the discussant Jeffrey Frankel, Shang-Jin Wei, Arthur Kroeber, Xiangming Li, Jaime Marquez and conference participants for comments and discussion, and Kenneth Chow, Guillaume Gaulier, Chang-Tai Hsieh and Hiro Ito for providing data. Cheung acknowledges the hospitality of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, where part of this research was conducted. Faculty research funds of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Wisconsin are gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2009 by Yin-Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, and Eiji Fujii. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. China's Current Account and Exchange Rate Yin-Wong Cheung, Menzie D. Chinn, and Eiji Fujii NBER Working Paper No.
    [Show full text]
  • The Price of Development
    The Price of Development Fadi Hassan∗ Abstract: The positive correlation between cross-country price level and per-capita in- come is generally regarded as a stylized fact renowned as the Penn-Balassa- Samuelson effect. This paper provides evidence that the price-income rela- tionship is non-linear and that it turns negative in low income countries. The result is robust along both cross-section and panel dimensions. Additional robustness checks show that biases in PPP estimation and measurement error in low-income countries do not drive the result. The different stage of de- velopment between countries can explain this new finding. The paper shows that a model linking the price level to the process of structural transformation captures the non-monotonic pattern of the data. Keywords: Balassa-Samuelson; Penn effect; developing countries; non-parametric estima- tion; purchasing power parity; real exchange rate; structural transformation. JEL Classifications: E31, F4, O1. ∗London School of Economics, [email protected]. I am particularly indebted to Bernardo Guimaraes and Rachel Ngai for their precious guidance and support. I have greatly benefited also from comments and discussions with Francesco Caselli, Branko Mi- lanovic, Silvana Tenreyro, Robert Wade, Adrian Wood, and Alwyn Young. All remaining errors are mine. 1 1 Introduction It is widely understood that market exchange rates do not give accurate mea- sures of real income in different economies and that adjustment by purchasing power parity (PPP) factors is necessary for such measures. This understand- ing is based on an observed empirical regularity that richer countries have a higher price level than poorer countries.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review on the Relationship Between Real Exchange Rate , Productivity , and Growth
    Central Bank Review ISSN 1303-0701 print 1305-8800 online Vol. 15 (May 15), pp.61-77 © 2015 Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey https://www3.tcmb.gov.tr/cbr/ A REVIEW ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REAL EXCHANGE RATE , PRODUCTIVITY , AND GROWTH ∗ Hüseyin Murat Özbilgin ∗∗ ABSTRACT This article aims to review some of the findings in the literature on the relationship between the real exchange rate, productivity, and growth. A minimal recapitulation of the concepts that are necessary to be able to read through this literature is also provided. The article tries to reflect on studies focusing on various directions within the complic ated feedback mechanisms between the real exchange rate, and productivity and growth. The primary intention is to represent the mixed evidence on the relationship provided by the literature and the resulting inconclusiveness, as well as to emphasize certai n channels offered previously which are thought to be operating on the backdrop. JEL: F30, F31, F41, F43 Keywords Real exchange rate, Productivity, Growth, Exchange rate misalignment ÖZ Bu makale reel döviz kuru, verimlilik ve büyüme arasındaki ili şkiye dair ekonomi yazınındaki bazı bulguları özetlemeye çalı şmaktadır. Söz konusu yazını okumak için gerekli kavramların okuyucuya hatırlatılması da amaçlanmaktadır. Makale reel döviz kuru, verimlilik ve büyüme arasındaki karma şık etkile şim mekanizmala rının çe şitli yönlerine odaklanan çalı şmalar hakkında dü şündürmeyi denemektedir. Aslî amaç bulguların çe şitlili ğini ve bunun sonucu yazında ortaya çıkan uzla şmazlı ğı bu özette yansıtmak ve arka planda çalı ştı ğı dü şünülen kimi kanallara dikkat çekmektir. REEL DÖV İZ KURU, VER İMLİLİK VE BÜYÜME İLİŞ KİSİ ÜZER İNE B İR DE ĞERLEND İRME JEL: F30, F31, F41, F43 Anahtar Kelimeler Reel döviz kuru, Verimlilik, Büyüme, Döviz kuru uyumsuzlu ğu ∗ Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Research and Monetary Policy Department, İstiklal Cad.
    [Show full text]