COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATE APPRECIATION AND AGGREGATE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES

The paper examines the effects of exchange rate depreciation on real output and price in a sample of 11 developing countries in the Middle East. The theoretical model decomposes movements in the exchange rate into anticipated and unanticipated components. Unanticipated currency fluctuations determine aggregate demand through exports, imports, and the demand for domestic currency, and determine aggregate supply through the cost of imported intermediate goods. The evidence indicates that the supply channel attributed to anticipated exchange rate appreciation results in limited effects on output growth and price inflation. Consistent with theory's predictions, unanticipated appreciation of the exchange rate appears more significant with varying effects on output growth and price inflation across developing countries.     

储蓄不足与供给约束型经济态势——近代中国经济运行的基本前提研究

多角度的考察表明,近代中国的总需求拉升价格的力度远大于总供给下压价格的力度,产出增长能力较弱;本币升值可以改善贸易收支,贸易条件成立;出口和进口的汇率弹性绝对值之和远小于1,马歇尔—勒纳条件不成立。因此,近代中国经济呈现供给约束型经济态势,总供给曲线的斜度应该是陡峭的。于是,在使用经济学理论框架分析近代中国经济时,应首先考虑所运用的理论之前提假设是否与近代中国的经济态势一致,从而避免产生南辕北辙的结论。     

Inflation in open economies: Supply-determined versus demand-determined models

This paper provides a formal presentation of an increasingly popular pure cost-push model of the international spread of inflation. The model, which is based on the division of the economy into competitive (tradeable) and sheltered (non-tradeable) sectors, has been developed in the Scandinavian countries. The paper then tests the predictive performance of the model against two simple demand-pull explanations and finds that the Scandinavian model is a relatively poor predictor. Next, the implications of the Scandinavian model for price and income elasticities of demand on the two sectors are derived, and in the last section these are used to reinterpret the model as part of a structure including both supply and demand sides.     

Does money have a role in the inflation process? Evidence from Australia

Inflation, defined as a sustained increase in the price level, is considered a monetary phenomenon, as it can be explained within the framework of money‐demand and money‐supply relationships. In the extant literature, money growth is shown to remain causally related to inflation across countries and over time, irrespective of the exchange rate regime and stability of the money‐demand function. Nevertheless, emerging literature suggests a diminishing role of money in the conduct of monetary policy for price stability, especially under inflation targeting. Monetary policy in Australia under inflation targeting since 1993 is an example of policy that denies a relationship between money growth and inflation. The proposition that money does not matter insofar as inflation is concerned seems odd in both theory and the best‐practice monetary policy for price stability. This paper uses annual data for the period 1970–2017 and quarterly data for the period 1970Q1–2015Q1. It deploys both the Johansen cointegration approach and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration approach to investigate for Australia whether money, real output, prices and the exchange rate (non‐stationary variables) maintain the long‐run price‐level relationship that the classical monetary theory suggests in the presence of such stationary variables as the domestic and foreign interest rates. As expected, the empirical findings for Australia are consistent with the classical long‐run price‐level relationship between money, real output, prices and the exchange rate. The error‐correction model of inflation confirms the presence of a cointegral relationship among these variables; it also provides strong evidence of a short‐run causal relationship between money supply growth and inflation. On the basis of a priori theoretical predictions and empirical findings, the paper draws the conclusion that the monetary aggregate and its growth rate matter insofar as inflation is concerned, irrespective of the strategy of monetary policy for price stability.     

Long-run estimates of money demand: new evidence from East Asian countries and the presence of structural breaks

Conventionally, the money demand function is estimated using a linear regression of the logarithm of money demand on a number of variables. In this article, we aim to estimate the long-run properties of money demand specification for a number of East Asian economies and within a panel framework with the presence of structural breaks. Various country-specific coefficients are allowed to capture inter-country heterogeneities. Consistent with theoretical postulates, it is found that (a) the demand for money in the long-run positively responds to real income and inversely to the interest rate spread, inflation, the real effective exchange rate and the US real interest rate; (b) the long-run income elasticity is greater than unity; and (c) both the currency substitution and capital mobility hypotheses hold. The empirical findings in this article can provide useful policy guidelines to the East Asian countries’ central banks in their quest for price stability. If one of the primary objectives of these countries is to minimize price instability, they should avoid creating unnecessary disequilibrium in the money market, while the employment of cointegration with the presence of structural breaks clearly recommends to central banks to use the supply of money to attain price and macroeconomic stability.     

中国货币供给与通货膨胀的关联性研究

关于货币供给与通货膨胀的关联性,学者们还没有形成一致的看法.理论上,货币供给与通货膨胀具有一定的关联性.通货膨胀有需求拉动型和成本推动型,在通货膨胀的原因中有“货币因素”,也有“非货币因素”.实证检验表明:中国货币供应量与物价指数不存在长期的稳定均衡关系,但货币供应量是物价指数的格兰杰原因,反之则不然.事实上,中国通货膨胀或通货膨胀压力一方面是与货币供给有关,另一方面还与结构性因素有关.因此,要实现中国经济的低通胀运行:一是实行总量均衡和结构合理的货币供给模式;二是采取更有效的货币政策;三是推进经济结构调整,实现国际收支平衡;四是深化金融体系改革,增强中央银行货币控制能力;五是进行汇率机制改革;六是通过财政政策调整供需结构.     

The supply and demand for imports and exports in a simultaneous model

Previous studies on the behaviour of aggregate exports and imports have tended to ignore the simultaneous relationship between quantity and price. This paper investigates the price responsiveness of export and import demand and supply in eight African countries. The results indicate that export demand price elasticities are smaller when the sample is African. The import supply and demand elasticities were found to be generally large. The Marshall–Lerner condition of balance of payment stability is found to be easily satisfied. A positively sloped function of export supply is found to exist for a majority of countries in the sample. The average time lag of export supply is found to be about a year. The disequilibrium model is found to be more appropriate for import demand, import supply and export supply.     

Currency internationalization and valuation effects: based on the threshold model

ABSTRACT

Based on the three functions of currency internationalization, including exchange medium, pricing currency and foreign reserve, this paper explores how the degree of currency internationalization affects the impact of the exchange rate and the asset price on valuation effects. Using samples of 161 countries or regions from 2001 to 2016 and the threshold regression method, we find that, firstly, there is a threshold effect of the exchange rate on valuation effects due to currency internationalization. The higher the comprehensive level of currency internationalization is, the greater the positive impact of the exchange rate on valuation effects will be. Secondly, the threshold effect of the asset price on valuation effects due to currency internationalization is not significant because of the high stickiness of asset price. Besides, compared with developed countries, currency internationalization is more important to increase valuation effects through exchange rate channel and asset price channel in developing countries or regions. Finally, there are some differences in the three types of currency internationalization functions. The promotion of exchange medium function will lead to a greater positive impact of the exchange rate on valuation effects, as well as pricing currency function. However, the foreign reserve function has no such effect.     

An Experimental Education Market with Positive Externalities

A graphical approach shows that in order for the tax revenue to increase, following a reduction in the marginal rate, the increase of aggregate supply must be greater the lower the price level elasticity of aggregate demand.     

How Elastic is East Asian Demand for Consumption Goods?

This paper investigates import demand in East Asia. Estimating exchange rate elasticities for countries in the region is difficult because many imports are used to produce goods for re‐export. An exchange rate appreciation that reduces East Asian exports will also reduce the demand for imported inputs that are used to produce exports. To correct for this bias this paper examines consumption imports, since these goods are intended primarily for the domestic market. Results from several specifications indicate that currency appreciations and increases in income in East Asian countries would significantly increase imports into the region.     

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe: money demand,seigniorage and aid shocks

Zimbabwe experienced record hyperinflation of 80 billion per cent per month in 2008. This article uses new data from Zimbabwe to investigate money demand under hyperinflation using an autoregressive distributed-lag model for the period 1980–2008. The results produce plausible convergence rates and long-run elasticities, indicating that real-money balances are cointegrated with the inflation rate and signifying an equilibrium relationship between the two series. Evidence is also presented suggesting prices were driven by increases in the money supply rather than by changes in price setting behaviour. The article uses the estimated elasticity on the inflation variable to calculate the maximum level of seigniorage revenue that could be raised in the economy. Actual seigniorage levels increased dramatically after 2000, with inflation eventually exceeding the rate required to maximize this revenue stream. This is discussed in relation to international financing constraints and the collapse of the domestic tax base.     

Demand elasticities for international message telephone service

Using a point-to-point model of toll demand, this paper provides estimates of own-price demand elasticities for international message telephone service. The study improves on previous studies by using more recent data and endogenizing price. Consistent with earlier studies, the demand for IMTS is found to be price inelastic, about??0.28 on average, in the short-run and near unitary elastic,??1.04 on average, in the long run. Both the level and the elasticity of demand are found to be positively related to the size of the telephone network. The own-price elasticity of demand for a select group of countries is provided.     

国际贸易结算币种内生选择机制研究——兼论人民币国际结算前景

本文从出口商期望利润最大化视角出发,梳理出一个国际贸易结算币种选择的微观分析框架。研究结果表明,在满足政治经济稳定性、货币的可兑换性、外汇市场的发达程度等前提条件下,需求价格弹性大小、汇率的波动性是影响结算币种选择的关键因素。     

Estimating an Import Demand Function in Developing Countries: A Structural Econometric Approach with Applications to India and Sri Lanka

Owing to the unavailability of time‐series data on the domestic market‐clearing price of imports, the estimation of notional price and income elasticities of aggregate import demand remains a daunting task for a large number of developing countries. This paper develops a structural econometric model of a two‐goods representative agent economy that incorporates a binding foreign exchange constraint at the administered prices of imports. A theoretically consistent parameterization of the “virtual relative price” of imports circumvents the data problem, and thus enables the estimation of income and price responses by cointegration approach. The price and income elasticity estimates for India and Sri Lanka, in contrast to the extant literature, have correct signs, high statistical significance, and plausible magnitudes.     

The response of aggregate demand to income,money supply,and price level

The response elasticities of (nominal) aggregate demand to the price level and to other nominal variables (e.g., money supply) are both positive but smaller than one. Aggregate demand is less/as responsive to real income than/as to the price level in the short/long run. Real aggregate demand is less/as responsive to real income than/as nominal aggregate demand is to the price level in the short/long run. Some uses of these results are indicated.     

Optimal monetary policy for a small open economy

This paper focuses on the design of monetary policy rules for a small open economy. The model features optimizing behavior, general equilibrium and price stickiness. The real exchange rate is shown to affect the firm's real marginal cost, aggregate supply and aggregate demand. The welfare objective depends on the openness of the economy, and the optimal policy rule differs from that which obtains in a closed economy. The inflation versus output gap stabilization trade-off is caused by the real exchange rate. The implied optimal monetary policy regime is domestic inflation target coupled with controlled floating of the real exchange rate.     

Exchange rate sensitivity of the demand for money in developing countries

There is consensus among researches that under the present floating exchange rate system although developing countries peg their exchange rate to a major currency, they cannot avoid fluctuation in their effective exchange rates as long as major currencies fluctuate against one another. Few authors have investigated the effects of changes in effective exchange rates of developing countries on their imports, exports, trade balance, demand for international reserves, inflation etc. In this paper we try to inestigate the effects of effective exchange rates of developing countries on their demand for money. Previous authors who have estimated a money demand function, inclusive of an exchange rate variable (bilateral or effective), have restricted themselves to industrial countries only. By using quarterly data over the 1973–85 period, it is shown that in most developing countries, while the short-run effcts of depreciation could be in either direction, its long-run effects are negative indicating that depreciation causes a decline in the demand for domestic currency.     

结构性通货膨胀的一个基本理论分析框架——基于状态空间时变参数模型的实证

以实体经济的部门瓶颈制约模型、货币视角的资产市场均衡模型为基础构建了一个结构性通货膨胀理论分析框架,并利用状态空间时变参数模型计量方法进行了实证检验。结果显示,农业部门瓶颈制约明显,产品供给弹性低,当需求短期内增加,农业劳动力、农产品价格上涨的结构性通货膨胀特征明显;同时,当货币流动性出现过剩,充足的流动性会将结构性通货膨胀推向更高水平,国内货币流动性、外汇储备则起到推波助澜的作用。     

New Keynesian Versus New Classical Theories of Aggregate Supply: Evidence from the Oecd Countries

Using annual and quarterly data for the OECD countries this paper tests four theories of aggregate supply, namely the sticky wage, the sticky price, the worker misperception and the producer misinformation models. The empirical estimates suggest that the short run aggregate supply curve is positively sloped as a result of price and wage stickiness. Furthermore, the slope of the aggregate supply curve is found to be a positive function of the rate of inflation which is consistent with the sticky price model.     

Does devaluation improve trade balance in small island economies? The case of Fiji

A number of countries, mostly small and island economies manage fixed exchange and often devalue it as a stabilisation strategy. The current paper investigates the effectiveness of devaluation in improving trade balance with reference to Fiji. A small island economy has limited exportable and hence highly depends on imports for both consumption and production purposes. A devaluation, therefore, inflates domestic price and appreciates the real exchange immediately by raising importable consumption and discouraging imports used in domestic production. The paper applies various econometric models for empirical investigation of its impact and transmission mechanism. Strong long-run relationship found between real exchange rate and trade balance explains that appreciation of currency has been responsible for the rising trade deficit in the economy. Moreover, the devaluation did not demonstrate J-curve phenomenon. The effect of devaluation strongly contributed to the domestic inflation has been while quite weak on stimulating aggregate demand.