FOOD INFLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC POLICY

This paper analyses the trends in food price movements in South Africa between 1980 and 2008. There are three main results emanating from the analysis in this paper. Firstly, food price movements have played a large role in generating inflationary episodes in South Africa. Secondly, while external influences do matter, South African food price movements are mainly due to domestic influences. This implies that national policy has an important role to play in taming domestic food price inflation. Thirdly, given the strong second round impacts, food price movements warrant special attention in monetary policymaking. Core measures of inflation that exclude food price movements may not accurately reflect the underlying inflationary pressures in the economy and could compromise the attainment of the goal of price stability.     

基于Markov区制转移模型的财政政策通胀效应检验

价格水平如何决定以及通货膨胀如何治理历来都是经济学家和政府决策部门关心的问题,新近提出的价格水平决定的财政理论强调财政政策变动对价格水平的影响。基于该理论,选取1998-2012年间国债发行和价格水平的季度数据,采取马尔科夫区制转移模型从一个侧面对我国财政政策的通货膨胀效应进行了实证检验,研究发现,积极财政政策对价格水平的影响并不一致,2008年第4季度之前的大部分时间里,积极财政政策所引致的通胀风险并不显著,但2008年之后,积极财政政策则具有显著通胀效应。因此,在治理通货膨胀的政策选择上,改善当前的财政状况,合理地运用财政政策可能是一个更好的选择。     

Inflation in developing Asia

Inflation emerged as the single biggest macroeconomic challenge confronting developing Asia during 2007–2008, although inflationary pressures have abated since the second half of 2008 due to the global crisis. This paper empirically examines the relative importance of different sources of inflation in developing Asia. In particular, it tests the widely held view that the region's inflationary surge during 2007–2008 was primarily the result of external price factors such as oil and food shocks. Our central empirical result is that, contrary to popular misconception, Asia's inflation is largely homegrown and has arisen due to excess aggregate demand and inflationary expectations, rather than external price shocks. This suggests monetary policy will remain a powerful tool in fighting inflation in Asia, as well as in defusing the risks of deflation.     

Oil price shocks and Japanese macroeconomic developments

Using quarterly data for Japan over the period 1976:I–2008:II within a modelling strategy incorporating information about structural breaks in the variables included to represent the macroeconomic transmission channels, this paper shows that oil price shocks led to a fall in industrial production and higher inflation. However, these effects are only evident in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In more recent episodes of sharp oil price increases, inflationary effects are barely visible, and there is very limited evidence of oil‐induced industrial slowdowns.     

Oil shocks and endogenous markups: results from an estimated euro area DSGE model

This paper estimates a linearised DSGE model for the euro area. The model is New Keynesian and allows for a role for oil usage and endogenous price markups. The importance of shocks to monetary policy and oil prices is estimated to have declined in the post-1990 period, in line with the higher predictability of policy and the fall in the persistence and—to a lesser extent—variability of oil disturbances. Counterfactual exercises show that oil efficiency gains would alleviate the inflationary and contractionary consequences of oil shocks, while higher wage flexibility would help ease the impact on real output at the expense of larger inflationary pressures. While we report evidence of “countercyclical” price markups, the rise in markups induced by an oil disturbance is not found to considerably amplify the inflationary and contractionary effects of the shock. The paper discusses the policy implications of our empirical results for the euro area economy.     

Philip I of England,embezzlement, and the quantity theory of money

Early in 1555, King Philip I of England minted at the Tower of London over £40,000 in sterling from New World silver brought from Spain. By probing Spanish and English accountancy procedures, this article demonstrates that this sum has not been included in either sixteenth –century or modern calculations of the circulating medium. Revised estimates for the money supply are given and possible inflationary effects on the mid –Tudor price rise are considered.     

Global food prices and monetary policy in an emerging market economy: The case of India

This paper investigates a perception in the political debates as to what extent poor countries are affected by price movements in the global commodity markets. To test this perception, we use the case of India to establish in a standard SVAR model that global food prices influence aggregate prices and food prices in India. To further analyze these empirical results, we specify a small open economy New-Keynesian model including oil and food prices and estimate it using observed data over the period 1996Q2 to 2013Q2 by applying Bayesian estimation techniques. The results suggest that a big part of the variation in inflation in India is due to cost-push shocks and, mainly during the years 2008 and 2010, also to global food price shocks, after having controlled for exogenous rainfall shocks. We conclude that the inflationary supply shocks (cost-push, oil price, domestic food price and global food price shocks) are important contributors to inflation in India. Since the monetary authority responds to these supply shocks with a higher interest rate which tends to slow growth, this raises concerns about how such output losses can be prevented by reducing exposure to commodity price shocks.     

DETERMINANTS OF INFLATION IN GHANA: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the factors accounting for inflation dynamics in Ghana using the bounds test and other econometric approaches. We find that real output, nominal exchange rate, broad money supply, nominal interest rate and fiscal deficit play a dominant role in the inflationary process in Ghana. To the extent that output growth by far has the strongest impact on inflation, targeting supply‐side constraints will help moderate price inflation. The paper concludes that inflation in Ghana is explained by a combination of structural and monetary factors consistent with prior studies.     

A NOTE ON THE TRIMMED MEAN MEASURE OF CORE INFLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

This paper constructs and analyses the properties of a trimmed mean inflation rate for South Africa. Based on an analysis of the distributions of the consumer price index component price changes, a measure is constructed that provides an estimator of core inflation, which may be particularly useful to policymakers in an inflation‐targeting environment. The trimmed mean estimator focuses on the price movements of individual components that have a strong bearing on the current and future trend of the headline inflation rate, allowing monetary policy to be directed at the persistent or underlying sources of inflationary pressures.     

Measuring Core Inflation in South Africa

Measures of core inflation convey critical information about an economy. They have a direct effect on the policymaking process, particularly in inflation‐targeting countries, and are utilised in forecasting and modelling exercises. In South Africa, the price indices on which inflation is based have been subject to important structural breaks following changes to the underlying basket of goods and the methodology for constructing price indices. This paper seeks to identify a consistent measure of core inflation for South Africa using trimmed means estimates, measures that exclude changes in food and energy prices, dynamic factor models, and wavelet decompositions. After considering the forecasting ability of these measures, which provide an indication of expected second‐round inflationary effects, traditional in‐sample criteria were used for further comparative purposes. The results suggest that wavelet decompositions provide a useful measure of this critical variable.     

The value of gold as a reserve asset

An unresolved feature of the present international monetary system is the absence of any agreement, formal or informal, as to the appropriate price at which gold held as a reserve asset is to be valued. This omission has become increasingly evident in recent months as the market price of gold has surged to levels 10 times as high as the former official price. While the majority of countries continue to value gold at the former official price, an increasing number have adopted valuations based on the market price. The existing ambigous situation with respect to gold valuation is not a viable one and, if present trends continue, the likely result will be a de facto revaluation of gold reserves at the market price. The quantitative implications of this are enormous, for the effective level of world reserves doubles when gold is valued at the current market price. Such a revaluation of gold would have a large impact on the future evolution of the international monetary system and, in particular, would cast a considerable degree of doubt on the possibility of attaining the internationally agreed goal of making special drawing rights (SDR) the principal reserve asset. In addition, the distribution of the increased international liquidity which has resulted from the rise in the market price of gold has been highly uneven, since world gold reserves are concentrated in a very small number of countries. A number of other countries, notably the non-oil-exporting developing countries, have strong grounds for objecting to the fact that this large increase in international liquidity has occurred as a result of an effective revaluation of gold rather than via increased allocations of SDR.     

居民消费价格指数变动趋势预测

一年来,居民消费价格指数(CPI)呈线性增长态势,形成通胀压力。经过建立数学模型测定,以及定性分析对定量分析结果的修正,可以预见,CPI增幅将会突破4%,且今后一段时期内,CPI仍会处在增幅3%以上的高位波动,通胀压力仍然存在,但CPI的上升空间有限。     

调控政策、住宅价格与居民住房支付能力——基于PanelData模型的区域差异分析

高房价是近年来我国政府关注的焦点,而与之相关的居民住房支付能力强弱则成为关键问题之一。本文以区域差异为视角,加入政策调控因素,引入虚拟变量,构建Panel Data模型以定量考察各因素对居民住房支付能力的影响程度。结果表明,住宅价格对西部地区的影响低于东、中部,而居民收入和消费支出水平对东部地区的影响高于中、西部;数量型货币政策工具对西部地区居民住房支付能力的影响最为显著,价格型货币政策工具对东部地区的影响最大。据此政府应该根据各地区居民住房支付能力的差异、影响因素的不同而制定相应的有效政策,提高居民住房支付能力。     

Exchange Rate Pass-through in China

During the second half of 2007 and early part of 2008 when there were intense inflationary pressures in China, RMB appreciation was advocated as a means of helping to curb inflation. The effectiveness of appreciation in controlling inflation depends on the impact of exchange rate movements on import and domestic prices. Our analysis finds fairly large and speedy exchange rate pass-through （ERPT） to import prices： 50 and 60percent for the short run and long run, respectively. However, the degree of ERPT decreases along the price chain from upstream to downstream prices. ERPT for consumer prices, the most downstream prices, is much milder and has substantial lags. A 10-percent rise in the nominal effective exchange rate will dampen consumer prices by 1.1 percent within a year, with very little pass-through in the first half year, and by 2.0percent over the long run. These findings, particularly the ERPT to consumer prices, suggest that RMB appreciation can help to reduce inflationary pressures over the longer term. However, it is unlikely to provide rapid relief to the current round of high inflation because of the long lags in ERPZ. The RMB needs to strengthen in effective terms to exert the desired dampening impact on prices.     

Exchange Rate Pass-through in a Small Open Economy: the Importance of the Distribution Sector

The degree of exchange rate pass-through to domestic goods prices has important implications for monetary policy in small open economies with floating exchange rates. Evidence indicates that pass-through is faster to import prices than to consumer prices. Price setting behaviour in the distribution sector is suggested as one important explanation. If distribution costs and trade margins are important price components of imported consumer goods, adjustment of import prices and consumer prices to exchange rate movements may differ. We present evidence on these issues for Norway by estimating a cointegrated VAR model for the pricing behaviour in the distribution sector, paying particular attention to exchange rate channels likely to operate through trade margins. Embedding this model into a large scale macroeconometric model of the Norwegian economy, which inter alia includes the pricing-to-market hypothesis and price-wage and wage-wage spirals between industries, we find exchange rate pass-through to be quite rapid to import prices and fairly slow to consumer prices. We show the importance of the pricing behaviour in the distribution sector in that trade margins act as cushions to exchange rate fluctuations, thereby delaying pass-through significantly to consumer prices. A forecasting exercise demonstrates that exchange rate pass-through to trade margins has not changed in the wake of the financial crises and the switch to inflation targeting. We also find significant inflationary effects of exchange rate changes even in the short run, an insight important for inflation targeting central banks.     

Revisiting the Exchange Rate Pass‐Through to Inflation in Africa’s Two Largest Economies: Nigeria and South Africa

This paper revisits the exchange rate pass‐through (ERPT) to inflation in Nigeria and South Africa by incorporating structural breaks and using time series variables, namely the consumer price index, nominal effective exchange rate, gross domestic product, and crude oil price. Based on the Maki cointegration test and a flexible estimation approach of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, our empirical evidence suggests that the long‐ and short‐run ERPT to inflation is complete for Nigeria, while for South Africa it is incomplete both in the long run and short run. This result indicates that prices are stickier in South Africa compared to Nigeria. The comparison between Nigeria and South Africa confirms the role of inflation targeting and central bank credibility on the ERPT. The results divulge further that output growth in Nigeria increases inflation in the long run while it is anti‐inflationary in the short run. For South Africa, the effect of output growth is negatively insignificant. In addition, the long‐run effect of oil price is negative and significant for Nigeria, while for South Africa the short‐run effect of oil price is positive and significant. Therefore, the findings of this paper will assist the monetary authorities to achieve monetary policy objectives.     

Analysis of interregional differences in inflationary developments in the economy of Central Russia

The article presents an analysis of regional characteristics of inflationary developments in the economy of Central Russia. An analysis of the annual dynamics of base regional consumer price indices, as well as price indices for food products, nonfood items, and services during 2000–2011, is provided. An extrapolation inflation rate forecast for the regions of Central Russia for 2013–2014 is also presented. An econometric model that relates regional consumer price indices in 2008–2011 to price indices for food products, nonfood items, and services has been constructed. A typology of the regions of Central Russia is suggested based on multiple base regional consumer price indices for food and nonfood products, as well as services in 2008–2011.     

Indexing,exchange rate policy and inflationary feedback effects in Latin America

This paper examines inflationary adjustment processes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay with time-varying estimation techniques to determine the relationship between inflationary inertia or feedback effects from past to current inflation and the degree of indexation of wages and exchange rates to past inflation rates. The results show that reductions in the degree of exchange rate linkage to past inflation have not been particularly helpful in larger or relatively more diversified economies (such as Argentina, Brazil, or Chile), while reductions in wage linkages to past inflation rates have had strong but short-lived effects.     

The structuralist explanation in the theory of inflation

This paper argues that three main elements form the basis of both the Latin American and the European branches of the structuralist school of inflation theory. These elements are: (1) relative prices that change when economic structure changes; (2) downward inflexibility of (some) money prices; and (3) a passive money supply closing the deflationary gap caused by price increases. The only difference between the two branches is what they consider to be the main cause of structural change.The object of this paper is to show that models worked out by Latin American structuralists during the 1960s and models developed recently by European structuralists have a common reduced form and describe similar inflationary processes.     

The Inflationary Effects of Effective Exchange Rate Depreciation in Selected African Countries

This paper investigates the long-run relationship between thenominal effective exchange rate and domestic inflation in selectedAfrican countries. Given that the study period is 1979–97,data availability is very limited. A new panel data cointegratingtechnique proposed by Pedroni is employed which lessens thelikelihood of accepting non-stationarity on account of limitedtest power. We find that effective exchange rate depreciationis inflationary but this is unlikely to outweigh the gains fromincreased price competitiveness. The results also point towardslimited effectiveness in monetary policy controlling inflation.Finally, the Pedroni methodology is expanded through the estimationof panel data error correction models that indicate a fairlysluggish adjustment towards long-run equilibrium.