Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Output in Oil-Producing Countries: The Case of Iran

Conventional wisdom states that currency depreciation in oil-producing countries is contractionary because demand effects, limited by the prevalence of oil exports priced in dollars, are more than offset by adverse supply effects. Iran, however, has experienced a rapid increase in nonoil exports in the past decade. Against this background, the paper tests whether the conventional wisdom still applies to Iran and concludes that the emergence of the nonoil export sector has made currency depreciation expansionary. The expansionary effect is particularly evident regarding anticipated persistent depreciation in the long run. Notwithstanding the varying effects of exchange rate fluctuations on the demand and supply sides of the economy, managing a flexible exchange rate gradually over time toward achieving stability in the real effective exchange rate may strike the necessary balance.     

Real exchanges rates in commodity producing countries: A reappraisal

Commodity price booms, as those recorded in the last decade, may have a significant economic impact in small, commodity exporting, developing countries. Whether the impact on output is positive or negative is still unclear. It depends on various factors, notably on the impact that commodity prices can have on the real exchange rate of the commodity exporting countries. Two recent papers show that the real exchange rate appreciates when commodity prices increase. Our analysis produces new estimates of this relationship by focusing on a large sample of developing countries which are specialized in the export of one leading commodity. By using non-stationary panel techniques robust to cross-sectional dependence, we find that the price of the dominant commodity has a significant long-run impact on the real exchange rate when the exports of the leading commodity have a share of at least 20 percent in the country's total exports of merchandises. Our results also show that the larger this share, the larger the size of the impact.     

贸易摩擦、宏观经济波动与经济开放程度的选择

本文构建一个包含关税冲击以及外汇风险溢价的两国开放经济DSGE模型,创新地揭示了关税冲击造成实际汇率波动的“直接效应”与“间接效应”,刻画了关税变动、贸易条件与实际汇率之间的动态关系与作用机制。我们深入分析了不同经济开放程度下贸易摩擦造成的宏观经济波动以及经济福利损失。模拟结果表明,在一定贸易开放程度下,外国加收关税一方面会导致本国贸易条件恶化,引发出口及产出下降;另一方面会导致本国汇率贬值,引发出口及产出增长。关税冲击发生后短期中汇率贬值效应占优,本国产出会出现小幅上升,随后贸易条件恶化效应逐步显现,产出持续下降。福利分析结果表明,本国适度提升贸易开放度,虽然经济福利损失会小幅上升,但福利损失增加幅度小于外国,会在贸易摩擦竞争中形成相对优势;如果本国过度提高贸易开放度,则会导致本国福利损失大幅增加,并且大于外国福利损失增幅,会在贸易摩擦竞争中形成相对劣势。因此,应适度逐步有序地提升贸易开放度。此外,本国适度推进资本账户开放的政策能够改善贸易条件,促进本国经济增长。     

双边出口全球价值链实际有效汇率弹性理论测度及解析

近年来,汇率与出口弱相关现象引起理论界和实务界的广泛关注。本文通过考虑全球价值链带来的供给侧联系和第三国汇率效应,使用双边出口全球价值链实际有效汇率弹性指标对双边层面的相对价格竞争力与出口关系作出新的测度和结构贡献度分解。研究发现,对相对价格竞争力与出口关系修正后测度的双边出口全球价值链实际有效汇率弹性值显著为负。出口对修正的汇率变动依旧富有弹性。“汇率对出口影响弱化”并没有传统实际有效汇率和双边汇率表现的那么严重,更没有出现“贬值抑制出口”等不符合理论预期的反常情况。双边出口全球价值链实际有效汇率弹性结构分解贡献度结果显示,伴随我国在全球价值链中参与度和地位的提升,中国对主要贸易伙伴出口中由相对价格变动引起中间产品结构变动对总弹性的贡献度不断提升。     

贸易摩擦、宏观经济波动与经济开放程度的选择

本文构建一个包含关税冲击以及外汇风险溢价的两国开放经济DSGE模型,创新地揭示了关税冲击造成实际汇率波动的“直接效应”与“间接效应”,刻画了关税变动、贸易条件与实际汇率之间的动态关系与作用机制。我们深入分析了不同经济开放程度下贸易摩擦造成的宏观经济波动以及经济福利损失。模拟结果表明,在一定贸易开放程度下,外国加收关税一方面会导致本国贸易条件恶化,引发出口及产出下降;另一方面会导致本国汇率贬值,引发出口及产出增长。关税冲击发生后短期中汇率贬值效应占优,本国产出会出现小幅上升,随后贸易条件恶化效应逐步显现,产出持续下降。福利分析结果表明,本国适度提升贸易开放度,虽然经济福利损失会小幅上升,但福利损失增加幅度小于外国,会在贸易摩擦竞争中形成相对优势;如果本国过度提高贸易开放度,则会导致本国福利损失大幅增加,并且大于外国福利损失增幅,会在贸易摩擦竞争中形成相对劣势。因此,应适度逐步有序地提升贸易开放度。此外,本国适度推进资本账户开放的政策能够改善贸易条件,促进本国经济增长。     

Real exchange rates and skills

Recent developments in trade theory strongly emphasize that international trade requires an intensive use of skilled workers. Against this background, we explore in this paper whether labor skills are a key determinant of real exchange rates in the long run. Using panel regressions covering 22 countries over the period 1950–2010, we find that labor skills are indeed a structural determinant of real exchange rates, with a permanent increase of the skilled–unskilled labor ratio leading to a long-run appreciation of the real exchange rate. This finding is robust to the inclusion of several control variables, like those used in traditional analyses of real exchange rates.     

人民币实际汇率波动对中国贸易影响的实证分析

本文利用1994-2008年的季度时间序列数据,在VAR模型的基础上,运用单位根检验、协整分析、格兰杰因果检验和方差分解等技术分析人民币实际汇率对中国进出口贸易的影响。分析结果表明,人民币实际汇率变动是影响中国进出口贸易的重要因素,马歇尔-勒纳条件在中国是成立的。从短期来看,人民币实际汇率变动是影响出口贸易的主要因素;然而从长期来看,国外需求的变动是影响出口贸易变动的主要因素。     

人民币汇率与中国-东盟经济体贸易的实证研究

本文对人民币汇率与中国-东盟经济体贸易关系进行实证研究。研究发现人民币汇率与中国-东盟经济体贸易存在协整关系,在出口方面,实际汇率升值对出口的正向作用比名义汇率的要大;在进口中,实际汇率对进口的影响比名义汇率的要小。中国-东盟经济体出口贸易对人民币汇率的响应存在＂奇异J曲线＂效应。政策建议是：全面考虑人民币汇率篮子中各种货币的权重问题,提高对东盟经济体地位的重视,同时要关注中国与东盟贸易中的物价因素。     

Determinants of Exchange Market Pressure in Turkey: An Econometric Investigation

This paper investigates the hypothesis that there is a causal relation between speculative pressure and real exchange rate overvaluation, banking-sector fragility, and the level of international reserves in Turkey. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds-testing procedure and Granger causality within vector error-correction models (VECM) are applied to the period after the liberalization of capital flows (August 1989-August 2006). The results of the ARDL bounds test support the theory that exchange market pressure is in a long-run equilibrium relation with the three hypothesized variables over the sample period. On the other hand, the results of the short-run and long-run Granger causality tests indicate the existence of Granger causality running from the three variables to exchange market pressure. The findings further suggest that a feedback relation exists between banking-sector fragility and exchange market pressure.     

U.S. real exchange rate fluctuations and relative price fluctuations

Traditional theory attributes fluctuations in real exchange rates to changes in the relative price of nontraded goods. This paper studies the relation between the United States’ bilateral real exchange rate and the associated bilateral relative price of nontraded goods for five of its most important trade relationships. We find that this relation depends crucially on the choice of price series used to measure relative prices and on the choice of trade partner. The relation is stronger when we measure relative prices using producer prices rather than consumer prices. The relation is stronger the more important is the trade relationship between the United States and a trade partner. Even in cases where there is a strong relation between the real exchange rate and the relative price of nontraded goods, however, a large fraction of real exchange rate fluctuations is due to deviations from the law of one price for traded goods.     

Eliminating Excessive Tariffs on Exports of Least Developed Countries

Although average OECD tariffs on imports from the least developedcountries are very low; tariffs above 15 percent (peaks) havea disproportional effect on their exports. Products subjectto tariff peaks tend to be heavily concentrated in agricultureand food products and labor-intensive sectors, such as appareland footwear. Although the least developed countries benefitfrom preferential access, preferences tend to be smallest fortariff peak products. A major exception is the European Union,so that the recent European initiative to grant full duty-freeand quota-free access for the least developed countries (theso-called Everything But Arms initiative) will result in onlya small increase in their exports of tariff peak items (lessthan 1 percent of total exports). However, as preferences areless significant in other major OECD countries, a more generalemulation of the European Union initiative would increase theleast developed countries' total exports of peak products byUS$2.5 billion (11 percent of total exports). Although almosthalf of this increase is at the expense of other developingcountry exports, this represents less than 0.05 percent of theirtotal exports. This trade diversion can be avoided by reducingtariff peaks to a uniform 5 percent applied on a nondiscriminatorybasis. However, such a reform would imply no gains for the leastdeveloped countries, suggesting that the globally welfare-superiorpolicy of nondiscriminatory elimination of tariff peaks shouldbe complemented by greater direct assistance to poor countries.     

Globalization,exports, and effective exchange rate indices

This paper offers a new way of compiling effective exchange rate indices, which is then shown to perform generally better in prototype equations explaining total real exports than other published indices. Researchers can use this method to compile effective exchange rates, real or nominal, readily for any country. The generally superior performance, based on cointegration tests using data from four major economies, four Latin American countries, and four South East Asian countries, suggests the proposed index which uses GDP weights rather than trade weights, is more appropriate in a highly globalized world. Intensified globalization in the past two decades appears indicated by the higher elasticities of exports with respect to the real effective exchange rate over time.     

Exchange volatility and trade performance in Morocco and Tunisia: what have we learned so far?

This paper attempts to assess two interesting issues for two small open economies (Morocco and Tunisia). First, it analyses the historical behaviour of nominal exchange rate, differential price and real exchange rate uncertainties. Second, it investigates the stability of the interaction between exchange volatility and exports in nominal and real terms. Our main results reveal that the effect of differential price volatility on exports exceeds that of nominal exchange rate by a large margin in terms of duration of persistence, ARCH and GARCH effects and intensity of shock. The relationship appears complex. In Morocco, it is negative and significant in 75.82% (as average) of cases in nominal terms and in 77.22% in real terms. This link is stronger in Tunisia with averages, respectively, equal to 85.88% and 89.99%. We associate the apparently mixed results to the differential price uncertainty itself sensitive to ups and down oil price movements, switching regime and leverage effects.     

Second-Best Foreign Exchange Policy in the Presence of Domestic Price Controls and Export Subsidies

Poland, like many developing countries, has required its exportersto surrender a share of their foreign exchange earnings to thegovernment at an overvalued exchange rate. During the late 1980s,it progressively increased the share which exporters were allowedto retain (the retention ratio), but other distortions to thetrade regime remained. A model developed here estimates theeffects of these policies on welfare under different foreignexchange elasticities, export and import subsidies, officialexchange rates, and policies on exporter retention of foreignexchange earnings. The retention ratios in effect in early 1989were equivalent to a 51 percent tax on exports or an importtariff of 130 percent. As economic theory would suggest, maximumsocial benefit would derive from removal of the full range ofdistortions. Full retention of foreign exchange by exportersin the absence of other distortions would provide social benefitsequivalent to 8 percent of gross domestic product. But the neteffect of the other policies together is a bias toward tradables,so that a policy of somewhat less than full retention of foreignexchange is optimal in this second-best world.     

Nominal exchange rate volatility,relative price volatility,and the real exchange rate

We model real exchange rate, nominal exchange rate, and relative price volatility using real and nominal factors. We analyze these volatility measures across developing and industrialized countries. We find that the inclusion of nominal factors achieves a sizable reduction in the real exchange rate volatility spread between developing and industrialized countries. In addition, we find that nominal factors matter to real exchange rate volatility in the short run and the long run, and that for developing countries, a higher share of real exchange rate volatility stems from relative price volatility.     

Monetary shocks,exchange rates,and the extensive margin of exports

This paper develops a two-country Dynamic General Equilibrium model to assess the relationship between the real exchange rate and the extensive margin of exports. Exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices governs the relative strength of a demand channel onto the exporting decision of a firm. With incomplete pass-through, a favorable movement in the real exchange rate generates increased export participation and an expansion in the extensive margin of exports. This result is consistent with firm-level studies, and contributes to an ongoing empirical debate as to the importance of changes in export participation over the business cycle.     

Misaligned? Overvalued?. The Untold Story of the Turkish Lira

Scholars agree that overvalued exchange rates result in currency crises. This paper estimates the equilibrium real exchange rate for Turkey, finding that the lira was indeed overvalued before the crises in 1994 and 2001. However, the actual real exchange rate is at present close to the equilibrium level, exposing the myth propagated by Turkish exporters that the lira's overvaluation is responsible for Turkey's uncompetitive exports. The paper also highlights the role for fiscal adjustment in macroeconomic stability.     

我国汇率制度变化与贸易发展关系的历史分析

文章回顾了自上世纪80年代以来各阶段人民币汇率制度的特征,探讨了各时期汇率变动对进出口影响效应的有效性,揭示了影响贸易变化的实际因素,指出名义汇率可能与进出口关系并不密切,影响贸易的根本问题还在于国内外产品价差、企业竞争力、经济环境、宏观政策等因素,也不能把汇率政策理解为单一地调整名义汇率。     

Income shifting and U.S. international trade in goods statistics

Intrafirm trade represents greater than one-third of total U.S. international trade in goods. Since these are not arm’s-length transactions, trade policymakers have voiced concerns that income shifting may distort international trade in goods statistics through the manipulation of transfer prices. Using country-level data on intrafirm exports and imports, we estimate a path analysis that simultaneously tests how and to what extent tax-motivated transfer pricing and real investment decisions affect intrafirm trade in goods statistics. Contrary to speculation, we do not find an economically significant relation between transfer pricing and intrafirm trade in goods statistics. In contrast, we find that tax-motivated location decisions create a 21 (20) percent or $819.7 ($927.1) million difference in mean intrafirm exports (imports) between the U.S. and a low- and high-tax country. This study provides trade policymakers with relevant information about the extent to which real investment decisions and accounting manipulations affect intrafirm trade in goods statistics and contributes to the international trade and income shifting literatures.     

Foreign direct investment,exports and economic growth: ADRL and causality analysis for South Africa

The article empirically investigated economic growth as a function of foreign direct investment and exports in South Africa. The article applied the autoregressive distributed lag model, known as the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration for the long run relationship between economic growth, foreign direct investment and exports. The error correction model was used to examine the short run dynamics; and the VECM Granger causality approach was used to investigate the direction of causality. The article confirmed cointegration between economic growth, foreign direct investment and exports. The article indicates that both foreign direct investment and exports spur economic growth contrary to some studies, which found that FDI does not cause economic growth. The VECM Granger causality analysis found unidirectional causality between economic growth and foreign direct investment running from foreign direct investment to economic growth, unidirectional causality between foreign direct investment and exports running from foreign direct investment to exports and bidirectional causality between economic growth and exports. The article confirms the FDI-led growth hypothesis for South Africa. On the policy front, the government could stimulate foreign direct investment through incentives to investors, creation of a good macroeconomic environment and a careful utilisation of loose monetary policy to grow the economy.