The role of import prices in flattening the Phillips curve: Evidence from Korea

Are global inflation synchronization and the flattening of the Phillips curve across the globe related? The globalization hypothesis has been proposed to explain the relationship but questions remain on its quantitative role. Focusing on South Korea, one of Asia-Pacific supply chain hubs, this paper investigates the extent to which import prices affect domestic price inflation over the period between 2002 and 2020. Specifically, we conduct the regression decomposition method to identify major sources of variation in domestic inflation, followed by a subsequent set of comparative analyses across various inflation forecasting models. Our findings confirm a tight link from import prices to domestic prices, with a 10pp increase in IPI inflation passed onto PPI and CPI inflation by 3.9pp and 3.4pp over time, respectively. The main finding of this study is consistent with the recent global inflation surge that has been driven largely by imported food and energy price channels.     

国际大宗商品期货价格与中国CPI的相关性实证研究

美国次债危机以来大宗初级商品价格持续大幅波动,引发了关于我国大宗初级商品价格上涨是否是导致我国通货膨胀原因的讨论。本文对铜、原油、大豆和糖具有国际代表性的大宗商品价格与我国居民消费价格指数(CPI)进行实证分析,利用协整分析、格兰杰因果检验、脉冲响应函数等计量方法研究了我国大宗初级商品价格变化对CPI的影响。     

A putty-clay vintage model for sectors of industry in the Netherlands

Summary A putty-clay vintage model has been estimated for five industrial sectors: food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing; textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing; chemical industry and oil refineries; metal manufacturing, and total manufacturing. Substitutabilityex ante between labour and capital appeared to be small in the first four sectors, with textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing as an exception. Substitutabilityex ante in total manufacturing industry is rather high: an elasticity of substitution of –0.74. Embodied technical progress is strong in all industrial sectors. In textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing and in total manufacturing it is both labour- and capital-augmenting in nature. In the other sectors it is mainly of the labour-augmenting variety.This research has partly been made possible by a grant of the National Programme of Labour Market Research (NPAO). Advice by Professor Th. van de Klundert and Mr. A.H. van Zon is gratefully acknowledged.     

Reconsidering the International Comovement of Inflation

In this paper we reconsider the degree of international comovement of inflation rates. We use a dynamic hierarchical factor model that is able to decompose Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in a panel of countries into (i) a factor common to all inflation series and all countries, (ii) a factor specific to a given sub-section of the CPI, (iii) a country group-factor and (iv) a country-specific component. With its pyramidal structure, the model allows for the possibility that the global factor affects the country-group factor and other subordinated factors but not vice versa. Using quarterly data for industrialized and emerging economies from 1996 to 2011 we find that about two thirds of overall inflation volatility is due to country-specific determinants. For CPI inflation net of food and energy, the global factor and the CPI basket-specific factor account for less than 20 % of inflation variation. Only energy price inflation in industrial economies is dominated by common factors.     

我国食品消费价格指数的灰色关联分析

近期我国出现了食品类商品价格的持续性上涨,导致了居民消费价格指数(CPI)的不断上涨和居民生活成本的提高,新一轮的通货膨胀预期在不断加重。本文运用灰色关联分析法,深入分析了我国的食品价格指数与哪些商品价格有关联,而又在多大程度上影响了CPI的上涨,最终说明食品价格上涨不会导致全面通货膨胀的爆发。     

利息拿捏、汇率尺度与抑制我国物价过快上涨的对策选择

2011年和2012年我国会出现CPI涨幅超过5%的通货膨胀现象。2012年以后食品价格下降,CPI涨幅回落,但非食品价格和PPI仍将保持较快上涨态势。人民币名义汇率升值和提高存贷款利率会有效降低物价上涨幅度,但将付出不同程度的经济增速下降代价。在小幅度提息的同时采取人民币名义汇率小幅度渐进升值措施,是抑制物价过快上涨、保持经济较快平稳增长的较佳选择。     

对当前新疆价格形势的分析

当前新疆价格形势不容乐观，通胀压力依然很大。2010年下半年以来，我国及新疆的居民消费价格指数（CPI）持续上升，通胀预期增强。面对当前严峻的价格形势，中央提出要千方百计保持物价总水平基本稳定。本文对当前的价格形势进行了全面客观分析，特别是针对新疆的特殊情况，分析了价格上涨的主要特点，以及导致价格涨幅偏高的原因，并预测了2011年下半年新疆价格走势，最后提出了加强价格调整的对策建议。     

Slow Pass-through Around the World: A New Import for Developing Countries?

Developing countries traditionally experience pass-through of exchange rate changes that is greater and more rapid than high-income countries experience. This is true equally of the determination of prices of imported goods, prices of local competitors’ products, and the general CPI. But developing countries in the 1990s experienced a rapid downward trend in the degree of pass-through and speed of adjustment, more so than did high-income countries. As a consequence, slow and incomplete pass-through is no longer exclusively a luxury of industrial countries. Using a new data set—prices of eight narrowly defined brand commodities, observed in 76 countries—we find empirical support for some of the factors that have been hypothesized in the literature, but not for others. Significant determinants of the pass-through coefficient include per capita incomes, bilateral distance, tariffs, country size, wages, long-term inflation, and long-term exchange rate variability. Some of these factors changed during the 1990s. Part (and only part) of the downward trend in pass-through to imported goods prices, and in turn to competitors’ prices and the CPI, can be explained by changes in the monetary environment—including a fall in long-term inflation. Real wages work to reduce pass-through to competitors’ prices and the CPI, confirming the hypothesized role of distribution and retail costs in pricing to market. Rising distribution costs, due perhaps to the Balassa-Samuelson-Baumol effect, could contribute to the decline in the pass-through coefficient in some developing countries.     

Measuring price inflation in the physician sector of the health care market

Summary The purpose of this study was to indicate the need for the development of an adequate measure of the inflation in prices of medical care services. Although the CPI provides a medical care component, the index has a number of serious shortcomings. These shortcomings hinder its usefulness for policy purposes. The main thrust of this analysis was to suggest an alternative measure of prices of medical care services. This suggested hedonic approach will produce a more realistic measure of medical care prices for policy purposes.     

中国输出通货膨胀吗——基于贸易数据的实证检验

近年来中国的物价水平上涨较快,少数国家认为中国的出口扩张正在对外输出通货膨胀,引发全球性的通胀压力。针对这种言论指责,本文基于详实的数据资料,对中国的出口增长与进口国通胀之间的关系进行了实证检验。结果表明,中国的出口扩张不仅没有输出通胀,反而是稳定全球价格的重要力量。最后,对全球通胀的影响因素作了进一步的计量分析,发现进口国自身的宽松货币政策和国际市场中能源、原材料及运输价格的上涨才是全球通胀之源。     

Inflation in a newly industrialized country: The case of Korea

This paper investigates the nature and causes of inflation in Korea, a newly industrialized country. The basic framework is the two-way causation between prices and wages. The estimated results show that the postulated hypotheses are upheld and that there are multiple causes of inflation. In particular, capital and material costs, which may be considered as external factor costs in Korea, play a significant role, implying that the impact of external inflation on internal inflation in a rapidly developing country is substantial.     

Assessing the performance of inflation targeting in East Asian economies

This paper examines the implementation and performance of inflation targeting (IT) in four East Asian emerging market economies: Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. It also examines monetary policy in Malaysia, a country that has not adopted IT. The study estimates policy reaction functions to test the links between the adoption of IT and use of a monetary policy rule. The impulse responses of prices to a monetary policy shock are also estimated to identify monetary policy impacts on prices. The findings on the monetary policies of the five economies can be summarised as follows. Korea has taken an inflation‐responsive and forward‐looking policy stance under inflation targeting, which has had an effect on the stability of prices. Indonesia and Thailand have conducted inflation‐responsive but backward‐looking policy stances, which have had no impact in terms of price stabilisation. The Philippines (which adopted IT but under a pegged exchange rate regime) and Malaysia have neither followed inflation‐responsive rules nor had policy impacts in terms of controlling inflation.     

通胀、通胀预期和货币政策——基于中国2001—2010年数据的实证研究

文章用两种方法测度了我国通胀预期：（1）未来物价预期指数衡量通胀预期;（2）ARMA模型对通胀的预测值。并计量分析了影响通胀预期的因素,结果显示：CPI上升、正产出缺口增加和广义货币供应量增加,是形成通胀预期的主要因素。利率、人民币汇率和食品价格对通胀预期的形成作用不显著和影响较小。因此,存款准备金率动态微调,是目前管理好通胀预期的最好选择。     

近期我国通货膨胀的原因及应对策略分析

通常情况下，通货通胀由经济过热引起，治理措施重点放在紧缩信贷、减缓经济增速方面。而我国货币发行量已经有所节制，经济增长幅度也在缩小，通胀却在攀升，2008年5月12日，国家统计局发表4月GPI指数上涨8．5％，比3月的83％，环比增长0．1％。此次我国发生的CPI指数上升与以往通胀不同，显然我们还有疏漏。原因是多方面的，本文主要从以下三个方面分析：一是涨价中有合理因素，如农产品涨价；二是进口型通胀；三是与世界经济接轨导致原来的价格体系转化，新的与世界密切联系的价格体系正在形成之中产生的价格波动、拉升，连带滋生出泡沫。在分析原因的基础上，给出一些应对性策略。     

开放经济输入型通货膨胀问题研究——基于中国数据的实证检验

本文基于通货膨胀国际传导理论,指出开放条件下输入型通胀传导路径主要包括:进口价格路径、国际金融衍生品价格路径以及贸易顺差引致货币供给路径。通过选取2005-2010年期间月度数据,运用误差修正模型、格兰杰因果检验、方差分解等计量方法,对输入型通胀因素与国内物价波动之间互动关系进行实证检验。结果发现:国际金融衍生品价格、进口价格主要改变生产厂商的生产要素价格,最终表现为PPI的变动。由于虚拟部门集聚资金对货币供给量的分流作用,以及PPI与CPI之间传导不通畅等原因,输入型通胀因素对CPI波动的影响程度被大大削弱。     

Pass-through Effects of Global Commodity Prices on China＇s Inflation： An Empirical Investigation

The present paper uses a two-step approach to estimate the pass-through effects of changes in international commodity prices and the RMB exchange rate on domestic consumer price inflation in China. We first estimate the pass-through effects of international commodity prices on producer prices and then estimate the pass-through effects of producer price inflation on consumer price inflation. We find that a l O-percent increase in international commodity prices would lead to China＇ s producer prices increasing by 1.2 percent 3 months later, which in turn would increase China＇ s domestic inflation by 0.24 percent over the same period. However, a 10-percent appreciation of the RMB exchange rate against the US dollar would help to reduce increases in producer prices by 4.4 percent over the following 3 months, which in turn would lead to a 0. 89-percent decline in consumer price inflation over the same period. Our findings suggest that appreciation of the RMB in an environment of rising global commodity prices and a weak US dollar could be an effective instrument to help contain inflation in China.     

Causes of Inflation in China： Inflation Expectations

This paper argues that the main causes of inflation in China since the early 21st century are changes in the public's inflation expectations. The conventional wisdom, the quantity theory of money, may not be adequate to capture the relationship between price changes and money supply growth, as the economic system evolves and people's income and wealth grow. An examination of China's GDP deflator and broad money supply relative to nominal GDP shows that the relationship between the two series is relatively weak. A further examination of China's monthly CPI series over the period 2001–2010 reveals that the autoregressive models are a better fit than the moving average models, which suggests that the role of CPI expectations has been significant and important. Because of the importance of inflation expectations in CPI movement, we believe the Central Bank's monetary policy that targets CPI inflation should emphasize the use of policy instruments that have direct and strong communication links with the public. Quantitative measures would have their own use, but their effectiveness would be unlikely to match that of interest rate measures, especially from a short‐term perspective.     

Targeting Rules for an Open Economy

This study extends the formal analysis of inflation targeting monetary policy using the standard New Keynesian framework to a small open economy by adding inflation and output persistence as well as a direct exchange rate channel to domestic inflation. We find that output variability is lower under CPI inflation targeting than under domestic inflation targeting. However, CPI inflation results in higher variability of the real exchange rate than domestic inflation targeting. Output and the nominal interest rate are less volatile under flexible inflation targeting than under almost-strict inflation targeting. We also find that almost-strict domestic inflation targeting cannot completely insulate domestic inflation from foreign shocks due to a direct exchange rate channel. The model is calibrated to Canadian data.     

What to Aim for? The Choice of an Inflation Objective when Openness Matters

Inflation targeting countries generally define the inflation objective in terms of the consumer price index. Studies in the academic literature, however, reach conflicting conclusions concerning which measure of inflation a central bank should target in a small open economy. This paper examines the properties of domestic, CPI, and real-exchange-rate-adjusted (REX) inflation targeting. In one class of open economy New Keynesian models there is an isomorphism between optimal policy in an open versus closed economy. In the type of model we consider, where the real exchange rate appears in the Phillips curve, this isomorphism breaks down; openness matters. REX inflation targeting restores the isomorphism but this may not be desirable. Instead, under domestic and CPI inflation targeting the exchange rate channel can be exploited to enhance the effects of monetary policy. Our results indicate that CPI inflation targeting delivers price stability across the three inflation objectives and will be desirable to a central bank with a high aversion to inflation instability. CPI inflation targeting also does a better job of stabilizing the real exchange rate and interest rate which is an advantage from the standpoint of financial stability. REX inflation targeting does well in achieving output stability and has an advantage if demand shocks are predominant. In general, the choice of the inflation objective affects the trade-offs between policy goals and thus policy choices and outcomes.     

CPI和PPI相互关系的实证分析

本文首先通过历年的数据分析居民消费价格指数和工业品出厂价格指数之间的相互关系,再用近两年的月度数据来分析当今CPI受PPI影响较小的原因,得出将来经济可能从结构性通货膨胀向全面性通货膨胀转变。