Do Long-Run Productivity Differentials Explain Long-Run Real Exchange Rates?

May 1, 1994

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Format: Chicago

Patrick K. Asea, and Enrique G. Mendoza Do Long-Run Productivity Differentials Explain Long-Run Real Exchange Rates?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 1994) accessed November 23, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

We develop a two-country, balanced-growth intertemporal general equilibrium model to examine two predictions of the Balassa-Samuelson model, namely that (i) productivity differentials determine the domestic relative price of nontradables and (ii) deviations from purchasing power parity reflect differences in the relative price of nontradables. In our model, the equilibrium relative price of nontradables along the long-run balanced-growth path is determined by the ratio of the marginal products of labor in the tradable and nontradable sectors. The empirical relevance of the Balassa-Samuelson predictions is examined using the Hodrick-Prescott filter to extract long-run components from a panel database for fourteen OECD countries. The evidence indicates that labor productivity differentials do explain long-run, cross-country differences in relative prices. The predicted relative prices, however, are of little help in explaining long-run deviations from purchasing power parity.

Subject: Capital productivity, Foreign exchange, Labor, Production, Productivity, Real exchange rates, Total factor productivity

Keywords: Capital productivity, Exchange rate, GDP deflator, Least squares, Price of nontradables, Productivity, Productivity differential, Real exchange rates, Relative price, Total factor productivity, Type model, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

46
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 1994/060
Stock No:

WPIEA0601994
ISBN:

9781451847987
ISSN:

1018-5941

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