Commodity Terms of Trade: A New Database

January 24, 2019

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Bertrand Gruss, and Suhaib Kebhaj. Commodity Terms of Trade: A New Database, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2019) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

This paper presents a comprehensive database of country-specific commodity price indices for 182 economies covering the period 1962-2018. For each country, the change in the international price of up to 45 individual commodities is weighted using commodity-level trade data. The database includes a commodity terms-of-trade index—which proxies the windfall gains and losses of income associated with changes in world prices—as well as additional country-specific series, including commodity export and import price indices. We provide indices that are constructed using, alternatively, fixed weights (based on average trade flows over several decades) and time-varying weights (which can account for time variation in the mix of commodities traded and the overall importance of commodities in economic activity). The paper also discusses the dynamics of commodity terms of trade across country groups and their influence on key macroeconomic aggregates.

Subject: Commodities, Commodity price indexes, Commodity prices, Exports, International trade, Prices, Trade balance

Keywords: Commodity export, Commodity price indexes, Commodity price indices, Commodity prices, Commodity terms of trade, Commodity terms-of-trade indices, Exports, Global, Terms of trade, Terms-of-trade index, Trade balance, Trade data, Trade flow, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

38
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2019/021
Stock No:

WPIEA2019021
ISBN:

9781484393857
ISSN:

1018-5941

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