Real Exchange Rate Movements And The Relative Price Of Non Traded Goods

This paper attempts to provide a perspective on real exchange rate developments following the inception of the EMS. The focus is on structural determinants of real exchange rates, notably the behavior of tradables and nontradable prices and productivity. It is found that changes in the relative price of tradable goods in terms of nontradables account for a sizable fraction of real exchange rate dynamics during the EMS period. Sectoral productivity growth differential help explain the behavior of the relative price of tradable goods, especially in the long run. There is also some evidence that the EMS has extended on relative price behavior.

We study the quarterly bilateral real exchange rate and the relative price of non-traded to traded goods for 1225 country pairs over 1980-2005. We show that the two variables are positively correlated, but that movements in the relative price measure are smaller than those in the real exchange rate. The relation between the two variables is stronger when there is an intense trade relationship between two countries and when the variance of the real exchange rate between them is small. The relation does not change for rich/poor country bilateral pairs or for high inflation/low inflation country pairs. We identify an anomaly: The relation between the real exchange rate and relative price of non-traded goods for US/EU bilateral trade partners is unusually weak.

Existing models fail to explain the large fluctuations in the real exchange rates of most currencies over the past twenty years. The Natural Real Exchange Rate approach (NATREX) taken here offers an alternative paradigm to those which focus on short-run movements of nominal eschange rates, purchasing power parity of the representative agent intertemporal optimization models. Yet it is also neo-classical in its stress upon the accepted fundamentals driving a real economy. It concentrates on the real exchange rate, and explains medium- tolong-run movements in equilibrium real exchange rates in terms of fundamental variables: the productivity of capital and social (public plus private) thrift at home and abroad. The NATREX approach is a family of growth models, each tailored to the characteristics of the countries considered. The authors explain the real international value of the US dollar relativ to the G10 countries, and the US current account. These are two large economies. The model is also applied to small economies, where it explains the real value of the Australian dollar and the Latin American currencies relative to the US dollar. The model is relevant for developing countries where the foreign debt is a concern. Finally, it is applied to two medium-sized economies to explain the bilateral exchange rate between the French franc and the Deutsche Mark. The authors demonstrate both the promise of the NATREX model and its applicability to economies large and small. Alongside the analysis, econometrics, and technical details of these case studies, the introductory chapter explains in accessible terms the rationale behind the approach. The mix of theory and empirical evidence makes this book relevant to academics and advanced graduate students, and to central banks, ministries of finance, and those concerned with the foreign debt of developing countries.

We show that the quarterly bilateral real exchange rate for 1275 country pairs over 1980-2015 is positively correlated with the relative price of non-traded to traded goods, but that movements in the relative price measure are smaller than those in the real exchange rate. Variance decompositions indicate that about one-third of deviations in levels of the real exchange rate, and about one quarter of yearly and four-yearly changes are accounted for by fluctuations in the relative price measure. The relation between the two variables is stronger when there is an intense trade relationship between two countries and when the variance of the real exchange rate between them is small. The relation is not systematically altered by the presence of rich country/poor country bilateral pairs or by high inflation/low inflation country pairs, is invariant over subsamples of the time period, and does not change when annual data including China is used. We identify an anomaly: The portion of real exchange rate variance accounted for by the relative price of non-traded goods for U.S./EU and NAFTA/EU bilateral trade partners is unusually small.

"Changes in the price of nontradable goods relative to tradable goods account for roughly 50 percent of the cyclical movements in real exchange rates"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

This study measures the proportion of U.S. real exchange rate movements that can be accounted for by movements in the relative prices of non-traded goods. The decomposition is done at all possible horizons that the data allow -- from one month up to thirty years. The accounting is performed with five different measures of non-traded goods prices and real exchange rates, for exchange rates of the U.S. relative to a number of other high income countries in each case. The outcome is surprising -- relative prices of non-traded goods appear to account for essentially none of the movement of U.S. real exchange rates at any horizon. Only for one crude measure, which uses the aggregate producer price index as an index of traded goods prices, do non-traded goods prices seem to account for more than a tiny portion of real exchange rate changes. This pattern appears to be true even during fixed nominal exchange rate episodes. Special attention is paid to the U.S. real exchange rate with Japan. The possibility of mismeasurement of traded goods prices is explored.

This paper demonstrates that disturbances to supplies or demands for internationally traded goods affect exchange-rates differently than do disturbances in markets for nontraded goods. The paper develops a stochastic two-country equilibrium model of exchange rates, asset prices, and goods prices, with two internationally traded goods and a nontraded good in each country. Optimal portfolios differ across countries because of differences in consumption bundles. Changes in exchange-rates, asset prices, and goods prices occur in response to underlying disturbances to supplies and demands for goods. We examine the ways in which responses of the exchange-rate are related to parameters of tastes and production shares, and we discuss conditions under which these exchange-rate responses are "large" compared to the responses of ratios of nominal price indexes.