The Effects Of Global Shocks On Small Commodity Exporting Economies

This paper presents a structural dynamic factor model of a small commodity-exporting economy using Canada as a representative case study. Combining large panel data sets of the global and Canadian economies, we first identify those demand and supply shocks that explain most of the volatility in real commodity prices. Next we quantify their dynamic effects on a wide variety of variables for this economy. We are able to reproduce all the main stylized facts documented in the literature about business cycles in these countries. This includes spending and Dutch disease effects which have proven difficult to find in models where the innovations to commodity prices are not properly identified. Our results are quite robust to different identification schemes of the shocks.

This paper assesses the effects and transmission mechanisms of global liquidity and commodity market shocks in Mongolia, a commodity-exporting developing economy, using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model. Results show that boom and bust cycles in commodity and international financial markets lead to business and financial cycles in the economy as these shocks account for 30, 45, and 60 percent of domestic output, real exchange rate, and lending rate fluctuations, respectively. Commodity demand shocks have more persistent and robust effects on domestic cycles than commodity supply shocks. Trade and financial (resource export revenues, lending rate, and exchange rate) channels play an essential role in transmitting the shocks. Buoyant commodity demand and global liquidity shocks lead to a significant fall in the domestic lending rate, while positive commodity supply and global liquidity shocks appreciate the real exchange rate.

This paper investigates the short-run effects of the 2007-09 global financial crisis on growth in (mainly non-fuel exporting) low-income countries (LICs). Four conclusions stand out. First, for many individual LICs, 2009 was not extraordinarily calamitous; however, aggregate LIC output declined sharply because LICs were unusually synchronized. Second, the growth declines are on average well explained by the decline in export demand. Third, if the external environment facing LICs improves as forecast, their growth should rebound sharply. Finally, and contrary to received wisdom, there are few robust relationships between the cross-country growth variation and the policy and structural environment; the main exceptions are reserve coverage and labor-market flexibility.

Fluctuations in commodity prices are an important driver of business cycles in small emerging market economies (EMEs). We document how these fluctuations correlate strongly with the business cycle in EMEs. We then embed a commodity sector into a multi-country EMEs’ business cycle model where exogenous fluctuations in commodity prices follow a common dynamic factor structure and coexist with other driving forces. The estimated model assigns to commodity shocks 42 percent of the variance in income, of which a considerable part is linked to the common factor. A further amplification mechanism is a ”spillover” effect from commodity prices to risk premia.

The main aim of this thesis is to examine external shocks faced by small developing countries and the impact of these shocks on the economy, using Botswana as a case study. We present three papers which explore the external shocks within a variety of macroeconometric frameworks, and make policy recommendations based on our findings. In the first instance, we utilize a sign restricted vector autoregressive (VAR) approach to identify four generalized terms of trade shocks relevant for small commodity exporting countries. The findings of this paper show that the impact of shocks to Botswana's terms of trade is mainly determined by the global context in which the shocks occur. The response of macroeconomic policy therefore differs depending on the underlying determinants of each shock. Secondly, we employ a principal component analysis (PCA) to consider the common factors driving variations in a panel of Botswana's bilateral exchange rates. Here we find that the unobservable component most responsible for variations in these bilaterals is not a Botswana factor, but rather a risk-related factor that responds to conditions in the US and South African economies. Further, models incorporating this latent component improve predictive accuracy at high frequencies for some of the exchange rates. In the last paper, we examine the incidence of the resource curse and utilize a structural VAR framework to explore the response of key sectors in the Botswana economy to positive natural resource shocks. We find that while Botswana has successfully avoided the political dimensions of the resource curse, it cannot be said with certainty that the country escaped the economic dimensions of the phenomenon. Our results show that the economy exhibits some mild Dutch disease effects, however, these are minimized and brief due to successful policy efforts to maintain a competitive exchange rate.

United States monetary policy has traditionally been modeled under the assumption that the domestic economy is immune to international factors and exogenous shocks. Such an assumption is increasingly unrealistic in the age of integrated capital markets, tightened links between national economies, and reduced trading costs. International Dimensions of Monetary Policy brings together fresh research to address the repercussions of the continuing evolution toward globalization for the conduct of monetary policy. In this comprehensive book, the authors examine the real and potential effects of increased openness and exposure to international economic dynamics from a variety of perspectives. Their findings reveal that central banks continue to influence decisively domestic economic outcomes—even inflation—suggesting that international factors may have a limited role in national performance. International Dimensions of Monetary Policy will lead the way in analyzing monetary policy measures in complex economies.

This paper proposes a method for assessing international spillovers from nominal demand shocks. It quantifies the impact of a shock in one country on all other countries. The paper concludes that the network effects in shock spillovers can be substantial, comparable, and often exceed the initial shock. Individual countries may amplify, absorb, or block spillovers. Most developed countries pass-through shocks, whereas low-income countries and oil exporters tend to block shock spillovers. The method is used to study demand shocks originating from a large and medium country, China and Ukraine respectively.

External shocks, such as commodity price fluctuations, natural disasters, and the role of the international economy, are often blamed for the poor economic performance of low-income countries. The author quantifies the impact of these different external shocks using a panel vector autoregression (VAR) approach and compares their relative contributions to output volatility in low-income countries vis-à-vis internal factors. He finds that external shocks can only explain a small fraction of the output variance of a typical low-income country. Internal factors are the main source of fluctuations. From a quantitative perspective, the output effect of external shocks is typically small in absolute terms, but significant relative to the historic performance of these countries.

The paper considers concepts of economic diversification with respect to exports (including service sectors) for small states. We assessed the economic performance of different groups of 34 small states over the period of 1990-2015 and found those more diversified experienced lower output volatility and higher average growth than most other small states. Our findings are consistent with conventional economic theories but we found that export diversification has a more significant impact on reducing output volatility than improving long run growth in small states. Diversification requires fundamental changes and should be contemplated in the context of a cohesive development strategy.