scholarly journals International Shocks, Variable Markups, and Domestic Prices

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 2356-2402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Amiti ◽  
Oleg Itskhoki ◽  
Jozef Konings

Abstract How strong are strategic complementarities in price setting across firms? In this article, we provide a direct empirical estimate of firms’ price responses to changes in competitor prices. We develop a general theoretical framework and an empirical identification strategy, taking advantage of a new micro-level dataset for the Belgian manufacturing sector. We find strong evidence of strategic complementarities, with a typical firm adjusting its price with an elasticity of 0.4 in response to its competitors’ price changes and with an elasticity of 0.6 in response to its own cost shocks. Furthermore, we find evidence of substantial heterogeneity in these elasticities across firms. Small firms exhibit no strategic complementarities in price setting and complete cost pass-through. In contrast, large firms exhibit strong strategic complementarities, responding to both competitor price changes and their own cost shocks with roughly equal elasticities of around 0.5. We show that this pattern of heterogeneity in markup variability across firms is important for explaining the aggregate markup response to international shocks and the observed low exchange rate pass-through into domestic prices.

Author(s):  
Harun Bal ◽  
Mehmet Demiral ◽  
Filiz Yetiz

There is an immense literature on the effects of exchange rate changes on macroeconomic indicators, specifically on the trade balance, growth, inflation, and overall productivity in open economies. One of the main attempts in the related literature is about ascertaining whether the exchange rate fluctuations alter domestic prices. This possible mechanism is called as the pass-through effect which is getting more important since the argument that exchange rate adjustment is a part of the solution for global rebalancing is empirically well-supported. Starting from this claim, this study purposes to explore whether there is an exchange rate pass-through effect in 19 high-income OECD countries over the period 1990-2015. To this end, using a panel data set of consumer price index, producer price index proxied by wholesale price index, the nominal effective exchange rates, and industrial production presented by the value-added share of industry sectors in gross domestic product, structural vector autoregressive (VAR) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models are estimated in an unbalanced panel data analysis procedure. Results reveal that exchange rate pass-through effects on the domestic prices are significant but not that strong in both the short-run and the long-run. Expectedly, the pass-through effects tend to diminish over time. The study concludes that policy-makers need to consider policy actions accompanying the exchange rate changes to ensure domestic price stability which consequently interacts with many macroeconomic indicators.


Author(s):  
Jeffry A. Frieden

This chapter summarizes key findings. This book makes a simple theoretical argument about the distributional implications of exchange rate policy. It suggests that economic actors with important cross-border interests, exposed to currency volatility, will tend to prefer more stable and predictable exchange rates. It also claims that tradables producers will, all else being equal, tend to prefer a depreciated real exchange rate. These concerns will be tempered by the extent of exchange rate pass-through—that is, the degree to which currency movements affect domestic prices. The analysis in this book shows that countries whose economic agents are more involved in cross-border trade are more likely to fix their exchange rates in order to reduce currency volatility. Countries with large groups susceptible to import or export competition—import-competing manufacturers and export farmers—are more likely to choose flexible exchange rates that allow currency depreciations. Governments facing an election encourage or allow currency appreciation that increases the purchasing power of consumers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Sheefeni ◽  
Matthew Ocran

This article investigates exchange rate pass-through to domestic prices in Namibia. The study covers the period of 1993:Q1 – 2011:Q4, and employed the impulse response functions and variance decompositions obtained from a structural vector autoregressive model. The results from the impulse response functions show that there is a high and long-lasting effect from changes in exchange rates to inflation in Namibia, or high exchange rate pass-through into domestic inflation. The results from the forecast error variance decompositions also reflect that changes in the price level evolve endogenously with changes in the exchange rate. The results are in agreement with the findings of the impulse response functions regarding the significant effect of the exchange rate variable on domestic prices (inflation). The results confirm an incomplete pass-through, indicating that the purchasing power parity theory does not hold, with regard to the price level, in the context of Namibia.


2021 ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Ph. S. Kartaev ◽  
V. G. Tubdenov

The work is devoted to the study of the influence of changes in the transparencyof monetary policy on the effect of exchange rate pass-through in consumer prices. Based on econometric modeling of cross-country panel data, it is shown that an increase in the transparency of communication between the central bank and the population leads to a decrease in the elasticity of domestic prices with respect to the exchange rate in countries that target inflation and adhere to other monetary policy regimes. The effect is observed for both developed and developing economies; it is stronger in the second case. The obtained result can be interpreted as an argument in favor of the advisability of the Bank of Russia transition from a verbal description of its future actions to the publication of a quantitative forecast of the interest rate trajectory.


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