Exchange Rate and Trade in Services Nexus in Nigeria: A Non-Linear ARDL Approach

A nonlinear ARDL model is employed to investigate the asymmetric drivers of non-oil trade in services between Nigeria and Netherlands. A significant number of past studies have concentrated their attention on the elasticity of trade in services to real exchange rates and income as well as on non-oil export, total export trade or import, yet none have delve into asymmetric relationship. This study aims to fills this void. Our result shows that the effects of exchange rate variations have both positive and negative displays with more negative asymmetry. This provides further insights in the nature of service asymmetries. (JEL Codes: C22, D43, E31, L71, Q41) Keywords: asymmetric cointegration, exchange rate adjustment, disaggregated, services

Exchange Rate Pass-Through, Monetary Policy, and Real Exchange Rates: Iceland and the 2008 Crisis

We use detailed data for Iceland to examine two often-neglected aspects of the exchange rate pass-through problem. First, we investigate whether the pass-through coefficient varies with the degree of international tradability of goods. Second, we analyze if the pass-through coefficient depends on the monetary policy framework. We consider 12 disaggregated price indexes in Iceland for 2003–2019, a period that includes Iceland’s banking and currency crisis of 2008. We find that the pass-through declined around the time Iceland reformed its flexible inflation targeting, and that the coefficients are significantly higher for tradable than for nontradables.

Decomposition of the Sources of Real Exchange Rate Misalignment in Egypt: Evidence from the ARDL Model

This paper examines the behavior of the real exchange rate in Egypt over the period 1965–2018 by attempting to pursue three interrelated purposes. The first is to investigate the extent of deviations between the actual exchange rate and its equilibrium level and illustrate the magnitude of any currency misalignments. The second is to search for the different phases of over- and undervaluation of the local currency and explain the accompanying economic policies and/or factors leading to them. The third and ultimate purpose is to explore the role of transitory and permanent factors in deviating the actual real exchange rate from its equilibrium level. Understanding these factors should help in the design of economic policies directed to address the misalignment of the local currency. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound test approach is used and conducted for both the bilateral and effective real exchange rates to achieve these three purposes during the selected period. To derive the equilibrium exchange rate estimate, the behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) approach is adopted. The findings reveal that the Egyptian pound was misaligned from its equilibrium value during most of the examined period. The results confirm the relative importance of the terms of trade and degree of openness variables in determining the equilibrium real exchange rate in Egypt followed by investment ratio and government consumption variables. The local currency witnessed a recent phase of overvaluation, which began in 2009, until the free float of the local currency in November 2016, after which, the Egyptian pound was found to have experienced a new phase of undervaluation till the end of the period examined. The findings show a considerable relative impact of fundamental-based factors over a prolonged period spanning from 1986 to 2003 and at the end of the period examined as well. Moreover, the documented results lend general support to the fact that both permanent or fundamental-based factors and short-run shocks prove to be important influential factors impacting currency misalignment in Egypt.

Real Exchange Rates and Primary Commodity Prices: Mussa Meets Backus-Smith

We show that explicitly modeling primary commodities in an otherwise totally standard incomplete markets open economy model can go a long way in explaining the Mussa puzzle and the Backus-Smith puzzle, two of the main puzzles in the international economics literature.

Purchasing power parity in GIIPS countries: evidence from unit root tests with breaks and non-linearity

Purpose This paper aims to test purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis for Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, which are known as the GIIPS countries. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a comprehensive analysis by using unit root approaches without and with structural breaks and non-linearity. Findings The PPP is valid for the GIIPS countries. Considering structural breaks in non-linear framework plays a crucial role. Originality/value There is no empirical study testing PPP hypothesis by focusing on the GIIPS countries. This study further takes into account for structural breaks and non-linearity in the real exchange rates of these countries.