IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rba/rbardp/rdp2001-04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring the Real Exchange Rate: Pitfalls and Practicalities

Author

Listed:
  • Luci Ellis

    (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Abstract

The real exchange rate is an important concept in economic theory, but it is not directly observable and must be constructed, usually as an index. The construction of such indices requires a number of decisions – which currencies to include, the appropriate weighting scheme and the price measures to use – which materially alter the results. Unfortunately, theory often gives very little guidance on the appropriate assumptions to make when constructing an exchange rate index. This paper discusses the various choices, highlighting their differing implications. Some of the practical issues of calculation are also reviewed. Several exchange rate indices that have been used in analytical work in the Reserve Bank are presented. These will be updated quarterly on the Reserve Bank website at .

Suggested Citation

  • Luci Ellis, 2001. "Measuring the Real Exchange Rate: Pitfalls and Practicalities," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2001-04, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2001-04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2001/pdf/rdp2001-04.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 1997. "International Macroeconomic Dynamics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262201119, December.
    2. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lisbeth Funding la Cour, 1995. "A Component® based Analysis of the danish Long-run Money Demand Relation," Discussion Papers 95-18, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    2. Muhammad Ali Chaudhary & Eatzaz Ahmad & Abid A. Burki & Mushtaq A. Khan, 1999. "Industrial Sector Input Demand Responsiveness and Policy Interventions," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 1083-1100.
    3. McGath, Christopher & McElroy, Robert G. & Strickland, Roger & Traub, Larry & Convey, Theodore & Short, Sara D. & Johnson, James & Green, Report & Ali, Mir B. & Vogel, Stephen, 2009. "Forecasting Farm Income: Documenting USDA's Forecast Model," Technical Bulletins 184311, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Yu Chen & Chen Zhen, 2022. "The potential impact of reducing sodium in packaged food: The case of the Chinese instant noodles market," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 3-20, January.
    5. Diewert, Erwin & Shimizu, Chihiro, 2015. "Residential Property Price Indices For Tokyo," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(8), pages 1659-1714, December.
    6. Diewert, W. Erwin & Fox, Kevin J., 2017. "Substitution Bias in Multilateral Methods for CPI Construction using Scanner Data," Microeconomics.ca working papers erwin_diewert-2017-3, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 23 Mar 2017.
    7. Diewert, Erwin & FOX, Kevin J. & Paul Schreyer, 2017. "The Allocation and Valuation of Time," Microeconomics.ca working papers erwin_diewert-2017-5, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 04 May 2017.
    8. Tauer, Loren, 2019. "Farmer productivity by age in the United States," International Journal of Agricultural Management, Institute of Agricultural Management, vol. 8(2), August.
    9. Melvyn A. Fuss & Leonard Waverman, 1985. "Productivity Growth in the Automobile Industry, 1970-1980: A Comparisonof Canada, Japan and the United States," NBER Working Papers 1735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Managi, Shunsuke & Opaluch, James J. & Jin, Di & Grigalunas, Thomas A., 2006. "Stochastic frontier analysis of total factor productivity in the offshore oil and gas industry," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 204-215, November.
    11. Theo S. Eicher & Stephen J. Turnovsky & Uwe Walz, 2000. "Optimal Policy for Financial Market Liberalizations: Decentralization and Capital Flow Reversals," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(1), pages 19-42, February.
    12. repec:use:tkiwps:3232 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Rada, Nicholas E., 2013. "Agricultural Growth in India: Examining the Post-Green Revolution Transition," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149547, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Cooke, Stephen C., 1990. "The Role Of Value Added In Benefit/Cost Analysis," A.E. Research Series 140522, University of Idaho, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.
    15. Charles R. Hulten & Robert M. Schwab, 1993. "Endogenous Growth, Public Capital, and the Convergence of Regional Manufacturing Industries," NBER Working Papers 4538, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2006. "Globalization and the Gains From Variety," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 541-585.
    17. Barnett, William A. & Su, Liting, 2020. "Financial Firm Production Of Inside Monetary And Credit Card Services: An Aggregation Theoretic Approach," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 130-160, January.
    18. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2005. "Growth of US Industries and Investments in Information Technology and Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 403-478, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Banri Ito & Katsunori Shirai, 2023. "Patent law harmonization and international trade," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 289-306, February.
    20. Robert C. Allen, 2005. "Capital Accumulation, Technological Change, and the Distribution of Income during the British Industrial Revolution," Economics Series Working Papers 239, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    21. Ghali, Sofiane & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Economic restructuring and total factor productivity growth: Tunisia over the period 1983-2001," MERIT Working Papers 2010-033, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    effective exchange rate; index numbers; real exchange rate index;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2001-04. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paula Drew (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rbagvau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.