IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jimfin/v77y2017icp18-38.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The PPP approach revisited: A study of RMB valuation against the USD

Author

Listed:
  • Almås, Ingvild
  • Grewal, Mandeep
  • Hvide, Marielle
  • Ugurlu, Serhat

Abstract

We analyze the alleged undervaluation of the Chinese renminbi against the US dollar through an application of the relative PPP hypothesis, the PPP approach. The PPP approach measures the relative misalignment of a currency by estimating the relationship between log price levels and log per capita real incomes from a cross section of countries. We estimate this relationship by using ICP 2011 and incorporating model selection tests. Our results confirm that price level-real income relationship is best approximated by a quadratic functional form. We show that, using this functional form, the PPP approach does not reveal any evidence of renminbi undervaluation as of 2011, and this result is robust to various sensitivity tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Almås, Ingvild & Grewal, Mandeep & Hvide, Marielle & Ugurlu, Serhat, 2017. "The PPP approach revisited: A study of RMB valuation against the USD," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 18-38.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:77:y:2017:i:c:p:18-38
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2017.06.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261560617301195
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jimonfin.2017.06.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    2. Kenneth Rogoff, 1996. "The Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 647-668, June.
    3. Dani Rodrik, 2008. "The Real Exchange Rate and Economic Growth," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(2 (Fall)), pages 365-439.
    4. Iikka Korhonen & Tuuli Juurikkala, 2009. "Equilibrium exchange rates in oil-exporting countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 33(1), pages 71-79, January.
    5. Artuc, Erhan & Lederman, Daniel & Porto, Guido, 2015. "A mapping of labor mobility costs in the developing world," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 28-41.
    6. Arvind Subramanian, 2010. "New PPP-Based Estimates of Renminbi Undervaluation and Policy Implications," Policy Briefs PB10-8, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    7. Virginie Coudert & Cécile Couharde, 2009. "Currency Misalignments and Exchange Rate Regimes in Emerging and Developing Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 121-136, February.
    8. Cui , Yuming, 2013. "How Is the RMB Exchange Rate Misaligned? A Recent Application of Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER) to China," East Asian Economic Review, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, vol. 17(3), pages 281-310, September.
    9. Cheung, Yin-Wong & Chinn, Menzie D. & Fujii, Eiji, 2007. "The overvaluation of Renminbi undervaluation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 762-785, September.
    10. Robert Inklaar & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2017. "Cross-Country Income Levels over Time: Did the Developing World Suddenly Become Much Richer?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 265-290, January.
    11. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    12. Yin†Wong Cheung & Menzie Chinn & Xin Nong, 2017. "Estimating currency misalignment using the Penn effect: It is not as simple as it looks," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 222-242, December.
    13. Angus Deaton & Alan Heston, 2010. "Understanding PPPs and PPP-Based National Accounts," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-35, October.
    14. Robert J. Hill & Iqbal Syed, 2010. "Improving International Comparisons of Real Output: The ICP 2005 Benchmark and its Implications for China," Discussion Papers 2010-25, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    15. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2011. "Viewpoint: Further results on measuring the well‐being of the poor using income and consumption," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 52-87, February.
    16. Agnès Bénassy-Quéré & Pascale Duran-Vigneron & Amina Lahrèche-Révil & Valérie Mignon, 2004. "Burden sharing and exchange rate misalignments within the Group of Twenty," Post-Print hal-03550853, HAL.
    17. Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2014. "Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures: A Summary Report," ADB Reports RPT146397-3, Asian Development Bank (ADB), revised 08 Jul 2014.
    18. John Williamson, 2009. "Exchange Rate Economics," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 123-146, February.
    19. Samuelson, Paul A, 1994. "Facets of Balassa-Samuelson Thirty Years Later," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 201-226, October.
    20. Achim Schmillen, 2013. "Are wages equal across sectors of production?," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 21(4), pages 655-682, October.
    21. Mr. Luca A Ricci & Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Jaewoo Lee & Mr. Alessandro Prati & Mr. Gian M Milesi-Ferretti, 2008. "Exchange Rate Assessments: CGER Methodologies," IMF Occasional Papers 2008/002, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Li, Baibing & Martin, Elaine B. & Morris, A. Julian, 2002. "On principal component analysis in L1," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 471-474, September.
    23. Robert C. Feenstra & Hong Ma & J. Peter Neary & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2013. "Who Shrunk China? Puzzles in the Measurement of Real GDP," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(12), pages 1100-1129, December.
    24. Yatchew,Adonis, 2003. "Semiparametric Regression for the Applied Econometrician," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521812832.
    25. Jeffrey Frankel, 2006. "On the Yuan: The Choice between Adjustment under a Fixed Exchange Rate and Adjustment under a Flexible Rate," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(2), pages 246-275, June.
    26. Bela Balassa, 1964. "The Purchasing-Power Parity Doctrine: A Reappraisal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(6), pages 584-584.
    27. Zhang, Zhibai & Chen, Langnan, 2014. "A new assessment of the Chinese RMB exchange rate," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 113-122.
    28. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    29. William R. Cline & John Williamson, 2010. "Notes on Equilibrium Exchange Rates: January 2010," Policy Briefs PB10-2, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    30. Hassan, Fadi, 2016. "The price of development: The Penn–Balassa–Samuelson effect revisited," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 291-309.
    31. Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2014. "Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures," ADB Reports RPT146710-2, Asian Development Bank (ADB), revised 19 Aug 2014.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabella Weber & Anwar Shaikh, 2021. "The U.S.–China trade imbalance and the theory of free trade: debunking the currency manipulation argument," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3-4), pages 432-455, July.
    2. Kong, Dongmin & Shi, Zheng & Xiong, Mengxu, 2024. "Currency overvaluation and export product quality: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Keddad, Benjamin & Sato, Kiyotaka, 2022. "The influence of the renminbi and its macroeconomic determinants: A new Chinese monetary order in Asia?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Yin-Wong Cheung & Sven Steinkamp & Frank Westermann, 2020. "A Tale of Two Surplus Countries: China and Germany," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 131-158, February.
    5. Yin-Wong Cheung & Shi He, 2019. "Truths and Myths About RMB Misalignment: A Meta-analysis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(3), pages 464-492, September.
    6. Yin‐Wong Cheung & Shi He, 2022. "RMB misalignment: What does a meta‐analysis tell us?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1038-1086, September.
    7. repec:zbw:bofitp:2019_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Imai, Hiroyuki, 2018. "China’s rapid growth and real exchange rate appreciation: Measuring the Balassa-Samuelson effect," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 39-52.
    9. Yin-Wong Cheung & Shi He, 2019. "Truths and Myths About RMB Misalignment: A Meta-analysis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(3), pages 464-492, September.
    10. Gao, Yichen & Li, Hongjun & Li, Qi, 2022. "The misalignments in Chinese real effective exchange rate from 1994 to 2020: A counterfactual analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    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. Stahler Kevin & Subramanian Arvind, 2014. "Versailles Redux? Eurozone Competitiveness in a Dynamic Balassa-Samuelson-Penn Framework," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 129-176, December.
    2. Yin-Wong Cheung & Shi He, 2019. "Truths and Myths About RMB Misalignment: A Meta-analysis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(3), pages 464-492, September.
    3. Hassan, Fadi, 2016. "The price of development: The Penn–Balassa–Samuelson effect revisited," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 291-309.
    4. Yin-Wong Cheung & Menzie D. Chinn & Eiji Fujii, 2010. "Measuring Renminbi Misalignment: Where Do We Stand?," Working Papers 242010, Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.
    5. Garroway, Chris & Hacibedel, Burcu & Reisen, Helmut & Turkisch, Edouard, 2012. "The Renminbi and Poor-country Growth," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 273-294.
    6. Yin-Wong Cheung & Wenhao Wang, 2020. "A Jackknife Model Averaging Analysis of RMB Misalignment Estimates," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(02), pages 1-45, June.
    7. Ramos-Herrera, María del Carmen & Sosvilla-Rivero, Simón, 2023. "Economic growth and deviations from the equilibrium exchange rate," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 764-786.
    8. Eiji Fujii, 2015. "Reconsidering The Price–Income Relationship Across Countries," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 733-760, December.
    9. Ravallion, Martin, 2018. "An exploration of the changes in the international comparison program’s global economic landscape," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 201-216.
    10. Yin-Wong Cheung, 2012. "Exchange Rate Misalignment - The Case of the Chinese Renminbi," CESifo Working Paper Series 3797, CESifo.
    11. Michael Fidora & Claire Giordano & Martin Schmitz, 2021. "Real Exchange Rate Misalignments in the Euro Area," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 71-107, February.
    12. Fadi Hassan, 2014. "The Price of Development," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp446, IIIS.
    13. Yin-Wong Cheung & Menzie D. Chinn & Eiji Fujii, 2008. "Pitfalls in Measuring Exchange Rate Misalignment: The Yuan and Other Currencies," NBER Working Papers 14168, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Yin‐Wong Cheung & Eiji Fujii, 2014. "Exchange Rate Misalignment Estimates—Sources Of Differences," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 91-121, March.
    15. Zhang, Zhibai & Bian, Zhicun, 2015. "Absolute purchasing power parity in industrial countries," MPRA Paper 66241, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Zhang, Zhibai & Chen, Langnan, 2014. "A new assessment of the Chinese RMB exchange rate," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 113-122.
    17. Cécile Couharde & Carl Grekou & Valérie Mignon, 2021. "MULTIPRIL, a New Database on Multilateral Price Levels and Currency Misalignments," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 165, pages 94-117.
    18. Mr. Luis M. Cubeddu & Signe Krogstrup & Gustavo Adler & Mr. Pau Rabanal & Mai Dao & Mrs. Swarnali A Hannan & Luciana Juvenal & Ms. Carolina Osorio-Buitron & Cyril Rebillard & Mr. Daniel Garcia-Macia &, 2019. "The External Balance Assessment Methodology: 2018 Update," IMF Working Papers 2019/065, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Robert Inklaar & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2017. "Cross-Country Income Levels over Time: Did the Developing World Suddenly Become Much Richer?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 265-290, January.
    20. Njindan Iyke, Bernard & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2017. "An empirical test of the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis: Evidence from eight middle-income countries in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 297-304.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Renminbi; Currency misalignment; Penn effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

    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:eee:jimfin:v:77:y:2017:i:c:p:18-38. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30443 .

    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.