IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ijf/ijfiec/v14y2009i2p120-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measurement matters for modelling US import prices This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the U.S.A

Author

Listed:
  • Charles P. Thomas

    (Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board, USA)

  • Jaime Marquez

    (Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board, USA)

Abstract

We focus on capturing the increasingly important role that emerging economies play in determining US import prices. Emerging-market producers differ from others in two respects: (1) their cost structure is well below that of developed-market producers, and (2) their wide profit margins induce pricing policies that seek to exhaust production capacity. We argue that these features have dampened the short-run responses of import prices to changes in the value of the dollar but that they have not altered the associated long-run response. To capture these considerations, we develop a new method to measure foreign prices and adopt a formulation that differentiates between short- and long-run responses. Our econometric work asks two questions: First, can one replicate the literature's dispersion of pass-through estimates? Second, is there any evidence of a change in the dynamic response of import prices to changes in the exchange value of the dollar? To address the first question, we estimate the parameters of our models using several alternative measures of US and foreign prices, dynamic specifications, and sample periods. We find that these alternative inputs translate into a large range of parameter estimates, a finding that helps to rationalizing the existing dispersion of estimates. To address the second question, we compute the implied dynamic adjustment of import prices to a change in the value of the dollar using parameters estimated from two samples: 1974-2000 and 1974-2005. The long-run response of import prices is similar regardless of which sample is used-roughly one-half of the change in the exchange rate is passed through to import prices. However, the short-run response is quite sensitive to the sample period. Specifically, the short-run response based on data through 2005 is smaller than the short-run response based on data through 2000. We argue that one force behind the change in dynamics of the import-price process is the greater presence of producers from emerging economies and that their effect on import prices can be captured with their measure of foreign prices. Published in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles P. Thomas & Jaime Marquez, 2009. "Measurement matters for modelling US import prices This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the U.S.A," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 120-138.
  • Handle: RePEc:ijf:ijfiec:v:14:y:2009:i:2:p:120-138
    DOI: 10.1002/ijfe.370
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/ijfe.370
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/ijfe.370?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Michael M. Knetter, 1997. "Goods Prices and Exchange Rates: What Have We Learned?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1243-1272, September.
    2. José Manuel Campa & Linda S. Goldberg, 2005. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through into Import Prices," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(4), pages 679-690, November.
    3. Cletus C. Coughlin & Patricia S. Pollard, 2004. "Size matters: asymmetric exchange rate pass-through at the industry level," Working Papers 2003-029, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    4. Jon Faust & Joseph E. Gagnon & Mario Marazzi & Jaime R. Marquez & Robert F. Martin & Trevor A. Reeve & John H. Rogers & Nathan Sheets & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2005. "Exchange rate pass-through to U.S. import prices: some new evidence," International Finance Discussion Papers 833, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Anne Gron & Deborah L. Swenson, 2000. "Cost Pass-Through in the U.S. Automobile Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 316-324, May.
    6. Giovanni P. Olivei, 2002. "Exchange rates and the prices of manufacturing products imported into the United States," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Q 1, pages 3-18.
    7. Menzie Chinn, 2006. "A Primer on Real Effective Exchange Rates: Determinants, Overvaluation, Trade Flows and Competitive Devaluation," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 115-143, January.
    8. Mico Loretan, 2005. "Indexes of the foreign exchange value of the dollar," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 91(Win), pages 1-8.
    9. Rebecca Hellerstein, 2004. "Who Bears the Cost of a Change in the Exchange Rate?," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 589, Econometric Society.
    10. Marazzi, Mario & Sheets, Nathan, 2007. "Declining exchange rate pass-through to U.S. import prices: The potential role of global factors," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 924-947, October.
    11. Gross, Dominique M. & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2000. "Exchange rate pass-through and dynamic oligopoly: an empirical investigation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 89-112, October.
    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. Andreas Benedictow & Pål Boug, 2014. "Calculating the real return of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global by alternative measures of the deflator," Discussion Papers 775, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    2. Pål Boug, 2017. "Exact and inexact decompositions of international price indices," Discussion Papers 868, Statistics Norway, Research Department.

    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. Jaime R. Marquez & Charles P. Thomas, 2006. "Measurement matters for modeling U.S. import prices," International Finance Discussion Papers 883, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh & Christophe Rault, 2016. "Recent estimates of exchange rate pass-through to import prices in the euro area," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(1), pages 69-105, February.
    3. Jose Manuel Campa & Linda S. Goldberg, 2008. "Pass-Through of Exchange Rates to Consumption Prices: What Has Changed and Why?," NBER Chapters, in: International Financial Issues in the Pacific Rim: Global Imbalances, Financial Liberalization, and Exchange Rate Policy, pages 139-176, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Jane E. Ihrig & Mario Marazzi & Alexander D. Rothenberg, 2006. "Exchange-rate pass-through in the G-7 countries," International Finance Discussion Papers 851, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. repec:jns:jbstat:v:227:y:2007:i:3:p:295-329 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Reginaldo P. Nogueira Junior & Miguel Leon-Ledesma, 2008. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through Into Inflation: The Role of Asymmetries and NonLinearities," Studies in Economics 0801, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    7. Jon Faust & Joseph E. Gagnon & Mario Marazzi & Jaime R. Marquez & Robert F. Martin & Trevor A. Reeve & John H. Rogers & Nathan Sheets & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2005. "Exchange rate pass-through to U.S. import prices: some new evidence," International Finance Discussion Papers 833, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    8. Robert J. Vigfusson & Nathan Sheets & Joseph Gagnon, 2009. "Exchange Rate Passthrough to Export Prices: Assessing Cross‐Country Evidence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 17-33, February.
    9. Joseph E. Gagnon & Nathan Sheets & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2007. "Exchange rate pass-through to export prices: assessing some cross-country evidence," International Finance Discussion Papers 902, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Muellbauer, John & Sinclair, Peter & Aron, Janine & Farrell, Greg, 2010. "Exchange Rate Pass-through and Monetary Policy in South Africa," CEPR Discussion Papers 8153, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Stahn, Kerstin, 2009. "Changes in import pricing behaviour: the case of Germany," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,14, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    12. Marazzi, Mario & Sheets, Nathan, 2007. "Declining exchange rate pass-through to U.S. import prices: The potential role of global factors," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 924-947, October.
    13. Raphael A. Auer, 2015. "Exchange Rate Pass‐Through, Domestic Competition, and Inflation: Evidence from the 2005–08 Revaluation of the Renminbi," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(8), pages 1617-1650, December.
    14. Waldyr Areosa & Marta Areosa, 2012. "The Signaling Effect of Exchange Rates: pass-through under dispersed information," Working Papers Series 282, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    15. Antonia López-Villavicencio & Valérie Mignon, 2020. "Exchange rate pass-through to import prices: accounting for changes in the eurozone trade structure," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(4), pages 835-858, November.
    16. Stahn Kerstin, 2011. "Changes in Import Pricing Behaviour: Evidence for Germany," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 231(4), pages 522-545, August.
    17. Paul R. Bergin & Robert C. Feenstra, 2009. "Pass‐Through of Exchange Rates and Competition between Floaters and Fixers," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(s1), pages 35-70, February.
    18. José M. Campa & Linda S. Goldberg & José M. González-Mínguez, 2005. "Exchange rate pass through to import prices in the euro area," Working Papers 0538, Banco de España.
    19. Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh, 2012. "Non-linearities in exchange rate pass-through: Evidence from smooth transition models," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 2530-2545.
    20. Khun, Channary & Lim, Sokchea & Basnet, Hem, 2021. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through into Japanese Import Prices: Evidence at Both Bilateral and Product Levels," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 24(2), pages 115-132, November.
    21. Linda S. Goldberg & Cédric Tille, 2006. "The internationalization of the dollar and trade balance adjustment," Staff Reports 255, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

    More about this item

    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:ijf:ijfiec:v:14:y:2009:i:2:p:120-138. 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: Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing or Christopher F. Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1076-9307/ .

    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.