IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/2544.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Macroeconomics of Exchange-rate and Price-level Interactions: Empirical Evidence for West Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto Giovannini

Abstract

This paper studies the evidence on the conditional covariances between the German wholesale price level and the Deutsche mark exchange rate in the short run and in the long run. I rely both on an unrestricted time-series model, and on a structural Mussa-Dornbusch model. The results from unrestricted estimates indicate that the volatility of change. in the nominal exchange rate much exceed the volatility of the inflation rate both in the short run and in the long run. This implies a very high correlation between changes in the nominal and real exchange rate, and a correlation between the inflation rate and changes in the exchange rate that never exceeds .4--with 959 probability. The results from the structural estimates and sensitivity analysis indicate that perfect price flexibility is strongly rejected, and chat the model tends to make sticky prices play a crucial role in explaining the evidence. Since the overidentifying restrictions implied by the structural model are rejected, I conclude that we still do not have a fully satisfactory explanation of observed extreme sluggishness of aggregate price levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Giovannini, 1988. "The Macroeconomics of Exchange-rate and Price-level Interactions: Empirical Evidence for West Germany," NBER Working Papers 2544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2544
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w2544.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    2. Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1985. "The Dollar and the Policy Mix: 1985," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 16(1), pages 117-197.
    3. Nelson, Charles R & Kang, Heejoon, 1981. "Spurious Periodicity in Inappropriately Detrended Time Series," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 741-751, May.
    4. Hansen, Lars Peter & Sargent, Thomas J., 1980. "Formulating and estimating dynamic linear rational expectations models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 7-46, May.
    5. Wing T. Woo, 1984. "Exchange Rates and the Prices of Nonfood, Nonfuel Products," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 15(2), pages 511-536.
    6. Jeffrey Sachs, 1985. "The Dollar and the Policy Mix: 1985," NBER Working Papers 1636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Obstfeld, Maurice & Stockman, Alan C., 1985. "Exchange-rate dynamics," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 18, pages 917-977, Elsevier.
    8. Parkin, Michael, 1986. "The Output-Inflation Trade-off When Prices Are Costly to Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(1), pages 200-224, February.
    9. West, Kenneth D, 1988. "On the Interpretation of Near Random-walk Behavior in GNP," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 202-209, March.
    10. Dornbusch, Rudiger, 1976. "Expectations and Exchange Rate Dynamics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1161-1176, December.
    11. Guillermo A. Calvo, 1983. "Staggered Contracts and Exchange Rate Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rates and International Macroeconomics, pages 235-258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Robert P. Flood, 1981. "Explanations of Exchange Rate Volatility and Other Empirical Regularities in Some Popular Models of the Foreign Exchange Market," NBER Working Papers 0625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Nelson, Charles R. & Plosser, Charles I., 1982. "Trends and random walks in macroeconmic time series : Some evidence and implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 139-162.
    14. Ball, Laurence & Romer, David, 1991. "Sticky Prices as Coordination Failure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 539-552, June.
    15. Flood, Robert P., 1981. "Explanations of exchange-rate volatility and other empirical regularities in some popular models of the foreign exchange market," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 219-249, January.
    16. Huizinga, John, 1987. "An empirical investigation of the long-run behavior of real exchange rates," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 149-214, January.
    17. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    18. Cumby, Robert E. & Huizinga, John & Obstfeld, Maurice, 1983. "Two-step two-stage least squares estimation in models with rational expectations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 333-355, April.
    19. Samuelson, Paul A, 1976. "Is Real-World Price a Tale Told by the Idiot of Chance?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 58(1), pages 120-123, February.
    20. Mussa, Michael, 1979. "Empirical regularities in the behavior of exchange rates and theories of the foreign exchange market," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 9-57, January.
    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. Maozu Lu & Zhichao Zhang, 2003. "Exchange rate reform and its inflationary consequences: an empirical analysis for China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 189-199.

    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. Clarida, Richard & Gali, Jordi, 1994. "Sources of real exchange-rate fluctuations: How important are nominal shocks?," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 1-56, December.
    2. Meese, Richard & Rogoff, Kenneth, 1986. "Was it real? The exchange rate -- Interest differential relation: 1973-1984," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 297-298, June.
    3. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:25:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Axel A. Weber, 1998. "Sources of Currency Crises: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers 25, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    5. Thomas C. Glaessner, 1982. "Formulation and estimation of a dynamic model of exchange rate determination: an application of general method of moments techniques," International Finance Discussion Papers 208, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Norman C. Miller, 2014. "Exchange Rate Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14981.
    7. Byun, Jong-Cook & Chen, Son-Nan, 1996. "International real interest rate parity with error correction models," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 129-151.
    8. Peter R. Hartley, 1983. "Rational Expectations and the Foreign Exchange Market," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rates and International Macroeconomics, pages 153-188, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Papell, David H., 1984. "Activist monetary policy and exchange-rate overshooting: The Deutsche mark/dollar rate," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 293-310, December.
    10. Campbell, John Y. & Clarida, Richard H., 1987. "The dollar and real interest rates," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 103-139, January.
    11. Javier León & Carlos Oliva, 1992. "Componente no Estacionario y la Paridad del Poder de Compra en 12 Países Latinoamericanos," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 29(88), pages 481-504.
    12. Obstfeld, Maurice & Stockman, Alan C., 1985. "Exchange-rate dynamics," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 18, pages 917-977, Elsevier.
    13. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:28:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Robert E. Cumby & Maurice Obstfeld, 1984. "International Interest Rate and Price Level Linkages under Flexible Exchange Rates: A Review of Recent Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rate Theory and Practice, pages 121-152, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Chiang, Thomas C. & Jiang, Christine X., 1995. "Foreign exchange returns over short and long horizons," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 267-282.
    16. Weber, Axel A., 1997. "Sources of Purchasing Power Disparities between the G3 Economies," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 548-583, December.
    17. Jaebeom Kim & Masao Ogaki & Minseok Yang, 2007. "Structural Error Correction Models: A System Method for Linear Rational Expectations Models and an Application to an Exchange Rate Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(8), pages 2057-2075, December.
    18. Barja, Gover, 1995. "Time Series Analysis of Macroeconomic Conditions in Open Economies," MPRA Paper 62178, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Shambaugh, Jay, 2008. "A new look at pass-through," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 560-591, June.
    20. van de Gucht, Linda M. & Dekimpe, Marnik G. & Kwok, Chuck C. Y., 1996. "Persistence in foreign exchange rates," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 191-220, April.
    21. Schotman, Peter & van Dijk, Herman K., 1991. "A Bayesian analysis of the unit root in real exchange rates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 195-238.
    22. Boubaker Heni & Canarella Giorgio & Gupta Rangan & Miller Stephen M., 2017. "Time-varying persistence of inflation: evidence from a wavelet-based approach," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(4), pages 1-18, September.

    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:nbr:nberwo:2544. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.