I den här uppsatsen har jag undersökt hur pass-through effekten har förändrats i svenska importpriser på aggregerad nivå och i sju olika industrier. Pass-through effekten definieras som den procentuella förändringen i ett pris som kan härledas till en enprocentig växelkursförändring. Jag har använt rullande regressioner på två olika modeller för att estimera förändringar över tidsperioden 1980 – 2003. Resultaten visar en nedgång i pass-through effekten i flertalet industrier både på kort och lång sikt. Men på aggregerad nivå visar resultaten att effekten inte har förändrats nämnvärt över tiden. På kort sikt visar de båda metoderna liknande resultat, men på lång sikt finns det en skillnad dem emellan. En av modellerna visar en fördröjning i den långsiktiga pass-through effekten, vilket kan förklaras med att prissättningen inte är effektiv och att det finns störningar på marknaden.

This paper empirically analyses the interest rate transmission mechanism from money market rate to lending rate by utilizing the bank-level data in the distinction of cash, automobile, housing and corporate loans in Turkey. The main objective is to reveal the possible asymmetries of the adjustment process as well as the extent of the pass through. Empirical results indicate that mark-up value is the minimum for corporate rates on average, followed by housing, automobile and cash rates, respectively. Additionally, while large banks follow small mark-up pricing, small banks follow large mark-up pricing for corporate loans. Furthermore, a complete pass through is detected in 75 percent of the corporate loans, whereas the rates of banks that completely react to money market changes are 58 percent for cash and housing loans and 50 percent for automobile loans. We also find evidence that cash loans having high mark-up values do not adjust completely to variations in money market rate. Based on TAR and MTAR models of Enders and Siklos (2001), substantial asymmetries exist for all lending types. In general, adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium is faster when the disequilibrium or change in disequilibrium is above the threshold (upward rigidity).

<p>This dissertation consists of three chapters relating to various topics in empirical Industrial Organization. The first two chapters deal with the empirical treatment of sales in online markets. The third chapter explores the level of pass-through for taxes on soft drinks.</p><p>In the first chapter I demonstrate that when dealing with online market places it is important to take into account the fact that multiple listings coexist. Traditionally, the economic literature has treated listings as independent. In reality, however, buyers often have the choice between multiple contemporaneous listings. I demonstrate that it is important to take this fact into account since sellers who list their items simultaneously are in direct competition. More specifically, I show that the sale probability of a given item decreases when the number of simultaneous listings increases. Thus, the aforementioned assumption of independence can lead to wrong results.</p><p>In the second chapter, I specify and estimate a structural model of mechanism choice in online markets. I consider both sides of the market: On the demand side, buyers' choices among available listings are equilibrium outcomes of an entry game. On the supply side, sellers take competition into account and make equilibrium decisions when choosing sales mechanisms and prices. I estimate this model using data from sales of baseball tickets on eBay. I find that sellers' outside options, dynamic incentives, and risk preferences affect mechanism choice. Using the estimation results from my model I analyze the welfare effects of a hybrid mechanism (buy-it-now auctions) eBay offers. I find that the existence of buy-it-now auctions increases the consumer surplus and reduces the producer surplus. The reason for this is that buy-it-now auctions diminish sellers' potential for diversification via mechanism choice and thus strengthen competition.</p><p>The third and last chapter focuses on the incidence of soda taxes by studying the pass-through level of these taxes. It lays out a framework for thinking about the determinants of the pass-through level. More specifically, it builds theoretical models that examine the pass-through under more complex supply structures with multiple manufactures and retailers. In addition to providing some intuition behind theoretical predictions of the models, this chapter also presents empirical results found in the data along with their implications.</p> / Dissertation

My dissertation studies various questions falling into the broad context of macroeconomics and international economics. The questions have macroeconomic components because they are concerned with the behavior of aggregates. Specifically, the second and third chapters of my dissertation study the causes of fluctuations in aggregate macroeconomic variables and the way policy can be coordinated internationally to reduce these fluctuations, respectively. In addition, chapters III and IV address questions that fall into the realm of international economics. They are concerned with the optimal exchange rate regime between two countries, the consequences of partial exchange rate pass-through and the effect of an increase in vertical Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by domestic firms. The framework of my analysis is given by different versions of general equilibrium models. The second chapter of my dissertation decomposes fluctuations in aggregate observables for the UK economy during the 1980s recession. Using a modern accounting procedure, I estimate parameters that describe the economy using annual data from 1970 to 2002. Then, I simulate different versions of the model to find the distortions that are essential in driving the observed fluctuations. I find labor market distortions to be crucial in accounting for the episode, suggesting that the policies of the time were well targeted and effective. The third chapter of my dissertation studies policy coordination in a two-country framework allowing for partial pass-through. In particular, both countries are assumed to have monetary and fiscal stabilization instruments available. The optimal setting of these instruments under differing pass-through regimes is analytically derived. Fiscal policy is found to be used in a counter-cyclical fashion. In addition, the magnitude of fiscal stabilization is the largest when pass-through is partial. In the fourth chapter, I study the consequences of vertical FDI on aggregate productivity and welfare. The framework allows for heterogeneity across firms in two dimensions. It is firms that are at a disadvantage with respect to manufacturing costs that are benefiting most from moving their production process abroad. Overall, the ability to engage in vertical FDI increases productivity, lowers prices and thus increases welfare.

This thesis analyzes the pass-through of external factors into consumer and producer prices in Turkey, with a special emphasis on import price pass-through. To this end, pricing along a distribution chain framework is utilized and it is estimated by Vector Auto Regression (VAR) in a sample period of April 2002 to March 2009. Results show that the pass-through of external shocks into producer prices is higher than it is for consumer prices. Compared with the results of previous studies, findings point out that the degree of pass-through has declined recently in Turkey. In addition, it is found that external factors had significant contribution to annual consumer inflation between 2006 and 2008. Nevertheless, even the contributions of external shocks are excluded, year-end inflation targets would not have been attained.

In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of inflation targeting (IT) and the recent global disinflation on exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) using quarterly data from 1980:1 to 2009:1 for 51 industrial and emerging market (EM) countries. To this end, we employ not only the conventional panel data estimation methods but also the recent Common Correlated Effects Pooled estimation procedure by Pesaran (2006) which allows estimating the impact of common global shocks such as global inflation. We also explore some other determinants of ERPT during the recent global disinflation period. Furthermore, we consider asymmetric effects of positive and negative output gaps as proxies for domestic demand conditions on ERPT for IT industrial and EM countries. Our results strongly suggest that, for the non-IT samples, ERPT is significantly higher in EM countries than industrial countries. For every country groups excluding Euro area countries, we find that ERPT declined substantially during the recent global disinflation period. The decline in the ERPT is, however, much higher in IT countries especially in EM ones. One striking result is the convergence of ERPT coefficients of EM countries to industrial IT countries with the adoption of IT. This supports the endogenous response of ERPT to monetary policy credibility and price stability. Consequently, a high ERPT, per se, may be interpreted as not a binding constraint for the adoption of IT as it tends to decline with the success of monetary policy regime. We also find that ERPT appears to be more sensitive to positive output gaps in IT industrial countries whilst it does not have such a response to positive or negative output gaps in IT emerging market countries.

The question of exchange rate pass-through into domestic inflation is a widely analyzed issue due to its importance as regards to monetary policy, exchange rate policy and in general macroeconomic policy for open economies. Although most of the literature is focused on the exchange rate pass-through at the aggregate level, there are fewer studies that are done at the sectoral level for the Turkish economy. In this study by using a distribution chain of pricing model developed by McCarthy (2000), pass-through of exchange rates and import prices into domestic prices for selected sectors are examined for the Turkish economy. The emprical model estimates a Vector Auto Regression (VAR) to see pass-through dynamics through times and across the selected sectors. This study covers March 2002-December 2010 period / the period of floating exchange rates. Findings indicate that pass-through has fallen recently in Turkey. Moreover, results of the analysis show that external factors explain an important proportion of the variance of domestic prices for the sectors which have a larger import share.

Univ., Diss.--Bern, 2007.

The current discussion of Inflation Targeting (IT) in emerging economies deals with the effects that nominal exchange rate movements have on the overall inflation rate. The literature has focused in the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages that IT has with respect to other monetary policy regimes and the relevancy of the nominal exchange rate pass-through effect into inflation. So far none of them have dealt with the differences arising from the policy instruments used to fight off inflationary pressure under an IT regime. The literature on IT for emerging economies can be separated in two categories. In the first category the monetary authority uses interest rate policy as the instrument variable to implement and control the inflation target. The second category illustrates when the monetary authorities use international reserves as the instrument to influence the nominal exchange rate in such a way that the depreciation rate is consistent with the overall inflation target. This dissertation presents a model in which both policy instruments are available to the monetary authority. This model is used to address two questions: i) Is IT better than a monetary rule regime? and ii) Is it better to intervene directly in the foreign exchange market rather than use interest rate policy to control exchange rate pressure on inflation, or are they equivalent? The results show that there are important differences between these choices and the answers to these questions are shock dependent. These differences arise because the intervention needed under IT is accompanied by important output costs or benefits depending on the direction of the shock being analyzed. Regarding the pass-through effect, some studies have shown that the pass-through effect from currency depreciation into inflation has been decreasing and therefore is becoming less of an issue for these countries. The literature has offered different explanations for these declines but so far they have not been directly linked to the adoption of IT. This dissertation shows that lower pass-through levels can be a natural result of fear of floating observed in emerging countries that adopted IT and therefore exchange rate effects on inflation are still relevant.

There are four chapters in my dissertation. Chapter one gives a brief introduction of the three essays. Chapter two empirically analyzes the interaction among conventional monetary policy, foreign exchange intervention and the exchange rate in a unifying model for Japan. I have several findings. First, the results lend support to the leaning-against-the-wind hypothesis. Second, conventional monetary policy has as great influence on the exchange rate as foreign exchange intervention in Japan. Third, intervention in Japan is ineffective or may be counter-effective, so escaping liquidity trap by intervention alone may not be a feasible way. Chapter three empirically identifies the sources of exchange rate movements of Japan vis--vis the US, and investigates the role of the exchange rate in the macro economy adjustment. It finds that real shocks dominate nominal shocks in explaining the exchange rate movements, with relative real demand shocks as the major contributor. And the exchange rate market does not create many shocks. The overall result supports that the bilateral exchange rate in Japan is a shock-absorber rather than a source of shock. Chapter four provides cross-country and time-series evidence on the extent of exchange rate pass-through at different stages of distribution - import prices, producer prices and consumer prices - for eight major industrial countries: United States, Japan, Canada, Italy, UK, Finland, Sweden and Spain. I find exchange rate pass-through incomplete in many horizons, though complete pass-through is observed occasionally. The degree of pass-through declines and time needed for complete pass-through lengthens along the distribution chain. Furthermore, I find that a greater pass-through coefficient is associated with an economy that is smaller in size with higher import shares, more persistent and less volatile exchange rate shocks, more volatile monetary shocks, higher inflation rate, and less volatile GDP.