The subject of this study is to examine the determinants of the real exchange rate in Taiwan. The sample period is from the first quarter of 1982 to the second quarter of 2011, and the variables include the real exchange rate, terms of trade, productivity differential, the real oil price, reserve differential, real interest rate differential, and the net foreign assets of Taiwan and America. The empirical results show that there is no cointegration between the real exchange rate and independent variables. Using a VAR model, this study finds that although the central bank of Taiwan would intervenes the real exchange rate, the variable related to the economic growth is still significant. At 5% significance level, an increase in the productivity differential leads the real exchange rate to depreciate. In addition, from the result of the granger causality test, this study finds that there exists unidirectional causality from the productivity differential and central bank intervention respectively to the real exchange rate. The effect of central bank intervention on the real exchange rate only persists one period, and the effect of the productivity differential persists two more periods. Therefore, it can be concluded that when estimating the future real exchange rate, it may be useful to take the productivity differential into account.

The main purpose of this thesis is to explore whether the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis can effectively explain the long-term change of the real exchange. The recent panel unit root, panel cointegration tests and fully modified OLS are applied to examine the four tested equations that are based on the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. 1. Relative differential productivity between traded and non-traded sectors influences price differential in two sectors. 2. We extend the relative productivity in non-traded and traded sectors causing change in non-traded relative price into the two-country model. 3. The appreciation (depreciation) of the real exchange results from the different relative price of the two-country model. 4. The appreciation (depreciation) of the real exchange is caused by the different relative productivity of the two-country model. The data span is from 1971 to 1995, and includes 12 OECD countries. There are three main different points from the existing literatures. 1. We apply some newly developed panel unit root tests to estimate the equations based on Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. 2. The previous documents only estimated the model of one variable, but the estimation of two variables was rare. In the equation 14 and 15, we examined the two variables in both. 3. In the calculation of the price, owing to the difficulties of collecting data from various sectors, we use a special way to measure the price. Finally, we can observe from the results of the empirical study: when productivity of the domestic sectors differentiates, that is, 1% increase in relative productivity between traded and non-trade sectors causes 0.53% increase in domestic relative prices. When it is taken into the two-country model, the increase of productivity will cause the appreciation of the real exchange rate. This can explain why in the developed countries like the U.S. and Japan, the faster increase in domestic relative productivity causes the appreciation of real exchange rates in the long run.

The main purpose of this thesis is to explore whether the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis can effectively explain the long-term change of the real exchange. The recent panel unit root, panel cointegration tests and fully modified OLS are applied to examine the four tested equations that are based on the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. The data span is from 1985 to 2002, and includes 7 east asian countries. 1. Relative differential productivity between traded and non-traded sectors influences price differential in two sectors. 2. We extend the relative productivity in non-traded and traded sectors causing change in non-traded relative price into the two-country model. 3. The appreciation (depreciation) of the real exchange results from the different relative price of the two-country model. 4. The appreciation (depreciation) of the real exchange is caused by the different relative productivity of the two-country model. Finally, we can observe from the results of the empirical study: when productivity of the domestic sectors differentiates, that is, 1% increase in relative productivity between traded and non-trade sectors causes 0.28% increase in domestic relative prices. When it is taken into the two-country model, the increase of productivity will cause the appreciation of the real exchange rate.

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Submitted by silvia matos (silvia.matos@fgv.br) on 2011-05-11T12:11:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_SilviaMatos.pdf: 612943 bytes, checksum: afbbe0d255820e85eb4639ae4f0ef00e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Andrea Virginio Machado(andrea.machado@fgv.br) on 2011-05-11T12:35:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_SilviaMatos.pdf: 612943 bytes, checksum: afbbe0d255820e85eb4639ae4f0ef00e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-11T18:12:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_SilviaMatos.pdf: 612943 bytes, checksum: afbbe0d255820e85eb4639ae4f0ef00e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-08 / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the price-setting behavior in Brazil and, in particular, the effects on inflation and good-level real exchange rate persistence. This thesis is composed by three Chapters. In the first Chapter, we present the main stylized facts about the behavior of retail prices in Brazil using micro data from the CPI index computed by the Fundação Getulio Vargas. Moreover we construct time series of price-setting statistics and relate them to macroeconomic variables using regression analyses. In Chapter 2, we investigated the relevance of heterogeneity in countries price stickiness on good-level real exchange rate persistence, considering a newly constructed panel data set of relative prices of 115 common products between the U.S. and Brazil. Chapter 3 is devoted to the relation between sectoral price stickiness and inflation persistence. / O objetivo desta tese é investigar as estratégias de precificação no Brasil, enfatizando os efeitos sobre a persistência da inflação e da taxa de câmbio real setorial. Esta tese é composta por três capítulos. No primeiro capítulo, nós apresentamos as principais características do comportamento dos preços no Brasil, utilizando os microdados do Índice de Preços ao Consumidor, computado pela Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Adicionalmente, nós construímos as séries de tempo das estatísticas de price-setting e as relacionamos com as variáveis macroeconômicas utilizando análise de regressão. No capítulo 2, nós investigamos o efeito da heterogeneidade da rigidez de preços entre países sobre a persistência da taxa de câmbio real setorial, considerando um painel de preços relativos de 115 produtos comuns entre Brasil e EUA. Por fim, o capítulo 3 explora a relação entre rigidez de preço setorial e persistência inflacionária.

In the first chapter, entitled “On Cross-country Differences in the Contribution of Nontraded Goods to Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations”, The contribution of nontraded goods to Real Exchange Rate (RER) fluctuations for a large number of countries that include high, middle, and low-income countries are estimated using Engel’s (1999, JPE) approaches. We also propose a new quantity dual approach which does not require any assumption regarding the functional form for either the production function or for the overall price index to estimate similar measures. All the three approaches used yield qualitatively similar estimates, but there exists a large cross-country variation in the contributions of the nontraded goods to RER fluctuations. Income, government expenditure, exchange rate volatility, and political stability are found to be negatively correlated to the contributions of nontraded goods, while inflation, consumption expenditure, and openness are positively correlated to the contributions of nontraded goods to RER fluctuations. In the second chapter, entitled “The Great Recession and Price Convergence in the United States”, We analyze the differential nature of commodity price convergence in cities in the U.S.A. before and after the Great Recession of 2008. Using quarterly retail price data for 50 commodities from 279 cities for the period 1992- 2014, we show that the speed of price convergence for almost all the commodities increased after the great recession, and that observation is more pronounced for nonperishable prices. We also observe that the price convergence disparity between the most and the least affected states widened, with the most affected areas experiencing much higher speed of price convergence than before the Great Recession. Moreover, the geographic variations of changes in rate of convergence are noteworthy. In the third chapter, entitled “Language, Topography, and Price Convergence”, we ask what else can downgrade technological innovations, improvement of transportation infrastructures, and other policy tools in boosting integrations of commodity markets? This paper analyzes the impact of two highly exogenous variables – languages and elevations - on retail price convergence which indicates the level of market integration. Using data from a very ethnic and topographically diversified country- India- we show that language and topographical variations represent intrinsic barriers to market integration and should not be overlooked. Therefore, ceteris paribus, a country with more similarities in languages and less variation in topographical features is likely to benefit more from technological improvements and from the improvement of transportation infrastructures due to the resulting faster rate of convergence.

[pt] A literatura teórica sobre taxas de câmbio apresenta uma série de resultados de difícil respaldo empírico como o forecasting puzzle da taxa de câmbio. Ao realizarmos previsões dentro da amostra e fora da amostra para as taxas de câmbio, nominal e real, e para o índice de preços de commodities do Brasil, encontramos evidências empíricas que comprovam algumas das explicações para este puzzle. Basicamente, os resultados dentro e fora da amostra apontam que o câmbio nominal apresenta um forte componente forward looking, o que poderia explicar o fracasso de muitos modelos em prever esta variável. Os valores passados do câmbio nominal conseguem gerar previsões para preços de commodities substancialmente melhores que a de um passeio aleatório, tanto no curto quanto no longo prazo, embora a relação reversa não se verifique. Uma análise comparando as previsões de nosso modelo a um modelo autorregressivo univariado mostra que esta evidência é mais fraca do que constatamos inicialmente. Para a taxa de câmbio real estendemos a análise feita na literatura de commodity currencies para medir o poder preditivo dos modelos utilizados. Considerando o exercício dentro da amostra, os preços de commodities contribuem significativamente para as previsões da taxa de câmbio, mas a causalidade no sentido contrário também ocorre. Já para as previsões fora da amostra, o modelo de correção de erros não conseguiu superar o passeio aleatório para nenhuma variável, nem mesmo no longo prazo. Os resultados são robustos à presença de quebras estruturais. / [en] In the theoretical literature on exchange rates we find many results with little empirical support. This paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding on one of the main issues that were not fully answered: the forecasting puzzle on exchange rates. By analyzing in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts for nominal and real exchange rates and the commodity price index of Brazil, we find empirical evidence on some of the explanations for this puzzle. The results insample and out-of-sample indicate that the Brazilian nominal exchange rate has an important forward looking component, which could explain the failure of many models to predict this variable. Past values of nominal exchange rate forecasts commodity prices substantially better than a random walk, both in short and long term horizons, while the reverse relation does not hold. An additional analysis in which we compare our model with a univariate autoregressive one suggests that the evidences may not be as robust as we thought at first. For the real exchange rate we extend the analysis made in the literature on commodity currencies to measure the predictive power of these models. Considering the in-sample exercise, commodity prices play an important role in predicting the Brazilian real exchange rate. However, there is also Granger causality in the opposite direction. Regarding the out-of-sample forecasts, our error correction model could not overcome the random walk model. Our results are robust to structural breaks.

The objectives of this thesis are to: (1) examine if the resource curse exists in the context of Libya; (2) assess the role of institutions in avoiding or minimising the resource curse, and; (3) evaluate institutional and economic reforms required, and the best options to diversify the economy from oil, hence avoid the resource curse in Libya. To achieve these, three approaches are applied, (i) a three country comparative analysis; (ii) Libya country-level time-series analysis, and; (iii) institutional descriptive analysis. This thesis uses time-series data and annual datasets covering 1970-2010. Johansen’s co-integration is used to establish the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables in the models. The Johansen co-integration test, based on the Trace and Maximum Eigenvalue statistics, is applied. In the first approach, the three case studies included in the study are Nigeria, Norway and UAE, with outcomes suggesting that Norway managed to avoid the Dutch disease, the UAE show no major signs of the resource curse, Norway and the UAE have largely managed to overcome Dutch disease, while Nigeria suffers a management curse. The first model suggests that Libya may experience a resource curse, but this may not be as a result of an appreciation of the real exchange rate. A 1% increase in the oil price will cause the Libyan exchange rate to increase (depreciate) by 1.41%. The country could potentially suffer from Dutch disease, but no evidence can be brought by the first model alone. In an attempt to reinforce the first analysis, the second model examined the sectoral impacts of the Dutch disease. Three relations are estimated; tradable sectors (manufacturing and agricultural), and non-tradable sectors (construction and services). These were all found to have been affected by oil revenue. This therefore confirms the existence of Dutch disease in Libya. The descriptive statistics analysis is used alongside five governance indicators: political stability, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. It is concluded that the quality of institutions in Libya affects economic growth negatively. The study holds several implications for policy-makers.

Este trabalho buscou verificar a existência de hysteresis nas exportações brasileiras de produtos manufaturados. Para isso, foi realizada inicialmente uma análise descritiva das empresas industriais exportadoras e a estimação de uma árvore de classificação para o período de 1989 a 1997. Essa primeira análise demonstrou que existe uma assimetria entre o número de empresas entrantes no período favorável às exportações e o número de empresas desistentes no período não favorável, dando evidências da permanência/persistência das empresas exportadoras no período de 1989-1997. Além disso, constatou-se a tendência à inação (?wait and see?) das empresas no mercado externo para período de 1990-1993 e uma indução à saída de empresas para o período de 1994-1997. Em seguida, a partir de dados agregados para o período de 1985 a 2003, foi realizada uma análise de séries temporais. Os resultados dessa análise evidenciaram a hipótese de existência de hysteresis para alguns setores selecionados, tanto no longo prazo como para o curto prazo. / This work had as main objective to verify the existence of hysteresis in the Brazilian exportations of manufactured products. For this objective, a descriptive analysis of exporting industrial firms was initially carried through and the estimate of a tree of classification for the period of 1989 - 1997. These first analyses had demonstrated that existence of an asymmetry between the number of incoming firms in the period favorable to the exportations and the number of desisting firms in the not favorable period, giving evidences of the permanence/persistence of the exporting firms in the period of 1989-1997. Moreover, one evidenced an trend of \"wait and see\" of the firms in the export market for the period of 1990-1993 and induction to the exit of firms for the period of 1994-1997. After that, from aggregated data for the period of 1985 - 2003, a time serial analysis was carried through. These results had been corroborated that evidenced the of hysteresis hypothesis for some selected sectors, as much in the long-run as for short-run.