Real exchange rates have important effects on production, employment and trade, so it is crucial to understand the factors responsible for their variations. This study analyses the main determinants of the real exchange rate and the dynamic adjustment of the real exchange rate following shocks to those determinants, using quarterly South African data covering the period 1975 to 2005. It begins with a review of literature on the determinants of the real exchange rate and provides an updated background on the exchange rate system in South Africa. An empirical model linking the real exchange rate to its theoretical determinants is then specified. In contrast to previous analyses, this study augments the cointegration and vector autoregression (VAR) analysis with impulse response and variance decomposition analyses to provide robust long run effects and short run dynamic effects on the real exchange rate. The variables that have been found to have a long run relationship with the real exchange rate include the terms of trade, real interest rate differential, domestic credit, openness and technological progress. The estimate of the speed of adjustment coefficient found in this study indicates that about a third of the variation in the real exchange rate from its equilibrium level is corrected within a quarter. The impulse response functions broadly corroborate the theoretical predictions, but only the terms of trade, domestic credit and openness have a significant impact on the real exchange rate in the short run. However, only shocks to the terms of trade and domestic credit have persistent effects on the real exchange rate. Results from the variance decompositions are largely similar to those from the impulse response analysis. The terms of trade, domestic credit and openness are the only variables found to significantly explain the variation in the real exchange rate. The most interesting result that emerged from this analysis and is supported by previous research is that among other determinants, the terms of trade explain the largest proportion of the variation in the real exchange. On balance, the evidence therefore suggests that real exchange rate fluctuations are predominantly equilibrium responses to real and monetary shocks rather than fiscal policy shocks.

Thesis advisor: Pablo Guerron-Quintana / This thesis consists of two self-contained essays on topics in applied macroeconomics. In the first chapter, I study how heterogeneous sensitivities to weather fluctuations and interregional production networks impact the measurement of weather shocks’ impact on economic activity in the United States. I start the analysis by building a general equilibrium model where the impact of weather fluctuations on productivity is state-sector dependent, and networks expose sectors to weather shocks from other regions through the use of intermediate inputs. Then, I quantify the relevance of these mechanisms, combining the model’s predictions with annual data on sectoral GDP and average temperatures by state from 1970 to 2019. My estimates show that models that do not consider these characteristics underestimate the aggregateimpact of weather fluctuations by at least a factor of 3. In particular, when the whole economy faces an unexpected increase in temperature of 1 Celsius degree, the contraction in economic activity increases from -0.13 to -0.37 percent once heterogeneity is considered and -1.14 percent when networks are included. In the second chapter, I propose a new methodology to disentangle between terms of trade movements caused by global shocks and those resulting from country-specific terms-of-trade fluctuations. This methodology extends the so-called maximum-share approach in two ways. Firstly, a global shock is identified as the shock with the highest explanatory power on the forecast error variance of a set of exogenous variables. This is in contrast to the typical approach of using only one variable as a source of information to identify a shock. Secondly, country-specific terms-of-trade shocks are identified as shocks that satisfy two conditions: (i) maximum explanation power on terms-of-trade variability and (ii) orthogonality to global shocks, allowing me to isolate the main drivers of terms of trade that are not related to global fluctuations. I apply this methodology to data on ten small open economies(SOEs) and show that global shocks contribute - on average- to 33 percent of their business cycle fluctuations. The contribution of global shocks to terms-of-trade variability is close to 20 percent, meaning that around 80 percent of terms-of-trade movements have country-specific origins. Interestingly, on average, country-specific terms-of-trade shocks are responsible for less than 10 percent of SOE business cycle variability. These results help to reconcile current estimates on the importance of terms of trade and suggest an intensive evaluation of the origins of terms-of-trade movements by policymakers before any intervention. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

The thesis deals with the analysis of the terms of trade and their impact on the aggregates of the national economy. The main goal was to identify issues of the terms of trade and describe their development from the point of view of total indices and indices for groups of the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) in the Czech Republic. In the thesis were used time series analysis and measurement of dependence between two quantities. The development of terms of trade indices was highly variable, and the resulting models do not describe too much variability. Total terms of trade index was the most influenced by groups Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials and Machinery and transport equipment. Gains (losses) from changes in the terms of trade influence the values of aggregates of national economy, their impact on the gross national income and gross disposable income decrease in time. There was also the international comparison of developments of terms of trade indices across the European Union, in the thesis. For this was used cluster analysis by SITC groups. The terms of trade index of the Czech Republic was the most similar to the terms of trade index of Slovakia. The contribution of the thesis is based on the detailed analysis of the terms of trade, which has not been performed before, and describe their relationship with other macroeconomic indicators.

Thesis (M.Com (Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / This study investigates the impact of capital flight and investment on economic growth in South Africa using time series data from 1986 to 2016. It employs the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure and the Granger causality test as a method of analysis. The empirical findings reveal that the variables are cointegrated which is an indication of the existence of a long run relationship among them. It was further discovered that capital flight had a negative long run relationship with economic growth while investment showed a positive long run relationship with economic growth. The terms of trade and inflation which were added to the model as control variable were also found to have a significantly positive influence on economic growth. The Granger causality indicated a bidirectional relationship between inflation and economic growth, while the terms of trade is found to have a unidirectional relationship with economic growth and capital investment respectively. The results are in line with the neo-classical growth model and the accelerator theory of investment.

I propose a simple approach to trade cooperation in economic shocks. A two-country, two-good trade model provides a stage setting. In a dynamic model, international demand for traded goods is allowed to be subject to sudden shocks. Numerical simulations predict that negative, sustained demand shocks may spark trade wars. Negative demand shocks that are short relative to the period it takes for governments to detect violations render instead incentives in free trade agreements more robust. I find that the multilateral policy response to the 2008 crisis - to temporarily enhance multilateral information mechanisms - may have worked to strengthen this effect. / I den här uppsatsen analyseras incitament i handelsavtal under ekonomiska chocker utifrån grundläggande spelteori. Jag finner att långa lågkonjunkturer påverkar incitamenten på ett sätt som kan få parterna att frångå avtalet och starta ett tullkrig. Korta lågkonjunkturer stärker i stället incitamenten i avtalet. Jag argumenterar för att brytpunkten mellan en tullkrigsutlösande lågkonjunktur och en incitamentstärkande lågkonjunktur kan regleras genom att tillfälligt stärka informationsmekanismerna kring avtalet och att de multilaterala åtgärderna i krisens spår kan ha haft den effekten.

This diploma thesis looks from theoretical and practical point of view at the relation between the price of oil and exchange rates of developed countries importing this vital resource. First, the character of the dependence between terms of trade and exchange rates is analyzed, followed by a description and verification of models of relationship between the terms of trade and exchange rates. Subsequent text is focused on another models, which analyze directly the connection between oil prices and exchange rates. The thesis ends with a discussion on other possible connecting links in this relation.

Despite the voluminous literature on North-South macroeconomic interactions and the key role of terms of trade variations in growth transmission from one region to another, a significant research gap persists for two reasons. First, there has been very little empirical work on testing of the relationships between growth patterns and terms of trade movements. Second, the empirical studies dedicated to testing the Prebisch-Singer Thesis (PST) focused on testing the long-run tendency for the terms of trade of primary commodities to deteriorate and neglected the joint nature of the predictions arising out of a complete formulation of PST. This dissertation seeks to properly specify the PST, provide a generalization of it to the case of imbalanced trade, and extend it to a three-region framework through a structuralist North-South model. Multiple paths of growth divergence/convergence and terms of trade deterioration/improvement emerge depending on the structural changes influencing the income-elasticity differentials. I carry out two sets of empirical analyses. First, I use aggregate data on North-South terms of trade indices to test the presence and significance of a downward trend. Second, I use panel data analysis and rolling regressions to show the evolution of income-elasticity differentials. The results suggest that the growth rates of developing countries during the 1980s declined in both absolute and relative terms partly as a result of the downward trend in terms of trade and partly as a result of income elasticity differentials reflecting the productive and technological asymmetries between the developed and developing economies. However, these structural asymmetries have not remained constant: the results show that they changed both over time and over cross-sections of different groups of countries. In general the countries that diversified towards manufactured exports had better chances of eliminating the elasticity differentials, and thus attaining relatively higher rates of growth. The cross-country study is complemented by a comparative case study of Turkey and Malaysia. The results show that industrial and trade policies, if carefully designed and effectively implemented, can counter potential costs of external market dynamics while taking advantage of the opportunities for advancing dynamic comparative advantages.

[pt] A evidência empírica demonstra que termos de troca e produtividade flutuam juntos para economias grandes exportadoras de commodities. O modelo semi estrutural estimado nesta dissertação visa representar uma pequena economia aberta, na qual as flutuações dos termos de troca impactam de forma direta a produtividade da economia. A partir de métodos Bayesianos, o modelo testa se existe correlação positiva entre períodos de expansão dos termos de troca e períodos de expansão da produtividade, com o objetivo de analisar a influência dos termos de troca na dinâmica da economia brasileira de 2000 a 2019. Os resultados obtidos corroboram a correlação positiva prevista nos dados. / [en] The empirical evidence shows that terms of trade and productivity move in the same direction for commodity exporting economies. The semi structural model estimated in this paper of an small open economy introduces a direct impact of fluctuations in terms of trade on the productivity. Using Bayesian methods of estimation, we analyze whether there is a positive correlation between periods of terms of trade booms and periods of productivity growth in Brazilian economy fluctuations from 2000 to 2019. The results show that a positive shock in the terms of trade leads to an increase in productivity, proving the positive correlation predicted in the data.

論文摘要 本論文由兩篇獨立的文章所構成，第一篇文章從個體角度出發，探討臺灣產業出口與成長之間的關聯性；第二篇文章則以總體的角度，分析世界各主要國家經濟成長的型態(包括出口偏向型的成長與進口偏向型的成長)對該國貿易條件的影響。 長久以來，出口與產出之間的相互影響向來是廣受重視的議題。在國際經濟領域中，多數研究均專注於兩者間理論之建立，關於實證方面的探討並不多見，而個體角度來探討產業出口與成長之間的文獻更是稀少，以臺灣產業出口與成長之間因果關係為對象的研究則付之闕如。臺灣的經濟成就向來被歸功於出口擴張政策的成功，但出口導向的影響範圍究竟擴及多少產業的效果仍不明朗，因此第一篇文章關心的重點，在於探討對我國的產業而言出口擴張是否是個有效的政策？而究竟出口導向和產出導向哪一種政策的效果較好，也是本文所關心的目標。 第二篇文章討論成長型態對貿易條件的影響。由於出口偏向型的成長會使本國願意以更多出口財來換取進口財，將會使本國出口財的國際價格相對下降，進而惡化本國的貿易條件，改善外國的貿易條件；反之，在進口偏向型成長的情況下，出口財的減少則會使本國貿易條件改善，外國貿易條件惡化。是以一國的經濟成長對該國貿易條件的影響，將取決於其生產可能曲線外移的方向。本文嘗試以八個工業化國家和七個開發中國家為對象，在加入成長偏向政策、物價、匯率、所得移轉、對外投資、貿易平衡、貿易開放程度等因素的考慮下，來驗證成長型態對其貿易條件的影響效果是否符合理論的規範。 / The purpose of first paper is to investigate the empirical relationships between exports and domestic production in 22 Taiwan main industries, using time series data for the period 1982:01~2002:07. Different from the previous literatures, this paper examines the relations by taking into account industrial data because we are wondering whether the causal links between exports and outputs still sustain in individual industry, and either export promotion or production-led policies are more effective for industrial production. Hence, three related topics will be discussed: to recognize the incidence of export promotion policy in Taiwan industries, to explore either export promotion or production-led policies is more effective for industrial production, and to detect whether all exportation-oriented industries would simultaneously support export promotion hypothesis. The findings of the econometric analysis employing Granger causality test do not have enough evidence to support that the proportion of exports to production is a necessary condition for generating export promotion. Nevertheless, this study suggests that production makes great influence on exports in Taiwan individual industry but the effects of exports on production is not so prevailing as we thought before. Therefore, the influence of production to exports in Taiwan industry is more prevalent than that of exports to outputs. The purpose of the second paper is to examine the impacts of growth types on terms of trade by making a comparison between 8 industrial countries and 7 developing countries (involving 3 NICs countries). This paper finds that the theories seems not be supported because evidence shows the occurrence of positive effects of export-biased growth to terms of trade are more prevalent than negative ones. Moreover, the empirical results of negative incidence shown by import-biased growth come into conflict with theories, and the impacts of import-biased growth on terms of trade are indefinite. In addition, most results reveals that export-biased growth and import-biased growth policies in industrial countries are invalid, and most results in NICs and developing countries are ambiguous while export-biased growth or import-biased growth policies are adopted. Furthermore, the empirical results reveal that income transferring have great or opposite influence in NICs and developing countries, and trade openness is advantageous to NICs and developing countries but is disadvantageous to developed ones.

Ricardo est célébré pour ses théories- sa théorie de croissance qui nous enseigne le concept de la trappe à stagnation industrielle et sa théorie de l'avantage comparatif selon laquelle les différences de technologie déterminent la direction de l'échange international. Quel rôle les théories ricardiennes ont a-t-elles consacré à l'investissement direct étranger (IDE) demeure une question peu explorée. Il s'avère ainsi approprié d'étudier les implications de l'IDE et du transfert technologique vis-à-vis de ces théories. Cette thèse met l'accent sur les approches ricardiennes de croissance et de commerce international pour traiter l'IDE, le transfert technologique et le commerce international, construit et développe de nouvelles approches théoriques et prédictions ricardiennes. Des analyses économétriques sont ensuite effectuées pour tester ces prédictions.Cette thèse se compose de quatre chapitres. Deux parties qui contiennent chacune deux chapitres sont présentées. La première partie propose une revisitation et une reformulation des approches macroéconomiques de l'IDE suivant une approche ricardienne. La deuxième partie traite les relations entre l'IDE, le transfert technologique, la sophistication des exportations et les termes de l'échange des pays en développement et fournit des analyses empiriques à l'appui pour tester les prédictions ricardiennes.Le premier chapitre réexamine et généralise l'approche de l'IDE par la théorie ricardienne de croissance. Ce chapitre prolonge l'analyse d'Ozawa, met l'accent sur « les goulots d'étranglement ricardiens » et le risque de trappe à stagnation industrielle à la Ricardo-Hicks et examine les facteurs « push » expliquant l'investissement direct sortant. Les prédictions de cette approche sont ensuite testées sur un panel de pays émergents et en transition. Les résultats économétriques portant sur un panel de pays émergents et en transition confirment les prédictions théoriques de l'approche macroéconomique d'Ozawa en matière d'IDE sortant.Le second chapitre développe un modèle ricardien classique en introduisant l'IDE Nord Sud. Nous reformulons « le principe de correspondance » développé par Kojima. Nous montrons que la correspondance entre les taux de profits absolus et les avantages comparatifs explique l'émergence de l'IDE originaire des secteurs comparativement désavantagés dans les pays développés et destinés aux secteurs comparativement avantagés dans les pays en développement.Le troisième chapitre, dans sa première section, développe un modèle ricardien Nord-Sud avec transfert de technologie. Notre contribution consiste à examiner le rôle de l'élasticité de substitution entre les biens dans les conséquences du transfert technologique sur les termes de l'échange et le bien-être des pays. Les conditions d'une baisse des termes de l'échange pour le pays en développement sont explicitées, et finalement sont précisées les conditions dans lesquelles le bien être du pays en développement peut baisser à la suite de ce transfert de technologie. La seconde section prolonge l'analyse aux cas du transfert technologique via l'IDE et les licenses. Les tests empiriques montrent que les IDE entrants et le versement de royalties s'accompagnent d'une baisse des termes de l'échange pour les pays en développement.Le quatrième chapitre associe le modèle ricardien avec un continuum de biens aux travaux empiriques de Hausmann, Hwang et Rodrick (2007) et de Rodrik (2006) sur la sophistication des exportations. Un modèle empirique est développé afin d'établir les liens qui existent entre la présence des firmes étrangères et la sophistication des exportations des pays en développement. Ensuite, la question des termes de l'échange des pays en développement est mise en évidence. Les tests empiriques sur un panel de pays en développement montrent que l'augmentation de la sophistication des exportations des pays en développement s'accompagne d'une baisse de leurs termes de l'échange. / Ricardo is commonly celebrated for the theoretical achievements -his theory of growth which introduces us to the concept of trap of industrialism and his theory of comparative advantage that introduces us to the idea that technological differences across countries is the basis of international trade. What role Ricardo's theories have given to foreign direct investment (FDI) has remained a less explored issue. Thus, it is certainly relevant to study the implications of FDI and technology transfer for these theories. This thesis puts back the Ricardian growth bottleneck and the Ricardian trade approaches toward FDI and technology transfer at the forefront of analysis, builds and develops new theoretical settings and predictions. Moreover, this thesis provides new empirical applications.This thesis consists of four chapters. Two parts emerge. In the first part, we mainly revisit and reformulate the Japanese economic thought toward outward FDI, within the Ricardian context. We also implement econometric estimation to test the relevance and usefulness of this theoretical approach to outward FDI from catching-up countries. In the second part, we provide theoretical frameworks with empirical applications. We focus on the effects of technological inflows, especially via inward FDI, on the developing receiving countries and we develop new Ricardian approaches with empirical follow-up on the predictions.In chapter 1, we focus on outward FDI as an escape response to home country growth bottlenecks, which represents an important but under-explored phenomenon in the FDI literature. We review the push-factor approaches based on the pressure effect of the “Ricardian bottlenecks” to explain outward FDI. We reconsider Ozawa's macroeconomic theory of outward FDI, extend it and argue for a widespread applicability of FDI aimed at overcoming generalized “Ricardian bottlenecks”, especially, nowadays, natural resource-scarcity and the insatiable quest for energy, industrial raw materials and fuels. Our empirical findings confirm that outward FDI from emerging countries and transition economies (catching-up countries) acts as an escape response from “Ricardian bottlenecks” and strengthen the reasonableness, the usefulness and the empirical robustness of Ozawa's macroeconomic theory of FDI.In chapter 2, we reformulate Kojima's correspondence principle within Ricardian setting and point out that OFDI originating from the comparatively disadvantaged industry in the developed country and going to the comparatively advantaged industry in the developing country should follow the direction of absolute profit rates which is a reflection of the comparative advantage patterns.In chapter 3, we mainly focus, in the first section, on the welfare effect of North-South technology transfer within Ricardian setting. We single out the respective role of the relative size of both countries, the efficiency of the technology which is transferred, and the elasticity of substitution between the goods which are produced. In the second section of chapter 3, we explore what are the consequences of free technology transfer, licensing and FDI on the North-South welfare. We also provide an empirical analysis of the effect of licensing and foreign presence on the developing countries' terms of trade. We find that inward FDI and royalties' payment deteriorate the terms of trade of the developing and emerging countries.In chapter 4, we combine an extended continuum Ricardian trade setting which rank sophistication of exports by their technology intensity with the new advanced wave of empirical literature on export sophistication. Using data from the developing and emerging countries, we test the core theoretical prediction that foreign involvement and export penetration facilitate technological progress and upgrades export sophistication of a country by leading it to expand the range of goods that it produces toward sectors with rising productivity. In our next step, we bring the debate on the deterioration of the developing countries' terms of trade back into the limelight. Importantly, we show that despite the increase in their export sophistication, the developing countries continue to face terms of trade deterioration.