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.

The “special treatments” of automobile industry in China, especially in the forms of local protectionism, have been criticized as evidences of domestic market fragmentation for long. Whether these “special treatments” have stunted the integration of a national auto market in China remains a question. This paper seeks to examine the degree of market integration in the automobile markets in China by using tests of cointegration between prices of spatial markets. Several econometric approaches for spatial price analysis, including the ADF unit root test, Maddala-Wu’s Fisher type panel unit root test and more restrictive Dufour-Torres panel unit root test are applied to monthly average retail prices for the main models sold across 36 cities from 1994-2006. Besides the above conventional linear methods, the author also applies the newly developed nonlinear unit root method proposed by Kapetanios et al. (2003). Test results indicate that the nonlinear test support convergence more often than the conventional linear unit root tests. Moreover, they also reveal that price convergence and hence market integration hold for majority of models and markets. The paper also investigates possible explanatory factors in price disparities of auto markets among cities. As the evidence shows, the geographic distance between markets, difference of per capital income, and the existence of local production play important roles in the absolute price differentials as well as the volatility of price differentials among cities.

This thesis is comprised of five papers that all relate to bootstrap methodology in analysis of non-stationary time series. The first paper starts with the fact that the Dickey-Fuller unit root test using asymptotic critical value has bad small sample performance. The small sample correction proposed by Johansen (2004) and bootstrap are two effective methods to improve the performance of the test. In this paper we compare these two methods as well as analyse the effect of bias-adjusting through a simulation study. We consider AR(1) and AR(2) models and both size and power properties are investigated. The second paper studies the asymptotic refinement of the bootstrap cointegration rank test. We expand the test statistic of a simplified VECM model and a Monte Carlo simulation was carried out to verify that the bootstrap test gives asymptotic refinement. The third paper focuses on the number of bootstrap replicates in bootstrap Dickey-Fuller unit root test. Through a simulation study, we find that a small number of bootstrap replicates are sufficient for a precise size, but, with too small number of replicates, we will lose power when the null hypothesis is not true. The fourth and last paper of the thesis concerns unit root test in panel setting focusing on the test proposed by Palm, Smeekes and Urbain (2011). In the fourth paper, we study the robustness of the PSU test with comparison with two representative tests from the second generation panel unit root tests. In the last paper, we generalise the PSU test to the model with deterministic terms. Two different methods are proposed to deal with the deterministic terms, and the asymptotic validity of the bootstrap procedure is theoretically checked. The small sample properties are studied by simulations and the paper is concluded by an empirical example. / <p>Ogiltigt ISBN: 978-91-554-9069-0</p>

In this thesis, I first investigate the relation between the aggregate unemployment rate and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and outflows. To study this relationship, I use a panel data set that contains 45 (developed and developing) countries observed from 1987 through 2008, and I employ Arellano and Bonds generalized methods of moments (ABGMM) estimation method for dynamic panel data. My results show that FDI inflows and outflows are not determinants of the aggregate unemployment rate. In addition, in line with macroeconomic theory, the previous level of aggregate unemployment has a positive impact on the current level of aggregate unemployment. Again, as macroeconomic theory suggests, my results show that per capita real gross domestic product (RGDP) has a negative effect on the current level of aggregate unemployment. Second, I study the long-run relationship between exports and per capita gross domestic product (instrumented by total population) using a panel data set of 51 countries from 1970 through 2008. To study this relationship, I employ the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) estimation method. I find that the percentage of exports in nominal gross domestic products (GDP) is sensitive to changes in the populations of host countries and, hence, to the changes in their GDP. In addition, my results show that the agreement on trade related investment measures increased the percentage of exports in the nominal GDP of developed host countries more than it did in developing host countries.