Rural-led exchange rate appreciation in China

Abstract

The departure of a factor in excess supply in a non-traded rural sector leads to a Rural-led Exchange Rate Real Appreciation (RERA), in a dual economy setup. The RERA highlights for the first time a potential link between intra-national factor movements and real exchange rates. In China, where there is excess labor employed in the production of (largely) non-traded rural goods, we attribute around one third of the recent appreciation of the real exchange rate – defined as the relative price of nontradables – to a RERA effect.