US Dollar Real Exchange Rates Research Articles

Testing the Validity of the J-Curve Hypothesis Between China and the United States

This paper investigates the efficacy of currency management as a policy tool to improve trade balance by analyzing the impact of the real exchange rate on the bilateral trade between the United States and China. The paper builds upon the existing literature and empirical analysis is carried out based on the J-curve hypothesis using quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2021Q4. The vector-auto regression (VAR) model is estimated using China and the United States’ trade balance, real exchange rate, and GDP. The impulse response functions provide evidence of the J-curve. A shock in Yuan (CNY)-US dollar real exchange rate leads to initial deterioration but improvement in the trade balance in favor of China over subsequent quarters. The results hold for various sub-periods of analysis, i.e., after the exchange rate was allowed to fluctuate since July 2005. Evidence supports that the policy of managing the real exchange rate might have yielded desired results for China.

Covariability of real exchange rates and fundamentals

We study low-frequency correlations between real exchange rates (RERs) and fundamentals using historical data starting in 1870. Increases in real GDP per capita – a proxy for the Balassa–Samuelson effect – and terms of trade improvements in the United States relative to advanced economies are associated with stronger US dollar RERs, as predicted by economic theory. For several other fundamentals considered in the literature, we find no evidence of robust low-frequency correlations with RERs.

Real Exchange Rate Dynamics in the Asian Economies: Can Regime Shifts Explain Purchasing Power Parity Puzzles?

We show that the strong version of the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis holds in most of the US dollar real exchange rates using cointegration method that accounts for breaks in the models. The break dates in seven of the Asian currencies coincide with the two rounds of currency depreciation recorded during the 1997–1998 financial crises. We obtain a mean half-life estimate of about 10 months for PPP to converge to its long-run equilibrium level. Our confidence intervals based on persistence profile approach for the half-lives is much narrower than previous evidence might indicate. Taken together, these results show that mean reversion is stronger than commonly thought.

HOW PUZZLING IS THE PPP PUZZLE? AN ALTERNATIVE HALF‐LIFE MEASURE OF CONVERGENCE TO PPP

SUMMARYEvidence of lengthy half‐lives for real exchange rates in the presence of a high degree of exchange rate volatility has been considered as one of the most puzzling empirical regularities in international macroeconomics. This paper suggests that the measure of half‐life used in the literature might be problematic and proposes alternative measures with desirable properties. Their focus on the cumulative effects of the shocks distinguishes them from the measures used in the literature. An empirical analysis of bilateral US dollar real exchange rates employing the alternative half‐life measure produces results consistent with theory and indicates that the PPP puzzle is less pronounced than initially thought. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cointegration tests of PPP: do they also exhibit erratic behaviour?

We analyse whether tests of PPP exhibit erratic behaviour (as previously reported by Caporale et al., 2003) even when (possibly unwarranted) homogeneity and proportionality restrictions are not imposed, and trivariate cointegration (stage-three) tests between the nominal exchange rate, domestic and foreign price levels are carried out (instead of stationarity tests on the real exchange rate, as in stage-two tests). We examine the US dollar real exchange rate vis-à-vis 21 other currencies over a period of more than a century, and find that stage-three test statistics are also somewhat erratic, though less than stage-two ones.

The confusing time-series behaviour of real exchange rates: Are asymmetries important?

Evidence regarding the time-series properties of real exchange rates is mixed. There is evidence that such rates exhibit both non-stationary and stationary behaviour. The current dominant belief is that rates are non-linear stationary, however, this is not accepted without question. This paper re-examines the time-series properties of five US dollar real exchange rates and argues that the confusing time-series properties arise largely as each series examined exhibits periods of non-stationary and stationary behaviour such that the sample over which any empirical exercise is conducted is of importance. However, extending a typical non-linear model used within the literature to allow for asymmetries improves the models ability to fit the data. Therefore, our results suggest that modelling asymmetries between positive and negative real exchange rate deviations is of importance, whereas extant research has typically rules out asymmetry. Indeed a forecasting exercise conducted over a 1-year horizon is particularly supportive of this model. Such a finding is of importance not only for academics but also finance practitioners involved in trading and portfolio management and finance managers who act in the foreign exchange market for goods market trading. It remains for future research to theoretically motivate the asymmetries found here.

Testing for time series linearity

In this paper, we present a procedure for testing the null hypothesis of linearity in a time series against the alternative of non‐linearity. Adapting the robust Wald‐type testing methods of Vogelsang (1998Econometrica66, 123–48), we provide a test statistic that has the same limiting null critical values regardless of whether the series under consideration is generated from a linear I(0) or linear I(1) process, and is consistent against non‐linearity of either form. Finite sample simulation evidence, together with empirical evidence from an application to US Dollar real exchange rates, suggests that our procedure should work well in practice.

Purchasing power parity and country characteristics: Evidence from panel data tests

We examine long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) using panel data methods to test for unit roots in US dollar real exchange rates of 84 countries. We find stronger evidence of PPP in countries more open to trade, closer to the United States, with lower inflation and moderate nominal exchange rate volatility, and with similar economic growth rates as the United States. We also show that PPP holds for panels of European and Latin American countries, but not for African and Asian countries. Our findings demonstrate that country characteristics can help explain both adherence to and deviations from long-run PPP.

Cointegration Tests of PPP: Do They Also Exhibit Erratic Behaviour?

We analyse whether tests of PPP exhibit erratic behaviour (as previously reported by Caporale et al., 2003) even when (possibly unwarranted) homogeneity and proportionality restrictions are not imposed, and trivariate cointegration (stage-three) tests between the nominal exchange rate, domestic and foreign price levels are carried out (instead of stationarity tests on the real exchange rate, as in stage-two tests). We examine the US dollar real exchange rate vis-a-vis 21 other currencies over a period of more than a century, and find that stage-three tests produce similar results to those for stage-two tests, namely the former also behave erratically. This confirms that neither of these traditional approaches to testing for PPP can solve the issue of PPP.

Evidence on purchasing power parity from univariate models: the case of smooth transition trend‐stationarity

AbstractRecent research has found that trend‐break unit root tests derived from univariate linear models do not support the hypothesis of long‐run purchasing power parity (PPP) for US dollar real exchange rates. In this paper univariate smooth transition models are utilized to develop unit root tests that allow under the alternative hypothesis for stationarity around a gradually changing deterministic trend function. These tests reveal statistically significant evidence against the null hypothesis of a unit root for the real exchange rates of a number of countries against the US dollar. However, restrictions consistent with long‐run PPP are rejected for some of the countries for which a rejection of the unit root hypothesis is obtained. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The European Union currencies and the US dollar: from post-Bretton-Woods to the Euro

In this paper we study the evolution of the US dollar real exchange rate vis-à-vis the European Union currencies in the floating post-Bretton-Woods era, both before and after the birth of the Euro. In the first period we find that most of the persistence shown by this rate is due to the movements of the US dollar during the mid-1980s. Once these effects are isolated, we can conclude that the US dollar real exchange rate exhibits stationarity with those currencies that are closely linked to the German Mark. However, when we include the observations covering the period during which the Euro was created, we cannot reject the unit root null hypothesis for any currency.

The European Union currencies and the US dollar: from post-Bretton-Woods to the Euro

In this paper we study the evolution of the US dollar real exchange rate vis-à-vis the European Union currencies in the floating post-Bretton-Woods era, both before and after the birth of the Euro. In the first period we find that most of the persistence shown by this rate is due to the movements of the US dollar during the mid-1980s. Once these effects are isolated, we can conclude that the US dollar real exchange rate exhibits stationarity with those currencies that are closely linked to the German Mark. However, when we include the observations covering the period during which the Euro was created, we cannot reject the unit root null hypothesis for any currency.

Fractional cointegration and real exchange rates

This paper uses fractional integration and cointegration to model the DM–US dollar and the yen–US dollar real exchange rates in terms of both monetary and real factors, more specifically real interest rate and labour productivity differentials. We find that whilst the individual series may be integrated of order 1, their long-run relationship might have a fractionally cointegrated structure. This means that mean reversion occurs, consistently with the findings of other studies. However, it also indicates, in contrast to such studies, that the cointegrating relationship possesses long memory. In other words, the error correction term responds slowly to shocks, implying that deviations from equilibrium are long-lived. It appears that only a combination of real and monetary variables can accurately track down the movements of real exchange rates.

The Behaviour of the Real Exchange Rate: Evidence from an Alternative Price Index

Although the long–run purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis is expected to hold across tradable goods, all price indices available to researchers for testing the validity of PPP contain some proportion of non–tradable goods prices, which may generate substantial persistence in the real exchange rate. We construct time series for quarterly price indices that minimize the presence of non–tradable goods for six major economies. Applying recently developed nonlinear econometric techniques to the resulting five US dollar real exchange rate series for the recent floating exchange rate regime, we provide evidence that the nonlinear mean reverting properties of these real exchange rate series are stronger than the mean reverting properties of real exchange rate time series constructed using the consumer price index (CPI). In turn, these results have a natural economic interpretation.(J.E.L.: F31).

Purchasing Power Parity in Developing Countries: Multi-Period Evidence Under the Current Float

Using panel unit root tests, we examine purchasing power parity (PPP) for US dollar real exchange rates of developing countries during the current floating rate period. Since evidence of PPP may vary from period to period, we examine the data for moving 10-year periods from 1976–85 up to 1990–99. We organize panels based on country characteristics influencing the validity of PPP. Those characteristics include openness, inflation, and the level and growth rate of per capita GDP. Although we find stronger evidence of PPP after 1980, our examination of panel data over 15 10-year periods yields only limited support for PPP.

The great appreciation, the great depreciation, and the purchasing power parity hypothesis

Although there has been much recent work on purchasing power parity (PPP), neither univariate nor panel methods have produced strong rejections of unit roots in US dollar real exchange rates for industrialized countries during the post-1973 period. We investigate the hypothesis that these non-rejections can be explained by one episode, the large appreciation and depreciation of the dollar in the 1980s, by developing unit root tests which account for this event and maintain long-run PPP. Using panel methods, we can strongly reject the unit root null for those countries that adhere to the typical pattern of the dollar’s rise and fall.

Purchasing Power Parity and New Trade Theory

This paper theoretically derives and empirically tests the implications of a new trade theory framework for the systematic movements in the real exchange rate. It focuses on the effect of imperfect substitutability of tradables and on the importance of competitiveness, for which we construct an original proxy. Using a panel dynamic OLS estimation of nine bilateral US dollar real exchange rates, we derive long-run coefficients for relative productivity and competitiveness in the tradable and non-tradable sectors, controlling for standard macroeconomic variables. The implications of imperfect substitutability of tradables fit the data better than the standard neoclassical assumption of price equalization. Our new measure of competitiveness is statistically significant in explaining deviations from PPP.

Short‐run Real Exchange Rate Dynamics

The short‐run dynamics of German mark and US dollar real exchange rates are investigated for a panel of 19 OECD economies in a vector error correction framework for the 1973‐96 period. The novel persistence profiles approach of Pesaran and Shin (‘Cointegration and Speed of Convergence to Equilibrium’, Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 71, (1996), pp. 117–143) indicates that the effect of system‐wide shocks declines rapidly initially but decays slowly thereafter. It yields an average of just one year for the half‐life of such shocks but some seven years before they fully dissipate. These half‐life estimates are just one‐quarter of the consensus estimates. Our results are consistent with non‐linear adjustment and with monetary factors being the main source of real exchange rate volatility.

Long-run equilibrium real exchange rates and oil prices

Using cointegration and causality tests, this paper demonstrates that the nonstationary behavior of US dollar real exchange rates, over the post-Bretton Woods era, is due to the nonstationary behavior of real oil prices.