OUTPUT VOLATILITY IN MACEDONIA: A ROLE FOR THE EXCHANGE RATE?

The study aims to empirically explore the relationship between exchange-rate rigidity and output volatility for Macedonia, building on the flaws of the existing, though scarce literature on the topic. Specifically, it carefully constructs the output volatility regression; considers the measure of output volatility; and accounts for the endogeneity bias doubted to be present in the respective literature. Moreover, it utilizes a Hodrick-Prescott definition of volatility, to avoid persistent series which are obtained by using rolling standard deviations. The empirical investigation covers the period 1998:Q1 - 2009:Q2 and uses a GMM estimator. We find that, in general, a TOT shock opts to increase output volatility, but under a more flexible regime, it starts to affect the output fluctuations negatively, implying a role of a buffer. Quite the contrary, when nominal shocks (monetary and/or fiscal) hit the economy, a more rigid alternative of the exchange rate is preferable.