This paper analyzes the effect of commodity price fluctuations on a commodity-exporting economy. Using Chilean and international copper market data, I find that positive copper price changes resulting from copper-specific demand shocks generate a broad GDP expansion, with no visible decline in...

For a decade from 2000 Indonesia underwent a natural resource export boom. Aggregate income rose, but real labor earnings stagnated. Employment rose mainly in low-skill sectors with predominantly informal employment arrangements. In this paper we reveal causal connections from the aggregate...

This paper looks at whether immigration can mitigate the Dutch disease effects associated with booms in natural resource sectors. We first derive predicted changes in the size of the non-tradable sector from a small general-equilibrium model à la Obstfeld-Rogoff, supplemented by a resource...

Innovation-spurred growth in oil and gas production from shale formations led the U.S. to become the global leader in producing oil and natural gas. Because most shale is on private lands, drilling companies must access the resource through private lease contracts that provide a share of the...

This paper looks at whether immigration can mitigate the Dutch disease effects associated with booms in natural resource sectors. We first derive predicted changes in the size of the non-tradable sector from a small general-equilibrium model à la Obstfeld-Rogoff, supplemented by a resource...

Using data for El Salvador and Bayesian techniques, we develop and estimate a two-sector dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to analyze the effects of remittances in emerging market economies. We find that, whether altruistically motivated or otherwise, an increase in remittance flows...

This paper examines how macroeconomic policies can be managed to accommodate a large inflow of foreign aid to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and still maintain macroeconomic stability. Because of the daunting scale of this epidemic, funds need to be disbursed urgently in order to contain its...

The impact of aid inflows on relative prices and output is ambiguous. Aid inflows that increase domestic expenditure are likely to cause real exchange rate appreciation, ceteris paribus. However, if this expenditure raises the capital stock in the traded goods sector, then output in this sector...

Although the core model of the Dutch Disease makes unambiguous predictions regarding the negative effect of a resource boom on a country's manufacturing exports, the empirical literature that has followed has not clearly identified this effect. I attribute this to the failure of the existing...

Papua New Guinea's (PNG) resource boom has come to an end. Theory suggests that the real exchange rate (RER) should subsequently depreciate in order to restore internal and external balance. In practice, however, the imposition of foreign exchange controls has led to a large backlog in foreign...