When univariate methods are applied to real exchange rates, point estimates of autoregressive coefficients typically imply very slow rates of mean reversion. Rogoff (1996) discusses that the remarkable consensus of 3-5 year half-lives of purchasing power parity (PPP) deviations is found among...

This paper examines the impact of trade costs on real exchange rate volatil- ity. We model two channels endogenously in a Ricardian framework: (i) non- tradability and (ii) heterogeneous suppliers of traded goods. The ¯rst channel is examined by constructing a two-country Ricardian model of...

The research addresses three methodological questions that are central to effective exchange rate and macroeconomic management: what are the determinants and how to model the real exchange rate (RER), how to estimate its equilibrium level, and how to quantify the likely impact of misalignment on...

In spite of the concerns about "twin deficits" (fiscal and current account deficits) for the U.S., empirical evidence suggests that “twin divergence” is a more regular feature of the data: when the fiscal accounts worsen, the current account improves and vice versa. We thus study empirically...

Looking closely at the PPP argument, it states that the currencies purchasing power should not change when comparing the same basket goods across countries, and these goods should all be tradable. Hence, if PPP is valid at all, it should be captured by the relative price indices that best fits...

The paper considers tests for structural change in time series regression models where both regressors and residuals may exhibit long range dependence. The limiting distribution of the test statistic depends on unknown parameters and is approximated by a bootstrap procedure. The asymptotic...

We consider LM-type tests for a unit root allowing for a break in trend at an unknown date. In addition to the minimum LM test statistic, we propose new LM-type tests based on the least squares estimator of the break date under the null. We examine asymptotic behavior under the null hypothesis...

Tests for structural change play an important role in macroeconomics and international finance. We investigate the empirical performance of the Bai and Perron (1998) multiple structural change tests and show that the use of their critical values may cause severe size distortions in persistent...

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack to the twin towers and ensuing heightened national security measures worldwide, but particularly in the United States, are modeled to be equivalent to a thickening of trade barriers in international trade. By estimating a gravity model with a stochastic...

This paper examines the issue of sustaining free trade when countries receive imperfect private information about each other’s non-tariff barriers. Because the countries can misrepresent their private belief about other countries’ protection levels, the punishment scheme to deter...