The significant real exchange rate appreciation in Armenia and Georgia since 2003, coupled with persistent current account deficits, raises the question of whether real exchange rates have become overvalued. This paper seeks to identify possible exchange rate misalignment by applying the...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. THE MACROECONOMIC BALANCE APPROACH -- III. THE EXTENDED PPP APPROACH: SINGLE-COUNTRY ESTIMATES -- IV. THE EXTENDED PPP APPROACH: PANEL DATA ESTIMATES -- V. CONCLUDING REMARKS -- APPENDIX. METHODOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES OF DEALING WITH SLOPE HETEROGENEITY...

This paper uses three methods to assess movements of real exchange rates in the ECCU over time. First, the purchasing power parity hypothesis is tested and then used to provide a benchmark for equilibrium real exchange rates in the region. Second, a fundamentals-based equilibrium real exchange...

The real effective exchange rate of the dollar is close to its minimum level for the past 4decades (as of September 2008). At the same time, however, the U.S. trade and currentaccount deficits remain large and, absent a significant correction in coming years, wouldcontribute to a further...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. DATA AND METHODOLOGY -- III. MODELING AND INTERPRETING THE EQUILIBRIUM REAL EXCHANGE RATE -- IV. ASSESSING THE EQUILIBRIUM REAL EXCHANGE RATE -- V. CONCLUSIONS -- Appendix: Methodological Problems with Smoothing -- REFERENCES.

This paper surveys the evidence on the effectiveness of monetary transmission in low-income countries. It is hard to come away from this review with much confidence in the strength of monetary transmission in such countries. We distinguish between the ""facts on the ground"" and ""methodological...

This paper focuses on assessments of real exchange rates using PPP data and examines their limitations when these are based exclusively on bivariate estimations. It begins by presenting an analytical framework of the real exchange rate that shows that these estimations make many restrictive...

News - or foresight - about future economic fundamentals can create rational expectations equilibria with non-fundamental representations that pose substantial challenges to econometric efforts to recover the structural shocks to which economic agents react. Using tax policies as a leading...