As an extension of the neoclassical urban systems theory (Henderson, 1974), we develop a general theory of regional (inter-city) price dispersion which also explains the ¡°subnational Penn effect,¡± i.e., cross-city correlations among population size, prices, real income and human capital...

The debate on renminbi (RMB) revaluation has not subsided, despite the policy change announced by the Chinese authorities in July 2005. In this chapter, we show that the evidence of RMB undervaluation may not be as strong as it appears. Specifically, depending on the method used, the evidence...

A simple cointegration methodology is used to compute the equilibrium real exchange rate for the peseta. The stock of foreign assets and the evolution of sectoral prices are considered to be the fundamentals for the real exchange rate. After testing for cointegration, we proceed to decompose the...

The assumption that national labor markets are homogenous across tradable and non-tradable goods is common in multisector (open-economy) macro models and crucial for the prominent Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. This study tests it with a novel method to distinguish the tradable and non-tradable...

We investigate long-run relations and short-run dynamics between China’s bilateral trade balance and real exchange rates with thirteen major trading partners over 1981-2008. Maximum likelihood tests of cointegration reveal no evidence of significant long-run relationship between the two...

Historical data for over hundred years and 14 countries is used to estimate the long-run effect of productivity on the real exchange rate. We find large variations in the productivity effect across four distinct monetary regimes in the sample period. Although the traditional Balassa-Samuelson...

This paper re-assesses the problem of general equilibrium models in matching the behaviour of real exchange rate. We do so by developing a two country general equilibrium model with non-traded goods, home bias, incomplete markets and partial degrees of pass through as well as nominal rigidities...

The paper examines the Canada–US real exchange rate since the early 1970s to test two popular explanations of the long-run real exchange rate based on the influence of sectoral productivities and commodity prices. The empirical analysis finds that both variables exert a significant long-run...

Global and European trade balances have seen strong divergences combined with strong movements in the exchange rate. Trade balances and real effective exchange rates are related. Using different measures of the real effective exchange rate, we show that this long-run link hinges on the relative...