Toward an Explanation of National Price Levels

Toward an Explanation of National Price Levels
Author: Irving B. Kravis
Publisher:
Total Pages: 48
Release: 1983
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

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"The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the need for a theory of comparative national price levels and to explore some of the elements that seem to belong to such a theory. Most theoretical discussions have maintained that national price levels tend towards equality and focus on presumably temporary divergences from equality. Yet strong evidence has been accumulating that there are large and long-standing differences inprice levels, the highest of which are more than twice those of countries with the lowest prices. Long-run price level differences are most clearly related to levels of real per capita output, with richer countries having higher price levels.These differences have been explained as resulting from greater advantages in productivity for the wealthier countries in goods production, mostly tradable, than in services production, mostly nontradable. The differences in relative productivity may be in total factor productivity or only in labor productivity, reflecting the greater capital intensity of goods production and possibly a higher elasticity of substitution between capital and labor in goods production.We find in the empirical analysis that a large part of the differences in price levels can be explained by structural factors such as real GDP per capita, the degree of openness of the economy, and the share of nontradable goods in output. The only non-structural factor emerging from a preliminary analysis of several of these was the rate of growth of the quantity of money"--NBER website

Towards an explanation of national price levels

Towards an explanation of national price levels
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 1982
Genre:
ISBN:

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The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the need for a theory of comparative national price levels and to explore some of the elements that seem to belong to such a theory. Most theoretical discussions have maintained that national price levels tend towards equality and focus on presumably temporary divergences from equality. Yet strong evidence has been accumulating that there are large and long-standing differences inprice levels, the highest of which are more than twice those of countries with the lowest prices. Long-run price level differences are most clearly related to levels of real per capita output, with richer countries having higher price levels.These differences have been explained as resulting from greater advantages in productivity for the wealthier countries in goods production, mostly tradable, than in services production, mostly nontradable. The differences in relative productivity may be in total factor productivity or only in labor productivity, reflecting the greater capital intensity of goods production and possibly a higher elasticity of substitution between capital and labor in goods production.We find in the empirical analysis that a large part of the differences in price levels can be explained by structural factors such as real GDP per capita, the degree of openness of the economy, and the share of nontradable goods in output. The only non-structural factor emerging from a preliminary analysis of several of these was the rate of growth of the quantity of money.

The Assessment of National Price Levels

The Assessment of National Price Levels
Author: Robert E. Lipsey
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1988
Genre:
ISBN:

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This paper attempts to find norms for long-run national price levels, and therefore, by implication, for exchange rates, that are superior to those implied by the absolute or relative versions of purchasing power parity theory. The structural variables we have found to determine these price levels, real income per capita, the openness of the economy, and the share of tradables in total output, are used to explain price levels in periods since 1960 and to some extent since 1950.The results suggest that there was a movement toward a more "orderly" alignment of price levels, especially in the period before the 1970's. That is, national price levels came to be explained to an increasing degree by our structural variables. The price levels implied by the structural equations appear to come closer to representing long-run equilibrium levels than do those implied by purchasing power parity. The deviations from the structural equations seem to have value inpredicting future changes in price levels or real exchange rates, in conbination with changes in the structural variables. And they also contribute to predicting changes in the balance of trade

National price levels and the prices of tradables and nontradables

National price levels and the prices of tradables and nontradables
Author: Irving B. Kravis
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1988
Genre: Foreign exchange
ISBN:

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This paper examines changes in national price levels and prices of tradables and nontradables and relates them to changes in variables found earlier to be associated with price level differences among countries. Across countries, national price levels increase systematically with the level of a country's per capita income, and the ratios of tradables to nontradables prices decrease. Over time, increases in per capita income are generally associated with increases in price levels in the industrial countries, although the opposite relationship tended to prevail among developing countries. Increases in income are associated with declines in the ratio of tradables to nontradables price levels more consistently than with the increases in general price levels. Increases in the exchange value of a currency are also associated with declines in the price levels for tradablesrelative to nontradables. Countries with price levels that were high or low relative to those predicted by the structural equations tended to move toward those predicted levels.

Topics in Empirical International Economics

Topics in Empirical International Economics
Author: Magnus Blomstrom
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2009-02-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226060853

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In this timely volume emanating from the National Bureau of Economic Research's program in international economics, leading economists address recent developments in three important areas. The first section of the book focuses on international comparisons of output and prices, and includes papers that present new measures of product market integration, new methodology to infer relative factor price changes from quantitative data, and an ongoing capital stock measurement project. The next section features articles on international trade, including such significant issues as deterring child labor exploitation in developing countries, exchange rate regimes, and mapping U. S. comparative advantage across various factors. The book concludes with research on multinational corporations and includes a discussion of the long-debated issue of whether growth of production abroad substitutes for or is complementary to production growth at home. The papers in the volume are dedicated to Robert E. Lipsey, who for more than a half century at the NBER, contributed significantly to the broad field of empirical international economics.

Explaining Prices in the Global Economy

Explaining Prices in the Global Economy
Author: Henk-Jan Brinkman
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1999-11-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781782541608

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Addresses the problem of price disparities across countries, and, for the first time, uses market structures as the central focus. Also looks at effects of trade barriers, input-output relations, and economies of scale, factors often ignored by other studies, to determine what causes prices to vary across countries. A post- Keynesian markup pricing model incorporating market power, intermediate inputs, and productivity differences is developed and tested using regression analysis.

Global Interdependence, Decoupling, and Recoupling

Global Interdependence, Decoupling, and Recoupling
Author: Yin-Wong Cheung
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2013-11-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262314452

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Investigations of the propagation and influence of global shocks among the economies of developed and developing countries. One lens through which to view global economic interdependence and the spillover of shocks is that of decoupling (and then recoupling). Decoupling between developed and developing countries can be seen in the strong economic performance of China and India relative to that of the United States and Europe in the early 2000s. Recoupling then took place as developing countries sank along with the developed world during the deepening financial crisis of 2008. This volume examines patterns of global economic interdependence and the propagation of shocks in an increasingly integrated world economy. The contributors discuss such topics as the transmission of exogenous shocks; causes of business cycle synchronicity; the differences between global and regional shocks; the South-South trade relationship and its effect on decoupling; vertical specialization and Mexico's manufacturing exports; growth prospects in China, the United States, and Europe after the financial crisis; and the evolving role of the U.S. dollar in international monetary architecture. Contributors Helge Berger, Rossella Calvi, Yin-Wong Cheung, Gianluca Cubadda, Justino De La Cruz, Filippo di Mauro, Michael Dooley, Eiji Fujii, Linda S. Goldberg, Barbara Guardabascio, Alain Hecq, Hideaki Hirata, Robert B. Koopman, M. Ayhan Kose, Marco J. Lombardi, Steven Lugauer, Nelson C. Mark, Volker Nitsch, Christopher Otrok, Tuomas Antero Peltonen, Gabor Pula, Pierre L. Siklos, Zhi Wang, Shang-Jin Wei, Frank Westermann

Price Indexes in Time and Space

Price Indexes in Time and Space
Author: Luigi Biggeri
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2010-07-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3790821403

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This book deals with many of the most relevant topics in price index numbers theory and practice. The problem of the harmonization of CPIs and the time-space integration of baskets is analyzed at the Eu-zone level, with methodological and actual proposals on how to proceed for an overall treatment of the matte. Likewise, the construction of sub-indexes for households economic and social groups is investigated, in order to obtain specific inflation measurement instruments. Evidence from most updated databases is given. The questions of the spatial comparisons of price levels through PPPs and th.

The Level REER model in the External Balance Assessment (EBA) Methodology

The Level REER model in the External Balance Assessment (EBA) Methodology
Author: Rui Mano
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2019-09-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513511025

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This paper offers an empirical model of the drivers of the level of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) that is now part of the IMF’s methodology for the assessment of external positions, including exchange rates. It constructs a measure of the level of the REER and it offers a panel regression that considers a large number of cross-sectional and time varying factors, guided by the extensive literature. Its main contribution is to enhance our understanding of the cross-sectional determinants of the level of the REER, while taking into account the time-series drivers. The framework accounts for the much larger cross-sectional variation of the level REER, and can better explain the time series variation of level REER when these are based on GDP-deflators rather than on consumer price indices. The latter suggest there may be merits to broadening the assessments to include such measures, although further analysis is required.

Perspectives on International, State and Local Economics

Perspectives on International, State and Local Economics
Author: Gerald V. Liu
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2006
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781600210990

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If all politics are local, then all economics are also international, regional and local. Globalisation, for all its mystery and so-called inevitability, has its foundations and bloodlines in urban and regional economics. The economic impacts of poverty, housing, transportation, education, and crime are included. This book includes within its scope: multiplier and impact analysis, input-output models, growth theory, migration, urban and regional labour markets, urban and regional public policy, regional devolution, small firms policy, and foreign direct investment.