Purchasing power parity: the choice of price index

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 Öts these two features. We ran a horse race among six di§erent price indices available from the IMF database to see which one would yield higher PPP evidence, and, therefore, better Öt the two features. We used RER proxies measured as the ratio of export unit values, wholesale prices, value added deáators, unit labor costs, normalized unit labor costs and consumer prices, for a sample of 16 industrial countries, with quarterly data from 1975 to 2002. PPP was tested using both the ADF and the DFGLS unit root test of the RER series. The RER measured as WPI ratios was the one for which PPP evidence was found for the larger number of countries: six out of sixteen when we use DF-GLS test with demeaned series. The worst measure of all was the RER based on the ratio of foreign CPIs and domestic WPI. No evidence of PPP at all was found for this measure.

How much debtors' punishment?

This paper investigates how the bankruptcy exemptions applied by the Personal Bankruptcy Law in each American state a§ect the aggregated level of individuals and small businessesí loans. Higher levels of bankruptcy exemptions imply in a lenient rule, motivating debtors to Öle for bankruptcy, what makes lenders worsen the terms of credit. On the other hand, lower levels of exemptions imply in a harsh punishment to debtors, inhibiting their demand for credit fearing a possible bankruptcy by bad luck. ConÖrming the theoretical claims, empirical tests show the existence of a non-monotonic shape in the relationship between the bankruptcy exemptions and the amount of credit to individuals and small businesses, where the optimal level of exemptions should be neither too high nor too low. Since the majority of the states in U.S. do not apply the optimal level, an intervention that brings the exemption level closer to the optimal one can be credit and welfare enhancing.

Soluções analíticas para a taxa interna de retorno

Regra geral, a taxa interna de retorno de um dado fluxo de caixa só pode ser determinada de forma aproximada, e mediante o emprego de procedimentos iterativos. Concentrando atenção na classe dos fluxos de caixa ditos do tipo simples, são abordados certos casos particulares para os quais, muitas vezes com base em interpretações financeiras, é possível a abtenção de soluções analíticas.

Curso de matematica para economistas: capitulo V: otimização dinamica

Os autores objetivam, com este trabalho, bem como com aqueles que lhe precederam (capítulos l, 2, 3 e 4) registrar as suas experiências ao longo dos últimos anos ministrando cadeiras de matemática nos cursos de pós-graduação em economia da Fundação Getúlio Vargas, da UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) e da PUC-RJ. Reveste-se de constante repetição em tais cursos a discussão sobre que pontos abordar, bem como com qual grau de profundidade e em que ordem. É neste sentido que os autores esperam. com a sequência didática aqui apresentada, trazer alguma contribuição para o assunto.

The consistency of welfare judgements with a representative consumer

This paper is about economies with a representative consumer. In general a representative consumer need not exist, although there are several well known sets of sufficient conditions under which Qne will. It is common practice, however, to use the representative consumer hypothesis without specifically assuming any of these. We show, firstly, that it is possible for the utility of the representative consumer to increase when every actual consumer is made worse off. This shows a serious shortcoming of welfare judgements based on the representatíve consumer. Secondly, in economies where this does not occur, there exists a social welfare function, which we construct, which is consistent with welfare judgements based on the utility of the representative consumer. Finally we provide a converse to Samuelson' s 1956 representative consumer result, which relates it to Scitovsky's community indifference curves.

A new perspective on the PPP hypothesis

This paper the stastistical properties of the real exchange rates of G-5 countries for the Bretton-Woods peiod, and draw implications on the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis. In contrast to most previous studies that consider only unit root and stationary process to describe the real exchange tae, this paper also considers two in-between processes, the locally persistent process ans the fractionally integrated process, to complement past studies. Seeking to be consistent with tha ample evidence of near unit in the real exchange rate movements very well. This finding implies that: 1) the real exchange movement is more persistent than the stationary case but less persistent than the unit root case; 2) the real exchange rate is non-stationary but the PPP reversion occurs and the PPP holds in the long run; 3) the real exchange rate does not exhibit the secular dependence of the fractional integration; 4) the real exchange rate evolves over time in a way that there is persistence over a range of time, but the effect of shocks will eventually disappear over time horizon longer than order O (nd), that is, at finite time horizon; 5) shocks dissipation is fasters than predicted by the fractional integracion, and the total sum of the effects of a unit innovation is finite, implying that a full PPP reversion occurs at finite horizons. These results may explain why pasrt empirical estudies could not provide a clear- conclusion on the real exchange rate processes and the PPP hypothesis.

Growth, increasing returns, and public infrastructure : time series evidence

Initial endogenous growth models emphasized the importance of external effects and increasing retums in explaining growth. Empirically, this hypothesis can be confumed if the coefficient of physical capital per hour is unity in the aggregate production function. Previous estimates using time series data rejected this hypothesis, although cross-country estimates did nol The problem lies with the techniques employed, which are unable to capture low-frequency movements of high-frequency data. Using cointegration, new time series evidence confum the theory and conform to cross-country evidence. The implied Solow residual, which takes into account externaI effects to aggregate capital, has its behavior analyzed. The hypothesis that it is explained by government expenditures on infrasttucture is confIrmed. This suggests a supply-side role for government affecting productivity.

Investimento direto estrangeiro no Mercosul: uma visão geral

Esse texto aborda, sob uma visão abrangente, a questão do investimento direto estrangeiro (IDE) no Mercosul. Discute, de início, duas medidas de base, imprescindíveis para se pensar em termos sérios o investimento direto, e aborda, então, os problemas afetos a uma área unificada de IDE e como atacar, com ações concretas, a sua realização. Considera ainda o tema da postura comum vis à vis os parceiros externos, particularmente nas negociações comerciais. Analisa, de forma geral, itens relativos à implementação das idéias, ressaltando a importância da Secretaria do Mercosul e tratando, brevemente, de uma dualidade chave nos processos de integração: a interação supranacionalidade - subsidiariedade. Também enfatiza a importância da transparência e da disseminação de informação no seio do bloco. Talvez a sua maior mensagem seja que os passos que levam a um mercado comum pleno, atrativo ao IDE, não se dão com facilidade, não sendo nem obra do acaso, nem o resultado de um processo contínuo, sem sobressaltos. Somente a absoluta convicção da sua necessidade, expressa em forte vontade política de realizar as tarefas devidas, fará com que os resultados esperados se tornem realidade.

Real exchange rate misalignments

This paper characterizes episodes of real appreciations and depreciations for a sample of 85 countries, approximately from 1960 to 1998. First, the equilibrium real exchange rate series are constructed for each country using Goldfajn and Valdes (1999) methodology (cointegration with fundamentals). Then, departures from equilibrium real exchange rate (misalignments) are obtained, and a Markov Switching Model is used to characterize the misalignments series as stochastic autoregressive processes governed by two states representing di¤erent means. Three are the main results we …nd: …rst, no evidence of di¤erent regimes for misalignment is found in some countries, second, some countries present one regime of no misalignment (tranquility) and the other regime with misalignment (crisis), and, third, for those countries with two misalignment regimes, the lower mean misalignment regime (appreciated) have higher persistence that the higher mean one (depreciated).