IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/empiri/v42y2015i1p157-183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price and non-price competitiveness in export demand: empirical evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Bernardina Algieri

Abstract

This study aims to provide an overview of recent developments in the export performance and international competitiveness of Italy. Using a flexible approach based on a structural time series model, I have assessed the extent to which price competitiveness and non-price competitiveness affect Italian export behaviour. The results of analysis reveal that Italy has experienced a shift to the left of its export demand, which suggests a decline in the country’s international competitiveness since the mid-1990s. More specifically, a 1 % drop in price competitiveness has contracted Italian export volumes by 0.8 %, while a 1 % decrease in non-price competitiveness has narrowed export volumes by 2.9 %. Altogether, these and other findings indicate that erosion to non-price competitiveness plays a role more significant than price in affecting export performances. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Bernardina Algieri, 2015. "Price and non-price competitiveness in export demand: empirical evidence from Italy," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 157-183, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:42:y:2015:i:1:p:157-183
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-014-9257-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10663-014-9257-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10663-014-9257-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Wagner, 2010. "Cointegration analysis with state space models," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 94(3), pages 273-305, September.
    2. Krugman, Paul, 1989. "Differences in income elasticities and trends in real exchange rates," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 1031-1046, May.
    3. Nigel Pain & Annabelle Mourougane & Franck Sédillot & Laurence Le Fouler, 2005. "The New OECD International Trade Model," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 440, OECD Publishing.
    4. Keiko Murata & Dave Turner & David Rae & Laurence Le Fouler, 2000. "Modelling Manufacturing Export Volumes Equations: A System Estimation Approach," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 235, OECD Publishing.
    5. Bénédicte Vidaillet & V. d'Estaintot & P. Abécassis, 2005. "Introduction," Post-Print hal-00287137, HAL.
    6. Ca' Zorzi, Michele & Schnatz, Bernd, 2007. "Explaining and forecasting euro area exports: which competitiveness indicator performs best?," Working Paper Series 833, European Central Bank.
    7. Marquez, Jaime & McNeilly, Caryl, 1988. "Income and Price Elasticities for Exports of Developing Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 306-314, May.
    8. Giovannini, Alberto, 1988. "Exchange rates and traded goods prices," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1-2), pages 45-68, February.
    9. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2006. "Globalization and the Gains From Variety," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 541-585.
    10. Carvalho, Vasco M. & Harvey, Andrew C., 2005. "Growth, cycles and convergence in US regional time series," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 667-686.
    11. Boyd, Derick & Caporale, Gugielmo Maria & Smith, Ron, 2001. "Real Exchange Rate Effects on the Balance of Trade: Cointegration and the Marshall-Lerner Condition," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(3), pages 187-200, July.
    12. Matthieu Crozet & Hélène Erkel‐Rousse, 2004. "Trade Performances, Product Quality Perceptions, and the Estimation of Trade Price Elasticities," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 108-129, February.
    13. Morris Goldstein & Mohsin S. Khan, 2017. "Income and Price Effects in Foreign Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: TRADE CURRENCIES AND FINANCE, chapter 1, pages 3-81, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. di Mauro, Filippo & Forster, Katrin & Lima, Ana, 2010. "The global downturn and its impact on euro area exports and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 119, European Central Bank.
    15. Konstantins Benkovskis & Julia Wörz, 2012. "Non-Price Competitiveness Gains of Central, Eastern and Southeastern European Countries in the EU Market," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 3, pages 27-47.
    16. Athanasoglou, Panayiotis P. & Bardaka, Ioanna C., 2010. "New trade theory, non-price competitiveness and export performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 217-228, January.
    17. Raphael Kaplinsky & Amelia Santos Paulino, 2005. "Innovation and Competitiveness: Trends in Unit Prices in Global Trade," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3-4), pages 333-355.
    18. Davidson, James E H, et al, 1978. "Econometric Modelling of the Aggregate Time-Series Relationship between Consumers' Expenditure and Income in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 88(352), pages 661-692, December.
    19. Filippo Di Mauro & Katrin Forster, "undated". "Globalisation and the competitiveness of the Euro area," Working Papers 5, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    20. Alogoskoufis, George & Smith, Ron, 1991. "On Error Correction Models: Specification, Interpretation, Estimation," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 97-128.
    21. John Sutton, 2007. "Quality, Trade and the Moving Window: The Globalisation Process," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 469-498, November.
    22. Feenstra, Robert C, 1994. "New Product Varieties and the Measurement of International Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 157-177, March.
    23. Nicholas Sarantis & Chris Stewart, 2001. "Unobserved components in an error-correction model of consumption for Southern European countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 391-405.
    24. Greenhalgh, Christine & Taylor, Paul & Wilson, Rob, 1994. "Innovation and Export Volumes and Prices--A Disaggregated Study," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 102-135, January.
    25. Abdelhak S. Senhadji & Claudio E. Montenegro, 1999. "Time Series Analysis of Export Demand Equations: A Cross-Country Analysis," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 46(3), pages 1-2.
    26. Aiginger, Karl, 1997. "The Use of Unit Values to Discriminate between Price and Quality Competition," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 21(5), pages 571-592, September.
    27. Mr. Ashoka Mody & Ms. Deniz O Igan & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio, 2007. "The Dynamics of Product Quality and International Competitiveness," IMF Working Papers 2007/097, International Monetary Fund.
    28. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Chui, Michael K F, 1999. "Estimating Income and Price Elasticities of Trade in a Cointegration Framework," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 254-264, May.
    29. Bernardina Algieri, 2014. "Drivers of Export Demand: A Focus on the GIIPS Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 1454-1482, October.
    30. Harvey, Andrew C & Koopman, Siem Jan, 1992. "Diagnostic Checking of Unobserved-Components Time Series Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 10(4), pages 377-389, October.
    31. di Mauro, Filippo & Forster, Katrin & Lima, Ana, 2010. "The global downturn and its impact on euro area exports and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 119, European Central Bank.
    32. Kravis, Irving B. & Lipsey, Robert E., 1978. "Price behavior in the light of balance of payments theories," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 193-246, May.
    33. Filippo Di Mauro & Katrin Forster, "undated". "Globalisation and the competitiveness of the Euro area," Working Papers 5, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    34. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September.
    35. Houthakker, Hendrik S & Magee, Stephen P, 1969. "Income and Price Elasticities in World Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(2), pages 111-125, May.
    36. Bernardina Algieri, 2011. "Modelling export equations using an unobserved component model: the case of the Euro Area and its competitors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 593-637, December.
    37. David Hummels & Peter J. Klenow, 2005. "The Variety and Quality of a Nation's Exports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 704-723, June.
    38. Rafal Kierzenkowski, 2009. "The Challenge of Restoring French Competitiveness," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 720, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hafele, Jakob & Kuhls, Sonia, 2022. "Trade-off or tension: Can carbon be priced without risking economic competitiveness?," ZOE Discussion Papers 9, ZOE. institute for future-fit economies, Bonn.
    2. Algieri, Bernardina, 2015. "An Analysis of Regional Export Patterns: The Case of Calabria in Southern Italy - Un’analisi dei modelli di esportazione regionale: il caso della Calabria," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 68(3), pages 297-322.
    3. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2018. "Italy’s Price Competitiveness: An Empirical Assessment Through Export Elasticities," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 421-462, November.
    4. Baiardi, Donatella & Bianchi, Carluccio, 2019. "At the roots of China's striking performance in textile exports: A comparison with its main Asian competitors," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 367-389.
    5. Luigi Bonatti & Andrea Fracasso, 2017. "Addressing the Core-Periphery Imbalances in Europe: Resource Misallocation and Expansionary Fiscal Policies," EconPol Working Paper 6, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Esposito, Piero, 2017. "Trade creation, trade diversion and imbalances in the EMU," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 462-472.
    7. D. Baiardi & C. Bianchi, 2018. "At the roots of China's striking performance in textile exports: a comparison with its main Asian competitors," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP03, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    8. Sergio Cesaratto & Gennaro Zezza, 2018. "What went wrong with Italy, and what the country should now fight for in Europe," FMM Working Paper 37-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    9. Ramon Xifré, 2021. "Non‐Price Competitiveness Factors—A simple measure and implications for the five largest euro area countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(11), pages 3091-3110, November.
    10. Bernardina Algieri & Antonio Aquino & Lidia Mannarino, 2018. "Non-Price Competitiveness and Financial Drivers of Exports: Evidences from Italian Regions," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 107-133, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kiyotaka Sato & Junko Shimizu & Nagendra Shrestha & Shajuan Zhang, 2013. "Industry-specific Real Effective Exchange Rates and Export Price Competitiveness: The Cases of Japan, China, and Korea," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 8(2), pages 298-321, December.
    2. Bernardina Algieri, 2014. "Drivers of Export Demand: A Focus on the GIIPS Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 1454-1482, October.
    3. Bernardina Algieri, 2011. "Modelling export equations using an unobserved component model: the case of the Euro Area and its competitors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 593-637, December.
    4. Bernardina Algieri & Antonio Aquino & Lidia Mannarino, 2018. "Non-Price Competitiveness and Financial Drivers of Exports: Evidences from Italian Regions," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 107-133, March.
    5. D. Baiardi & C. Bianchi, 2018. "At the roots of China's striking performance in textile exports: a comparison with its main Asian competitors," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP03, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    6. Baiardi, Donatella & Bianchi, Carluccio, 2019. "At the roots of China's striking performance in textile exports: A comparison with its main Asian competitors," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 367-389.
    7. Xavier Timbeau, 2014. "Le piège de la déflation : Perspectives 2014-2015," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/c6c7hcjgm91, Sciences Po.
    8. Bruno Ducoudré & Eric Heyer, 2014. "Baisse de l'euro et désinflation compétitive," Post-Print hal-01093016, HAL.
    9. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno & Alessia Via, 2015. "New Evidence on Export Price Elasticity from China and Six OECD Countries," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 23(6), pages 56-78, November.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c6c7hcjgm915q0m9u9i8r91sb is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Catherine L. Mann & Katharina Plück, 2005. "The US Trade Deficit: A Disaggregated Perspective," Working Paper Series WP05-11, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    12. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Martin, Philippe & Pesenti, Paolo, 2007. "Productivity, terms of trade and the `home market effect'," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 99-127, September.
    13. Matteo Bugamelli & Silvia Fabiani & Stefano Federico & Alberto Felettigh & Claire Giordano & Andrea Linarello, 2018. "Back on Track? A Macro–Micro Narrative of Italian Exports," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, March.
    14. Vahagn Galstyan & Philip R. Lane, 2008. "External Imbalances and the Extensive Margin of Trade," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 37(3), pages 241-257, November.
    15. Konstantīns Beņkovskis, 2012. "Competitiveness of Latvia's exporters," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 17-45, December.
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6404 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Juan Carlos Hallak & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 417-474.
    18. Ms. Ruo Chen & Mr. Gian M Milesi-Ferretti & Mr. Thierry Tressel, 2012. "External Imbalances in the Euro Area," IMF Working Papers 2012/236, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno & Alessia Via, 2015. "Again on trade elasticities: evidence from a selected sample of countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(2), pages 259-287, December.
    20. Vahagn Galstyan, 2015. "Productivity, Trade, and Relative Prices in a Ricardian World," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 817-838, September.
    21. Funke, Michael & Ruhwedel, Ralf, 2001. "Export variety and export performance: empirical evidence from East Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 493-505.
    22. Algieri, Bernardina, 2015. "An Analysis of Regional Export Patterns: The Case of Calabria in Southern Italy - Un’analisi dei modelli di esportazione regionale: il caso della Calabria," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 68(3), pages 297-322.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price; Non-price competitiveness; Italy; C22; C51; F14;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:42:y:2015:i:1:p:157-183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.