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TRENDS IN EUROPEAN PRODUCTIVITY: Implications for Real Exchange Rates, Real Interest Rates and Inflation Differentials

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The price of home goods relative to traded goods has risen faster in countries like Belgium, Italy, and Spain than it has in Germany. The observed relative-price trends are in line with sectoral trends in relative labor productivity. A neoclassical model with marginal-cost pricing, long run labor mobility within each country, and long-run PPP in the traded sector can account for the observed trends. As long as the productivity trends continue, countries like Belgium, Italy and Spain will experience equilibrium real appreciations against Germany and will have lower equilibrium real interest rates compared to Germany. Convergence in national inflation rates would require nominal appreciations against the DM to avoid competitiveness problems. In a monetary union, the equilibrium real appreciations and real interest-rate differentials can only come out in inflation differentials. The implied inflation differentials are five to ten times larger than those implied by differences in productivity trends across US regions. JEL classification:

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank) in its series Working Papers with number 27.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: 06 Jun 1998
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbwp:27

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References

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  1. De Gregorio, Jose & Giovannini, Alberto & Krueger, Thomas H, 1994. "The Behavior of Nontradable-Goods Prices in Europe: Evidence and Interpretation," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 284-305, October.
  2. Engel, C., 1996. "Accounting for U.S. Real Exchange Rate Changes," Discussion Papers in Economics at the University of Washington 96-02, Department of Economics at the University of Washington.
  3. Ng, S. & Perron, P., 1994. "Unit Root Tests ARMA Models with Data Dependent Methods for the Selection of the Truncation Lag," Cahiers de recherche 9423, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
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  5. Holger C. Wolf & Alberto Giovannini & Jose De Gregorio, 1994. "International Evidence on Tradables and Nontradables Inflation," IMF Working Papers 94/33, International Monetary Fund.
  6. Stockman, Alan C & Tesar, Linda L, 1995. "Tastes and Technology in a Two-Country Model of the Business Cycle: Explaining International Comovements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 168-85, March.
  7. Asea, Patrick K & Corden, W Max, 1994. "The Balassa-Samuelson Model: An Overview," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 191-200, October.
  8. Kenneth A. Froot & Kenneth Rogoff, 1991. "The EMS, the EMU, and the Transition to a Common Currency," NBER Working Papers 3684, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. Matthew B. Canzoneri & Robert E. Cumby & Behzad Diba, 1996. "Relative Labor Productivity and the Real Exchange Rate in the Long Run: Evidence for a Panel of OECD Countries," NBER Working Papers 5676, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  10. Tamim Bayoumi and Barry Eichengreen., 1992. "Shocking Aspects of European Monetary Unification," Economics Working Papers 92-187, University of California at Berkeley.
  11. S. Micossi & Gian-Maria Milesi-Ferretti, 1994. "Real Exchange Rates and the Prices of Nontradable Goods," IMF Working Papers 94/19, International Monetary Fund.
  12. Froot, Kenneth A. & Rogoff, Kenneth, 1995. "Perspectives on PPP and long-run real exchange rates," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 32, pages 1647-1688 Elsevier.
  13. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
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  15. Canzoneri, Matthew B & Diba, Behzad & Fudey, Gwen, 1996. "Trends in European Productivity and Real Exchange Rates: Implications for the Maastricht Convergence Criteria and for Inflation Targets after EMU," CEPR Discussion Papers 1417, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  16. Patrick K. Asea, 1994. "The Balassa-Samuelson Model: An Overview," UCLA Economics Working Papers 710, UCLA Department of Economics.
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Cited by:
  1. Balazs Égert & Doris Ritzberger-Gruenwald & Maria Antoinette Silgoner, 2004. "Inflation Differentials in Europe: Past Experience and Future Prospects," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 1, pages 47-72, May.
  2. Nils Björksten, 2000. "Economic Catching up in the Enlarged Euro Area: Implications for the Common Monetary Policy," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 52, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
  3. Alberola, Enrique & Tyrväinen, Timo, 1998. "Is There Scope for Inflation Differentials in EMU? An Empirical Evaluation of the Balassa-Samuelson Model in EMU Countries," Research Discussion Papers 15/1998, Bank of Finland.
  4. Vladislav Flek & Lenka Marková & Jiøí Podpiera, 2003. "Sectoral Productivity and Real Exchange Rate Appreciation: Much Ado about Nothing?," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 53(3-4), pages 130-153, March.
  5. Enrique Alberola & José M. Marqués, 1999. "On the Relevance and Nature of Regional Inflation Differentials: the Case of Spain," Banco de España Working Papers 9913, Banco de España.
  6. António Portugal Duarte, 2005. "Purchasing power parity: an empirical study of three EMU countries," International Trade 0505005, EconWPA.
  7. John H. Rogers, 2002. "Monetary union, price level convergence, and inflation: how close is Europe to the United States?," International Finance Discussion Papers 740, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  8. Kirsten Lommatzsch & Silke Tober, 2004. "The Inflation Target of the ECB: Does the Balassa-Samuelson Effect Matter?," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 19, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
  9. Stephen Cecchetti & Nelson C. Mark & Robert Sonora, 1999. "Price Level Convergence Among United States Cities: Lessons for the European Central Bank," Working Papers 99-01, Ohio State University, Department of Economics.
  10. M. Katsimi, 2004. "Inflation divergence in the euro area: the Balassa-Samuelson effect," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 11(5), pages 329-332.

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