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The price of imported capital and consumption fluctuations in emerging economies

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  • Boileau, Martin
  • Normandin, Michel

Abstract

We study the role played by fluctuations in the price of imported capital in determining the behavior of consumption fluctuations in developing countries. For this, we decompose the price of imported capital into common and country-specific components, where the common component is the price of capital in the US. Empirically, we document that, in contrast to small industrialized countries, consumption in developing countries responds more than output to unexpected changes in the price of capital in the US. As such, fluctuations in the price of capital in the US contribute to a high volatility of consumption relative to that of output in developing countries. We then show that a small open-economy real business cycle model driven by fluctuations in the price of imported capital can account for the responses of consumption and output to innovations of the price of capital in the US and for the high relative volatility of consumption observed in developing country. Finally, confronting the model to the data, we further find that fluctuations in the price of capital in the US contribute substantially to fluctuations of consumption in countries that display a low volatility of output and a large relative volatility of consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Boileau, Martin & Normandin, Michel, 2017. "The price of imported capital and consumption fluctuations in emerging economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 67-81.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:67-81
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2017.05.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Aydan Dogan, 2019. "Investment Specific Technology Shocks and Emerging Market Business Cycle Dynamics," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 34, pages 202-220, October.
    2. Aydan Dogan, 2019. "Investment Specific Technology Shocks and Emerging Market Business Cycle Dynamics," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 34, pages 202-220, October.
    3. Hwang, Seolwoong & Kim, Soyoung, 2022. "Real business cycles in emerging countries: Are Asian business cycles different from Latin American business cycles?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Seunghoon Na & Hyunseung Oh, 2020. "Computerizing Households and the Role of Investment-Specific Productivity in Business Cycles," International Finance Discussion Papers 1292, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Small open-economy real business cycle; Relative volatility of consumption growth; Volatility of imported capital goods inflation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • F44 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Business Cycles

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