Global Dollar Shocks and Spillovers into EMDEs: The Channels of Commodity Prices and Country Risk

This paper shows how global dollar appreciations transmit to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) through commodity prices and country risk. Using quarterly data for 22 EMDEs from 1999–2019, I combine the Obstfeld & Zhou (2023) dataset with country-specific commodity price indices and classify countries as commodity exporters or importers via a trade-balance rule. Global dollar appreciation shocks explain up to 16% of the forecast-error variance of commodity terms of trade (CToT) and up to 9% of EMBI spreads. A global dollar appreciation depreciates EMDE currencies, raises EMBI, depresses investment, and lowers GDP, with muted CPI effects. Stratifying by commodity status reveals sharp heterogeneity: exporters suffer larger and more persistent adverse responses, while importers seem stable. To uncover mechanisms, I implement an approach `a la Cloyne–Jord`a–Taylor (2023) to estimate indirect effects. A more favorable CToT response mitigates output and demand contractions, whereas higher commodity import prices and larger EMBI responses amplify adverse outcomes.