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Exports and Invoicing: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation

Author

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  • Auer, Raphael
  • Burstein, Ariel
  • Erhardt, Katharina
  • Lein, Sarah

Abstract

The Swiss National Bank's (SNB) elimination of the lower bound on the EUR/CHF exchange rate on January 15 2015 provides a unique setting to study how prices and quantities respond to changes in nominal exchange rates. In this paper, we complement the study of imports in Auer et al. (2020) by looking at how the response of Swiss export prices and export values varies across products according to the currency of invoicing at the border. The rate of pass through (measured in CHF) into export prices was much lower in industries with a higher share of CHF-invoiced export border prices. We show that industries with higher CHF-invoicing shares experienced substantially weaker export growth in the two-year period after January 2015. At short horizons, however, export quantities did not respond across industries as much as prices to the exchange rate shock.

Suggested Citation

  • Auer, Raphael & Burstein, Ariel & Erhardt, Katharina & Lein, Sarah, 2020. "Exports and Invoicing: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation," Working papers 2020/14, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    • Handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2020/14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barthélémy Bonadio & Andreas M Fischer & Philip Sauré, 2020. "The Speed of Exchange Rate Pass-Through," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 506-538.
    2. Raphael Auer & Ariel Burstein & Sarah M. Lein, 2021. "Exchange Rates and Prices: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(2), pages 652-686, February.
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    6. Mary Amiti & Oleg Itskhoki & Jozef Konings, 2022. "Dominant Currencies: How Firms Choose Currency Invoicing and Why it Matters," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(3), pages 1435-1493.
    7. Ariel Burstein, 2018. "Exchange Rates and Prices: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Appreciation," 2018 Meeting Papers 658, Society for Economic Dynamics.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Freitag, Andreas & Lein, Sarah M., 2023. "Endogenous product adjustment and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Erhardt, Katharina & Gupta, Apoorva, 2024. "Go wide or go deep: Margins of new trade flows," DICE Discussion Papers 415, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    3. Anne Kathrin Funk & Daniel Kaufmann, 2022. "Do Sticky Wages Matter? New Evidence from Matched Firm Survey and Register Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(355), pages 689-712, July.
    4. Steiner, Elizabeth & Stucki, Yannic, 2025. "The impact of exchange rate fluctuations on markups – firm-level evidence for Switzerland," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Xie, Oliver, 2024. "Financial Hedging and Optimal Currency of Invoicing," SocArXiv v8zdk, Center for Open Science.
    6. Crowley, M. A. & Han, L. & Son, M., 2020. "Dominant Currency Dynamics: Evidence on Dollar-invoicing from UK Exporters," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 20113, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    7. Andrea Ariu & Giulia Rivolta, 2025. "The Micro and Macro of a Large and Sudden Devaluation," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def146, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    8. Andreas Brunhart & Martin Geiger, 2025. "Sectoral effects of exchange rate shocks: goods exports and the appreciation of the Swiss Franc in 2015," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 161(1), pages 1-25, December.
    9. Daniel Kaufmann & Tobias Renkin, 2019. "Export Prices, Markups, and Currency Choice after a Large Appreciation," IRENE Working Papers 19-07, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    10. Rahel Braun & Sarah M. Lein, 2021. "Sources of Bias in Inflation Rates and Implications for Inflation Dynamics," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(6), pages 1553-1572, September.
    11. Patrick Alexander & Abeer Reza, 2025. "The Exchange Rate Elasticity of Exports: A Shock-Dependent Approach," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 73(2), pages 617-649, June.
    12. Alex Oktay, 2022. "Heterogeneity in the exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices: the Swiss franc appreciation of 2015," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 158(1), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Katharina Erhardt & Apoorva Gupta, 2024. "Go Wide or Go Deep: Margins of New Trade Flows," CESifo Working Paper Series 11269, CESifo.
    14. repec:osf:socarx:v8zdk_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Patrick Alexander & Abeer Reza, 2022. "Exports and the Exchange Rate: A General Equilibrium Perspective," Staff Working Papers 22-18, Bank of Canada.
    16. Martin Brown & Daniel Hoechle & Lizet Alejandra Perez Cortes & Markus Schmid, 2025. "Monetary Policy Wealth Effects: Evidence from the 2015 Swiss Franc Shock," Working Papers 25.06, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    17. Arni, Patrick & Egger, Peter & Erhardt, Katharina & Gubler, Matthias & Sauré, Philip, 2024. "Heterogeneous Impacts of Trade Shocks on Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 16895, IZA Network @ LISER.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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