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Productivity, tradability, and the long-run price puzzle

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  • Paul R. Bergin
  • Reuven Glick
  • Alan M. Taylor

Abstract

Long-run cross-country price data exhibit a puzzle. Today, richer countries exhibit higher price levels than poorer countries, a stylized fact usually attributed to the “Balassa-Samuelson” effect. But looking back fifty years, or more, this effect virtually disappears from the data. What is often assumed to be a universal property is actually quite specific to recent times. What might explain this historical pattern? We adopt a framework where goods are differentiated by tradability and productivity. A model with monopolistic competition, a continuum-of-goods, and endogenous tradability allows for theory and history to be consistent for a wide range of underlying productivity shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul R. Bergin & Reuven Glick & Alan M. Taylor, 2004. "Productivity, tradability, and the long-run price puzzle," Working Paper Series 2004-08, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2004-08
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Prices ; Productivity ; Econometric models;

    JEL classification:

    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N70 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - General, International, or Comparative

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