Euro-Dollar Real Exchange Rate Dynamics in an Estimated Two-Country Model: What is Important and What is Not

49 Pages Posted: 3 Jan 2007

Date Written: November 2006

Abstract

Central puzzles in international macroeconomics are why fluctuations of the real exchange rate are so volatile with respect to other macroeconomic variables, and the contradiction of efficient risk-sharing. Several theoretical contributions have evaluated alternative forms of pricing under nominal rigidities along with different asset markets structures to explain real exchange dynamics. In this paper, we use a Bayesian approach to estimate a standard two-country New Open Economy Macroeconomics (NOEM) using data for the United States and the Euro Area, and perform model comparisons to study the importance of departing from the law of one price and complete markets assumptions. Our results can be summarized as follows. First, we find that the baseline model does a good job in explaining real exchange rate volatility, but at the cost of implying too high volatility in output and consumption. Second, the introduction of incomplete markets allows the model to better match the volatilities of all real variables. Third, introducing sticky prices in local currency pricing (LCP) improves the fit of the baseline model, but not by as much as by introducing incomplete markets. Finally, we show that monetary shocks have played a minor role in explaining the behaviour of the real exchange rate, while both demand and technology shocks have been important.

Keywords: Real exchange rates, Bayesian estimation, model comparison

JEL Classification: C11, F41

Suggested Citation

Rabanal, Pau and Tuesta Reátegui, Vicente, Euro-Dollar Real Exchange Rate Dynamics in an Estimated Two-Country Model: What is Important and What is Not (November 2006). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5957, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=954745

Pau Rabanal (Contact Author)

La Caixa ( email )

Av Diagonal 629
Barcelona, 08028
Spain

Vicente Tuesta Reátegui

Banco Central de Reserva del Peru ( email )

Jirón Miroquesada 441
Lima, Lima 1
Peru

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