Trade Integration, Competition, and the Decline in Exchange-Rate Pass-Through
51 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2006
Date Written: August 2006
Abstract
Over the past twenty years, U.S. import prices have become less responsive to the exchange rate. We propose that a significant portion of this decline is a result of increased trade integration. To illustrate this effect, we develop an open economy DGE model in which trade occurs along both the intensive and extensive margins. The key element we introduce into this environment is strategic complementarity in price setting. As a result, a firm's pricing decision depends on the prices set by its competitors. This feature implies that a foreign exporter finds it optimal to vary its markup in response to shocks that change the exchange rate, insulating import prices from exchange rate movements. With increased trade integration, exporters have become more responsive to the prices of their competitors and this change in pricing behavior accounts for a significant portion of the observed decline in the sensitivity of U.S import prices to the exchange rate.
Keywords: Pass-through, trade integration, strategic complementarity
JEL Classification: F15, F41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
By Maurice Obstfeld and Alan C. Stockman
-
By Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff
-
Can Sticky Price Models Generate Volatile and Persistent Real Exchange Rates?
By Varadarajan V. Chari, Patrick J. Kehoe, ...
-
Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Volatility in a Small Open Economy
By Jordi Galí and Tommaso Monacelli
-
Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Volatility in a Small Open Economy
By Jordi Galí and Tommaso Monacelli
-
Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Volatility in a Small Open Economy
By Jordi Galí and Tommaso Monacelli
-
New Directions for Stochastic Open Economy Models
By Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff
-
Monetary Policy in the Open Economy Revisited: Price Setting and Exchange Rate Flexibility