Real exchange rate and manufacturing growth in Latin America

Authors

  • Paulo Henrique Vaz University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Werner Baer University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40503-014-0002-6

Keywords:

Real currency appreciation, De-industrialization, Manufacturing growth, Latin America

Abstract

The manufacturing sectors in Latin America have been more affected by the currency over/undervaluation than their counterpart in industrialized economies. From a panel data set covering 39 countries and 22 manufacturing sectors (2-digit) within 1995–2008, we formally test the hypothesis that there exists a Latin American effect and then investigate the possible reasons for this distinguished pattern. The use of a disaggregated data is an important feature of our empirical strategy: the undervaluation index (main covariate) is less likely to be determined by the growth rate of a specific manufacturing sector, partially addressing the specification problem that plagues standard cross-country regressions. We then explore the within sector–country variation to study the relationship between currency over/undervaluation and manufacturing sectors growth. We find that the import content of exports might be an important driver of this result at a sectoral level. At a macro-level, the openness and the income per capita of a country are important factors.

References

Aten R, Heston A, Summers R (2011) Penn World Table version 7.0. Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices at the University of Pennsylvania

Baer W, Kerstenetzky I (1964) Import substitution and industrialization in Brazil. Am Econ Rev 54(3):411–425

Baer W (1972) Import substitution and industrialization in Latin America: experiences and interpretations. Latin Am Res Rev 7(1):95–122

Baer W (1984) Industrialization In Latin America: successes and failures. J Econ Edu 15(2):124–135

Baer W (2014) The Brazilian economy: growth and development, 7th edn. Lynne Rienner Publisher, Boulder

Balassa B (1964) The purchasing power parity doctrine: a reappraisal. J Polit Econ 72(6):584–596

Berg A, Miao Y (2010) The real exchange rate and growth revisited: the Washington consensus strikes back? IMF Working Papers 10/58, International Monetary Fund

Eichengreen B (2008) The real exchange rate and economic growth. Commission on growth and development, Working Paper No.4. http://www.growthcommission.org/storage/cgdev/documents/gc-wp-004_web.pdf

Gala P (2008) Real exchange rate levels and economic development: theoretical analysis and econometric evidence. Camb J Econ 32(2):273–288

Imbs J (2007) Growth and volatility. J Monet Econ 54(7):1848–1862

Imbs J, Wacziarg R (2003) Stages of diversification. Am Econ Rev 93(1):63–86

Kiyotaki N, Moore J (1997) Credit cycles. J Polit Econ 105(2):211-48

Little I, Scitovsky T, Scott M (1970) Industry and trade in some developing countries. Oxford University Press for the OECD

Rajan RG, Zingales L (1998) Financial dependence and growth. Am Econ Rev 88(3):559–86

Rajan RG, Subramanian A (2011) Aid, Dutch disease, and manufacturing growth. J Dev Econ 94(1):106–118

Rodrik D (2008) The real exchange rate and economic growth. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall

Samuelson PA (1964) Theoretical notes on trade problems. Rev Econ Stat 46(2):145–154

Shafaeddin SM (2005) Trade liberalization and economic reform in developing countries: structural change or de-industrialization? UNCTAD Discussion Papers 179, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Downloads

Published

2024-06-06

Issue

Section

Regular articles

How to Cite

Real exchange rate and manufacturing growth in Latin America. (2024). Latin American Economic Review, 23, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40503-014-0002-6