Export Hysteresis, Capacity Constraints, and Uncertainty: A Smooth Transition Analysis for Euro Area Member Countries

Ansgar Belke and Jan Wagemester

CESifo Economic Studies, 2017, vol. 63, issue 3, 270-294

Abstract: We argue that, under certain conditions described by a sunk cost hysteresis model, firms consider exports as a substitute for domestic demand. This is valid also on the macroeconomic level where the switch from the domestic market to the export market and vice versa takes place in a smooth manner. Areas of weak reaction of exports to changes in domestic demand are widened by uncertainty. Our econometric model for six euro area countries suggests domestic demand and capacity constraints as additional variables for export equations. We apply the exponential and logistic variant of a smooth transition regression model and find that domestic demand developments and uncertainty are relevant for short-run export dynamics particularly during more extreme stages of the business cycle. A substitutive relationship between domestic and foreign sales can most clearly be found for France, Greece, and Ireland (exponential smooth transition regression (ESTR) model) and France, Portugal, and Italy (logistic smooth transition regression (LSTR) model), providing evidence of the importance of sunk costs and hysteresis in international trade between the member states of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). What is more, our empirical results are robust to the inclusion of a variable measuring European policy uncertainty. In some cases (Italy, Greece, and Portugal) the results underscore the empirical validity of the export hysteresis under uncertainty model.

Keywords: domestic demand pressure; exports; error-correction models; hysteresis; modelling techniques; smooth transition models; sunk costs; uncertainty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C22 C50 C51 F10 F14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifx015 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Export Hysteresis, Capacity Constraints and Uncertainty: A Smooth-Transition Analysis for Euro Area Member Countries (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:63:y:2017:i:3:p:270-294.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

CESifo Economic Studies is currently edited by Panu Poutvaara

More articles in CESifo Economic Studies from CESifo Group Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().