Abstract:
In this paper we show that a model featuring durables consumption, weak credibility, and sticky prices can explain many of the stylized facts associated with exchange-rate-based stabilization, including the quantitative variation exhibited by key macroeconomic variables. In standard models, the boom phase of ERBS is nothing more than a tepid expansion – changes in spending, real output, and the real exchange rate are unexceptional. But when durables are part of the choice set, the boom is truly a boom: following a temporary reduction in the crawl, total consumption spending rises 12-20%, the real exchange rate appreciates 40-55%, and the current account deficit swells to 5-7% of GDP. None of these results requires easy intertemporal substitution in consumption.
Downloads: (external link) ftp://econpapers.fsu.edu/RePEc/fsu/wpaper/wp2005_12_01.pdf Revised version, 2009-01 (application/pdf) Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 500 Failed to connect to FTP server econpapers.fsu.edu: Net::FTP: connect: 10060