International Comparisons of Real Product and Purchasing Power

International Comparisons of Real Product and Purchasing Power

Author: Irving B. Kravis

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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The purpose of the United Nations International Comparison Project (ICP) is to compare the purchasing power of currencies and the real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of different countries. It is well known that the usual method of converting the GDPs of different countries to a common currency, usually U.S. dollars, at existing exchange rates is misleading because exchange rates do not necessarily reflect the purchasing power of currencies. The ICP has found that the purchasing power of a country's currency over GDP can be as much as three times its dollar exchange rate, and thus the real GDP per capita is three times the value shown in an exchange-rate conversion. The unsatisfactory nature of exchange-rate conversions has become even clearer in the past few years under the new regime of managed floating rates. Changes in exchange rates of as much as 20 percent within the space of a year have not been unusual even among major currencies.


International and Interarea Comparisons of Income, Output, and Prices

International and Interarea Comparisons of Income, Output, and Prices

Author: Alan Heston

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2000-01-14

Total Pages: 537

ISBN-13: 9780226331102

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Economists wish to compare prices, real income, and output across countries and regions for many purposes. In the past, such comparisons were made in nominal terms, or by using exchange rates across countries, ignoring differences in price levels and thus distorting the results. Great progress has been made in interspatial comparisons in the past thirty years, but descriptions and discussions of the new measures have been scattered in unpublished or inaccessible papers. International and Interarea Comparisons of Income, Output, and Prices includes discussions of developments in the United Nations International Comparison Program, the largest effort in this field, and in the ICOP program on the production side, including efforts in both to extend the comparisons to the formerly planned economies. Other papers in this volume explore new programs on interspatial comparisons within the United States. There are also theoretical papers on how interspatial comparisons should be made and several examples of uses of such comparisons.


Currencies, Commodities and Consumption

Currencies, Commodities and Consumption

Author: Kenneth W. Clements

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 110701476X

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Discusses economic issues associated with exchange rates, commodity prices, the economic size of countries and alternatives to PPP exchange rates.


Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities (2012 Edition)

Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities (2012 Edition)

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2012-11-30

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 9264189238

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This manual gives a complete, detailed and up-to-date description of the Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme, including its organisation, the various surveys carried out by participating countries and the ways PPPs are calculated and disseminated. It also provides guidance on the use of PPPs.


Handbook of the International Comparison Programme

Handbook of the International Comparison Programme

Author: United Nations. Statistical Office

Publisher: New York : United Nations

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13:

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Describes the International Comparison Programme which intends to produce estimates, comparable in real terms, for the gross domestic product. Provides guidance for those working in national statistical offices on the Programme.


Exchange Rate Misalignment in Developing Countries

Exchange Rate Misalignment in Developing Countries

Author: Sebastian Edwards

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13:

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This article analyzes the theory of equilibrium real exchange rates and defines misalignment as a deviation of the real exchange rate (RER) from its equilibrium level. The role of macroeconomic policies is then analyzed under three alternative nominal exchange rate regimes: predetermined nominal exchange rates; floating nominal rates; and dual or black market nominal exchange rates. This discussion points out how inconsistent macroeconomic policies often lead to real exchange rate misalignment. Corrective measures, including nominal devaluation and several alternative approaches, are then evaluated.


Exchange Rates and International Financial Economics

Exchange Rates and International Financial Economics

Author: J. Kallianiotis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-10-02

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1137318880

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The recent financial crisis has troubled the US, Europe, and beyond, and is indicative of the integrated world in which we live. Today, transactions take place with the use of foreign currencies, and their values affect the nations' economies and their citizens' welfare. Exchange Rates and International Financial Economics provides readers with the historic, theoretical, and practical knowledge of these relative prices among currencies. While much of the previous work on the topic has been simply descriptive or theoretical, Kallianiotis gives a unique and intimate understanding of international exchange rates and their place in an increasingly globalized world.


Flexible Exchange Rates for a Stable World Economy

Flexible Exchange Rates for a Stable World Economy

Author: Joseph E. Gagnon

Publisher: Peterson Institute

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0881326356

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Volatile exchange rates and how to manage them are a contentious topic whenever economic policymakers gather in international meetings. This book examines the broad parameters of exchange rate policy in light of both high-powered theory and real-world experience. What are the costs and benefits of flexible versus fixed exchange rates? How much of a role should the exchange rate play in monetary policy? Why don't volatile exchange rates destabilize inflation and output? The principal finding of this book is that using monetary policy to fight exchange rate volatility, including through the adoption of a fixed exchange rate regime, leads to greater volatility of employment, output, and inflation. In other words, the "cure" for exchange rate volatility is worse than the disease. This finding is demonstrated in economic models, in historical case studies, and in statistical analysis of the data. The book devotes considerable attention to understanding the reasons why volatile exchange rates do not destabilize inflation and output. The book concludes that many countries would benefit from allowing greater flexibility of their exchange rates in order to target monetary policy at stabilization of their domestic economies. Few, if any, countries would benefit from a move in the opposite direction.