Real Exchange Rates, Saving, and Growth : Is There a Link?
The view that policies directed at the real exchange rate can have an important effect on economic growth has been gaining adherents in recent years. Unlike the traditional 'misalignment' view that temporary departures of the real exchang...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/894531468151502121/Real-exchange-rates-saving-and-growth-is-there-a-link http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27929 |
| Summary: | The view that policies directed at the
real exchange rate can have an important effect on economic
growth has been gaining adherents in recent years. Unlike
the traditional 'misalignment' view that temporary
departures of the real exchange rate from its equilibrium
level harm growth by distorting a key relative price in the
economy, the recent literature stresses the growth effects
of the equilibrium real exchange rate itself, with the claim
being that a depreciated equilibrium real exchange rate
promotes economic growth. While there is no consensus on the
precise channels through which this effect is generated, an
increasingly common view in policy circles points to saving
as the channel of transmission, with the claim that a
depreciated real exchange rate raises the domestic saving
rate which in turn stimulates growth by increasing the rate
of capital accumulation. This paper offers a preliminary
exploration of this claim. Drawing from standard analytical
models, stylized facts on saving and real exchange rates,
and existing empirical research on saving determinants, the
paper assesses the link between the real exchange rate and
saving. Overall, the conclusion is that saving is unlikely
to provide the mechanism through which the real exchange
rate affects growth. |
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