Exchange Rate Misalignment And Current Account Sustainability: The Australian Experience

Australia’s persistent current account deficit engenders lively debates about its intertemporal solvency. This paper aims at showing whether there is really a misalignment of the $A real effective exchange rate ($A REER) and, if it is the case, at wondering about its real influence on the current account of Australia. The estimation of our empirical model puts forward a misalignment of the $A REER, but at the same time allows to emphasise the reduction in the magnitude of the misalignment since the adoption of the flexible exchange rate regime. Adding the stabilisation of the current account deficit, although recurrent, results in lending support to the Australian current account sustainability commonly held view

Foreign Demand, Investment And Trade Balance: The Case Of Australia

This paper aims at analysing the relation between real trade balance and foreign demand in the case of a small opened economy, which highly depends upon the rest of the world for productive capital. Theoretical analysis allows us to bring forth a kind of “J-curve” effect. Indeed, when foreign demand for domestic goods increases, the country is to import in a first time in order to improve its productive capacities, resulting in worsening trade balance. However, in a second time, once the cumulated capital inventory became sufficient, the trade balance improves under the pressure of domestic exports high growth. The empirical analysis based on Australia from 1982 (1) to 2001 (1) supports this theory. We show there are negative short term and positive long term elasticities

The purchasing power parity in Australia: evidence from unit root test with structural break

The unit root test with structural break developed by Perron and Rodriguez are used to study the purchasing power parity (PPP) in the spirit of Balassa-Samuelson in Australia for the period January 1977 to April 2004. The results indicate that there is a break in February 1985 which coincides with the exchange rate crisis in 1985, occurring after the establishment of the dirty flexible exchange rate system. We also show that there is no tendency to the PPP in Australia to hold in the long-run during this period.

Testing for nominal convergence in the Central American area: evidence from panel data unit-root tests

Inflation convergence between the Central American Area and the United States is investigated using both recent homogeneous and heterogeneous panel data unit-root methods. Strong rejections of unit-root hypothesis are found, and therefore evidence of Purchasing Power Parity, in the Central American countries for the 1981:1-2005:4 period. Then by considering the nominal convergence criterion, the dollarization system seems to be suited to this region.

La résilience alimentaire en milieu insulaireEntre autonomie alimentaire et libre échange

Les répercussions de la crise sanitaire et de la guerre en Ukraine amènent à considérer la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle comme un enjeu fondamental pour les territoires, notamment pour les petites économies insulaires. En prenant en considération leurs spécificités ainsi que les besoins des populations, la résilience alimentaire permet d’atteindre une sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle à travers les enjeux de relocalisation et de lutte contre la précarité alimentaire.The impacts of the sanitary crisis and the Ukraine war have highlighted food and nutritional security as a fundamental issue for territories, especially for small island economies. Focused on relocation and food precariousness, the concept of food resilience contributes to a more appropriate model for insular territories to promote food and nutritional security

Low incidence of SARS-CoV-2, risk factors of mortality and the course of illness in the French national cohort of dialysis patients

International audienceThe aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 disease in the French national population of dialysis patients, their course of illness and to identify the risk factors associated with mortality. Our study included all patients on dialysis recorded in the French REIN Registry in April 2020. Clinical characteristics at last follow-up and the evolution of COVID-19 illness severity over time were recorded for diagnosed cases (either suspicious clinical symptoms, characteristic signs on the chest scan or a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 1,621 infected patients were reported on the REIN registry from March 16th, 2020 to May 4th, 2020. Of these, 344 died. The prevalence of COVID-19 patients varied from less than 1% to 10% between regions. The probability of being a case was higher in males, patients with diabetes, those in need of assistance for transfer or treated at a self-care unit. Dialysis at home was associated with a lower probability of being infected as was being a smoker, a former smoker, having an active malignancy, or peripheral vascular disease. Mortality in diagnosed cases (21%) was associated with the same causes as in the general population. Higher age, hypoalbuminemia and the presence of an ischemic heart disease were statistically independently associated with a higher risk of death. Being treated at a selfcare unit was associated with a lower risk. Thus, our study showed a relatively low frequency of COVID-19 among dialysis patients contrary to what might have been assumed