Movilidad de capital y sustituibilidad entre activos en la dinámica del tipo de cambio y de la balanza por cuenta corriente

Capital Mobility and the Substitutability Among Assets in the Exchange Rate and the Current Account Dynamics. This paper deals with the role that plays both the degree of capital mobility and the substitutability among domestic and foreign assets in the exchange rate dynamics, and analyzes the relationship between the exchange rate and the current account in the dynamic adjustment process. The theoretical framework is a macrodynamic model, where the stock demand of different assets are derived in a process of portfolio selection. In this context the adjustment rhythm in order to reach the full stock equilibrium in asset markets depends on the degree of capital mobility. The analytical differentiation between capital mobility and substitutability among different assets allows a new insight into the classical results. As a special interesting result is worth while to mention the fact that the perfect capital mobility is not a sufficient condition in order to guarantee the exchange rate overshooting when monetary perturbations are present. Parameters related to the deree of substitutability between assets are relevant too in this context.En este artículo se analiza, de forma diferenciada, el papel que juegan el grado de movilidad de capital y la sustituibilidad entre activos nacionales y extranjeros en la dinámica del tipo de cambio y en la relación que se establece entre balanza por cuenta corriente y tipo de cambio en los procesos de ajuste. El marco teórico utilizado es un modelo macrodinámico, donde la demanda stock de los diferentes activos se deriva de un proceso de selección de cartera, dependiendo el ritmo al que se alcanza el equilibrio stock en los mercados de activos del grado de movilidad de capital. La distribución analítica entre movilidad de capital y sustituibilidad entre activos, permite matizar algunos resultados tradicionales de este tipo de modelos, frente a diferentes perturbaciones y medidas de política económica. Un resultado nos parece especialmente relevante, que la perfecta movilidad de capital no es condición suficiente para garantizar el desbordamiento del tipo de cambio ante perturbaciones monetarias, siendo relevantes también parámetros relativos al grado de sustituibilidad entre activos

PRICING TO MARKET BEHAVIOR IN OLIGOPOLISTIC COMPETITION: A MICROECONOMETRIC APPROACH

This paper takes into account the presence of oligopolistic rivalry between exporters to evaluate their pricing to market behavior. We specify the pricing policy as a simultaneous equation model, which captures the effects of possible interactions in multiple destination markets. The use of information related to multiple transactions helps to alleviate the cost measurement problem found in the typical analyses on prices and exchange rates. Furthermore, the exogenous variations of the exporters' exchange rate vis-à-vis the currency of each destination market will enable us to identify the reaction functions. The empirical approach is applied to the European ceramic tiles industry, where Italian and Spanish exporters compete. Prices are strategic complements and the markup adjustments, caused directly by exchange rate variations, are amplified by the feedback effects on rival's prices. En este trabajo consideramos la presencia de rivalidad oligopolística entre exportadorescon objeto de evaluar la presencia de "pricing to market". Especificamos la política deprecios mediante un modelo de ecuaciones simultáneas que recoge los efectos de lasposibles interacciones existentes en múltiples mercados de destino de las exportaciones.El problema de estimación de costes, típico en el análisis de precios y tipos de cambio,se resuelve mediante el uso de información relativa a múltiples transacciones. Por otraparte, las variaciones exógenas del tipo de cambio de la moneda de los exportadoresfrente a la de cada mercado de destino permitirá identificar las funciones de reacción.La aproximación empírica obtenida se aplica a la industria europea de pavimentos yrevestimientos cerámicos en la que los exportadores españoles y italianos compiten. Losresultados indican que los precios actúan como complementarios estratégicos y que losajustes de márgenes de beneficio, causados directamente por las variaciones en los tiposde cambio, son amplificados por la retroalimentación existente sobre los precios de losrivales.tipos de cambio; funciones de reacción; "Pricing to market" Exchange rates; Reaction functions; Pricing to market

TESTING COLLUSIVE PRICES IN A MULTIMARKET CONTEXT: THE EUROPEAN CASE OF VITAMIN C

In this paper, we suggest a method to test price-fixing agreements. Prices fixed to multiple shipments are decomposed into a set of destination market effects and time effects in order to allow us to perform an analysis of residuals. We examine the pricing behavior of vitamin C in the European destination markets of German exports. We explore two different periods: January 1991 to August 1995 and September 1995 to September 2001. Empirical results on the first period, which are consistent with our knowledge obtained from firms¿ confessions about illegal agreements, contrast notably with those obtained on the more recent period. En este trabajo proponemos un método para contrastar la presencia de prácticas no competitivas en precios. Cada uno de los precios fijados para diferentes mercados es descompuesto en un efecto fijo por destino y un efecto temporal con objeto de analizar los residuos. Los precios de la vitamina C en los mercados de destino de las exportaciones alemanas son examinados en dos periodos: de enero de 1991 a agosto de 1995 y de septiembre de 1995 a septiembre de 2001. Los resultados para el primer periodo, los cuales son consistentes con nuestro conocimiento obtenido de las confesiones de las empresas participantes en los acuerdos ilegales, contrastan notablemente con los obtenidos para un período más reciente.Colusión; Mercados internacionales; Vitamina C Collusion; International markets; Vitamin C

Cooperative R&D with Endogenous Technology Differentiation

The choice of a particular technology when there is a set of them available to firms has not appeared in the R&D literature yet. We show some examples and present a model in which firms choose their technologies from a continuum of available profiles and the resulting spillovers depend on the compatibility among firms' R&D technologies. Our results indicate that non-cooperating firms are interested in using the same or very similar technologies. Therefore firms seek to establish coordination mechanisms such as patent pools or Research Joint Ventures. A RJV leads to higher levels of social welfare than patent pools or the non-cooperative case.r&d rjv patent pools cooperation

The Strategic Role of Information Asymmetry on Demand for the Multinational Enterprise

We study how asymmetric information impinge on oligopolistic firms’ decision between direct investment and exports in a game-theoretic model with Bayesian learning. Host firms have superior information about market demand and foreign firms can improve their knowledge if foreign direct investment (FDI) is undertaken. In addition to the well-known tension between the fixed set-up costs of investment, the additional variable costs of exports and oligopoly sizes, the incentive to invest abroad is explained by the strategic learning effect. FDI may be observed even if foreign firms are pessimistic or trade costs are zero. Interestingly, compared with the certainty equivalent, the equilibrium number of investors is larger when foreign firms hold optimistic beliefs or, if these are pessimistic, when the strategic learning effect outweighs the conjecture effect.Asymmetric information; Bayesian learning; FDI; international oligopoly

Un esquema para la comprensión de la recta tangente en un entorno tecnológico

Presentamos una investigación cuyo objetivo es analizar la comprensión de la recta tangente en un entorno de aprendizaje en el que se puede usar un CAS. Desde las perspectivas históricas y cognitivas (APOS) analizaremos una serie textos de Bachillerato e Ingeniería que nos permitirá fijar una propuesta para la comprensión de la recta tangente como el límite de una sucesión de rectas secantes que tienen en común el punto de tangencia. Finalmente, mostramos unas herramientas diseñadas con el asistente matemático MATLAB© (génesis instrumental), accesibles online, que pueden ayudar a los estudiantes, especialmente en el registro gráfico, a construir los objetos cognitivos descritos en la descomposición genética

Distance-Based Methods: Ripley’s K function vs. K density function

In this paper, we propose an analytical and methodological comparison between two of the most known distance-based methods in the evaluation of the geographic concentration of economic activity. These two methods are Ripley’s K function, a cumulative function popularised by Marcon and Puech (2003) that counts the average number of neighbours of each point within a circle of a given radius, and K density function, a probability density function of point-pair distances introduced by Duranton and Overman (2005), which considers the distribution of distances between pairs of points. To carry out this comparison, we first apply both methodologies to an exhaustive database containing Spanish manufacturing establishments and we evaluate the spatial location patterns obtained from both analysis. After an initial analysis, we realise that although these functions have always been treated as substitutes they should be considered as complementary, as both cumulative function and probability density function provide relevant and necessary information about the distribution of activity in space. Therefore, our next step will be to assess what are the advantages and disadvantages of each methodology from a descriptive and analytical way.

Capital goods imports and long-run growth: Is the Chinese experience relevant to developing countries?

In this paper, we analyze the role played by capital goods imports in the long-run growth of developing countries. We focus in the case of the Chinese economy in the last few decades. We find evidence that the ratio of imported to domestic capital goods, that is, the composition of investment, as well as the capital accumulation (both physical and human), was key determinants of the long-run growth rate of per capita GDP over the analyzed period. Furthermore, our results are also consistent with the hypothesis that the link between trade openness and long-run growth operates mainly through imports. This finding supports some recent developments of Schumpeterian models of growth, and the very specific economic policy recommendations arising thereof. In short, these models state that, in the early stages of growth, government intervention to encourage an investment-based strategy, with emphasis on large investment efforts and the adoption of foreign technology, could be an appropriate strategy for development.V. Orts gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and FEDER (project ECO2011-28155), from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROME- TEO/2009/068) and Fundació Caixa Castelló-Bancaixa (P1-1B2010-17). The usual disclaimer applies

The Driving Forces behind China’s Growth

The main objective of this paper is to disentangling the determinants of the Chinese economic growth that occurred from 1965 to 2000. We have explored, first, the time series properties of the growth rates of GDP and labour productivity with an extended battery of unit root tests. Then, in a multivariate setting, we use the VAR model methodology to provide evidence that physical and human capital accumulation, R&D expenditure, openness and competitiveness are the main drivers of output, labour productivity and total factor productivity growth in the long run. Additionally, we also show that although China has not yet converged to its long-run equilibrium, it is in the process of catching up. These results are more consistent with some versions of the endogenous growth models than with Solow-type models of growth, since they support active strategies of economic policy to stimulate economic growth and catching up with more advanced economies

Equipment investment, output and productivity in China

At the beginning of the 1990s, J. Bradford De Long and Lawrence H. Summers highlighted in a series of influential articles that there were good reasons and quantitative evidence to support the point of view that machinery and equipment investment might be strongly associated with economic growth. China along with its enormous investment effort over recent decades constitutes an interesting case study with which to analyse the role played by equipment investment in its recent economic performance and its interaction with other sources of growth, i.e. openness, R&D, human capital and infrastructure. Our results provide evidence that equipment investment and exports are two of the most important determinants of both labour productivity and output in the long run even after controlling for other sources of growth in China. Furthermore, when human capital and infrastructure are included, the authors find that they have a positive effect on economic activity in the long run