1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788233703321

Autore

Bennett Herman

Titolo

International Competitiveness of the Mediterranean Quartet : : A Heterogeneous-Product Approach / / Herman Bennett, Ziga Zarnic

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C. : , : International Monetary Fund, , 2008

ISBN

1-4623-1946-7

1-4527-7329-7

9786612841910

1-282-84191-2

1-4518-7098-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (37 p.)

Collana

IMF Working Papers

IMF working paper ; ; WP/08/240

Altri autori (Persone)

ZarnicZiga

Disciplina

338.5

Soggetti

Competition - Greece - Econometric models

Competition - Italy - Econometric models

Competition - Portugal - Econometric models

Competition - Spain - Econometric models

Foreign exchange rates - Greece - Econometric models

Exports and Imports

Finance: General

Foreign Exchange

Industries: Manufacturing

Trade: General

General Financial Markets: General (includes Measurement and Data)

Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General

Currency

Foreign exchange

International economics

Finance

Manufacturing industries

Real effective exchange rates

Competition

Manufacturing

Exports

Service exports

Spain



Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; I. Introduction; II. Methodology; A. A Generic Approach to Aggregate Relative Cost Competitiveness; B. Global Goods, Local Consumption of Local Production, RPA, and Aggregated Cost Measures; III. Data; A. Goods and Services; B. Global Goods; IV. Results; A. The Effect of the Heterogeneous-Product Approach and Services; B. Differentiated ULC by Sector; V. The Profile of International Competitors; A. Goods; B. Services; VI. Conclusion; Figures; 1. Real Appreciation in the MQ vs. the Rest of the Euro Area, 1998-2006

2. Importance of China and Germany as Competitors of the MQ in High-Tech and Low-Tech Sectors in Goods, 1998-2005Tables; 1. Literature Overview; 2. ULC-Based REER Indices, Goods, 1998-2006: Heterogeneous-Product Approach (G) and Representative-Product Approach (1G); 3. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Marginal Effect of Heterogeneous-Product Approach (G vs. 1G); 4. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Robustness Check 1 (1G vs. IMF); 5. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Marginal Effect of Extended Sample (G vs. G27)

6. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Marginal Effect of Domestic Market Competition (G vs. GDM)7. The Structure of Competitors: Heterogeneous- vs. Representative-Product Approach (λ) and vs. Partners Approach (λp); 8. ULC-Based REER Indices, Services, 1998-2006: Services Heterogeneous-Product Approach (S); 9. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Difference Between Services and Goods (S vs. G); 10. ULC-Based REER Indices, Goods and Services, 1998-2006: A Heterogeneous-Product Approach (GS)

11. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Joint Marginal Effect of the Heterogeneous- Product Approach, Including Services (GS vs. 1G)12. Net Appreciation Differential Since 1998: Marginal Effect of Differentiated ULC (Gd vs G); 13. Structure of Competitors: Goods; 14. Structure of Competitors in High-Tech and Low-Tech Sectors in 2005; 15. Structure of Competitors: Services; 16. Main Competitors in 2005: Goods; 17. Main Competitors in 2004: Services; Appendix Tables; A1. Availability of Unit Labor Cost Data; A2. Classification of Global Goods; References

Sommario/riassunto

The real effective exchange rate (REER) is the most commonly used measure for assessing international competitiveness. We develop a methodology to estimate the REER that incorporates two distinctive elements that are not considered in the current literature and apply it to the Mediterranean Quartet (MQ) of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, whose common pattern of real appreciation has created concern in policy and academic circles. The two elements that we add to the existing literature are (i) product heterogeneity when identifying each country's international competitors and their weights and (ii) a comprehensive treatment of services exports. Our refined measure suggests a modest reduction in the observed REER gap between the MQ countries and the other euro area countries. In particular, considering product heterogeneity and services exports implies a lower real appreciation from 1998 to 2006 on the order of 2-3 percent for all MQ countries. These are difference-in-difference estimates relative to the results obtained for the rest of the euro area countries using the same methodology.