Search results

Ukrainian exports can be explained by standard demand theory in the long run. Using the Johansen procedure the data do not reject the hypothesis of a unit foreign-production elasticity of Ukrainian exports, which are rather price-elastic inputs for foreign producers. It is argued that due to high domestic inflation and substantial real appreciation of the hryvnia there might be a deterministic element in the long-run relationships. When allowing for a trend in the co-integration space, the identifying restriction of an infinitely price-elastic export supply curve produces best results. However, due to missing export price statistics long-run interpretations are to be taken with care because they are conditional upon assumptions on how costs and exchange-rates are passed through on export prices.

Sowohl die deutschen Exporte als auch die Importe von Waren und Dienstleistungen weisen im Zeitraum 1974-1999 bezüglich der zugrunde liegenden Aktivitätsvariablen eine langfristige Elastizität von jeweils rund 1,5 auf. Die Langfristelastizität in Bezug auf den realen Außenwert der D-Mark fällt mit rund -0,5 für die Exporte und 0,1 für die Importe dagegen recht unterschiedlich aus. Die kurzfristige Anpassungsdynamik ist durch eine größtenteils kontemporäre Reaktion auf konjunkturelle Änderungen gekennzeichnet, während Wechselkursänderungen einige Quartale benötigen, um voll zu wirken. Dies ergeben Schätzungen nach dem Fehlerkorrekturmodell. Ein Vergleich zeigt, dass die Industrieproduktion im Ausland einen höheren Erklärungsgehalt für die Entwicklung der Ausfuhr hat als das ausländische Bruttoinlandsprodukt und daher auch genauere Prognosen ermöglicht.

The terrorist attacks of September 11 have challenged the view that the U.S. economy is on the brink of recovery. This article discusses the effects of the attacks on real GDP taking the Kiel Institute's forecast of September 10 as the baseline scenario. The focus is on assessing the direct production losses in the week of September 10?16. Anecdotal evidence is combined with economic reasoning (on the non storability of services, the role of air transports and on the complementarity between services). As to the indirect effects, I assume that the downturn in sentiment will be severe but short-lived. Under the technical assumption of a stabilizing political situation economic activity in 2002 will recover more vigorously than previously thought due to postponed purchases and a more expansionary stance of economic policies.

The cyclical situation at the beginning of the European Monetary Union (EMU) is favorable: The upswing in Euroland has firmed, unemployment is going down, and inflation is low. However, economic growth outside the new currency area has weakened significantly during 1998, and fears are mounting that the crises in various regions of the world economy could endanger the current expansion in Euroland. Against this background, the significance of external conditions for the business cycle in Euroland — as well as the regional structure of exports — is analyzed. An important issue for an adequate design of economic policy is to what extent capacities in Euroland are currently utilized and whether cyclical unemployment is still significant. In addition, it is important to know whether the business cycles in the individual countries converge or not. In light of the findings from these analyses, the course of monetary, fiscal, and wage policy is evaluated in order to assess the outlook for Euroland until the end of 1999.

enth.