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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Exchange rates and perfect competition
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Thorsten Hens
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Economics
Publisher Springer
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0931-8658
Volume 65
Number 2
Page Range 151 - 161
Date 1997
Abstract Text The purpose of this note is to demonstrate that the commonly held belief that incomplete and perverse pass-through are incompatible with perfect competition is wrong! To this end, we consider two types of firms both operating in two countries. The demand sides of the markets of the two countries are separated and each type of firm produces its good in one of these countries. We study the effect of an exchange-rate change on the competitive equilibrium prices in each country. When producing for the foreign market causes the same costs as producing for the home market then the “law of one price” holds and an exchange-rate change is completely offset by price changes. Furthermore, when cost functions neither exhibit economies nor diseconomies of scope between producing for the home and producing for the foreign market then prices move in the “right” directions in response to an exchange-rate change. However, with general cost structures, even in this simple perfectly competitive model, “perverse” directions of price changes can result from an exchange-rate change.
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Digital Object Identifier 10.1007/BF01226932
Other Identification Number merlin-id:19959
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