Does devaluation improve trade balance in small island economies? The case of Fiji

C-Tier
Journal: Economic Modeling
Year: 2016
Volume: 55
Issue: C
Pages: 382-393

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

A number of countries, mostly small and island economies manage fixed exchange and often devalue it as a stabilisation strategy. The current paper investigates the effectiveness of devaluation in improving trade balance with reference to Fiji. A small island economy has limited exportable and hence highly depends on imports for both consumption and production purposes. A devaluation, therefore, inflates domestic price and appreciates the real exchange immediately by raising importable consumption and discouraging imports used in domestic production. The paper applies various econometric models for empirical investigation of its impact and transmission mechanism. Strong long-run relationship found between real exchange rate and trade balance explains that appreciation of currency has been responsible for the rising trade deficit in the economy. Moreover, the devaluation did not demonstrate J-curve phenomenon. The effect of devaluation strongly contributed to the domestic inflation has been while quite weak on stimulating aggregate demand.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecmode:v:55:y:2016:i:c:p:382-393
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25