Title: An empirical test of Purchasing Power Parity in the post-Bretton Woods era: a panel data approach

Authors: Ritesh Kumar Mishra, Chandan Sharma

Addresses: Department of Financial Studies, University of Delhi, 110021 New Delhi, India; and Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), New Delhi, India. ' Economics and Business Policy, FORE School of Management, B-18, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016, India

Abstract: After the collapse of Bretton-Woods system, it was believed that under flexible exchange rate system nominal exchange rate will adjust instantaneously to reflect movements in prices between two countries. Consequently, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) will hold continuously. This study examines the validity of long-run PPP hypothesis for two panels of OECD and developing Asian countries. The results of the study suggest that the PPP hypothesis with its strict symmetry and proportionality condition does not hold in the post-Bretton Woods era. However, when the strict PPP conditions are relaxed, we find a cointegrating relationship between nominal exchange rate and prices, which in turn provides support for the weak form of PPP.

Keywords: PPP; purchasing power parity; panel unit root; panel cointegration; real exchange rates; Bretton-Woods; OECD; developing countries; Asia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEF.2011.038270

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance, 2011 Vol.4 No.1, pp.95 - 109

Published online: 25 Jan 2011 *

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