Abstract
Using the data from a developing country like India, we offer an empirical analysis to examine the relationship between devaluation of the Rupee and the real trade balance with her major trading partners since the liberalization process that began in July 1991. Exploiting the recent advances in panel-data time-series econometrics, we document that devaluation may not be effective in improving trade balance in the long run. Success may follow only if the policymakers view devaluation as a short run tool to improve the trade balance. Nominal devaluation is unable to alter real exchange rates substantially and hence, the inflationary impact of devaluation is large in India.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arora, S., M. Bahmani-Oskooee, and G. Goswami (2003), “Bilateral J-Curve between India and Her Trading Partners”, Applied Economics, Vol. 35(9), pp. 1037–1041.
Backus, D. K., P. J. Kehoe, and F. E. Kydland (1994), “Dynamics of the Trade Balance and the Terms of Trade: the J-Curve?” American Economic Review, Vol. 84(1), pp. 84–103.
Bahmani-Oskooee, M. and T. J. Brooks, (1999), “Cointegration Approach to Estimating Bilateral Trade Elasticities between U.S. and her Trading Partners”, International Economic Journal, Vol. 13(4), pp. 119–128.
Bahmani-Oskooee, M., and J. Alse, (1994), “Short-run versus Long-Run Effects of Devaluation: Error Correction Modeling and Cointegration”, Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 20(4), pp. 453–464.
Bahmani-Oskooee, M., and M. Malixi (1992), “More Evidence on the J-Curve: from LDCs’”, Journal of Policy Modeling, Vol. 14(4), pp. 641–653.
Bahmani-Oskooee, M., (1991), “Is there a Long-run Relation between the Trade balance and the Real Effective Exchange Rate of LDCs’”, Economic Letters, Vol. 36(4), pp. 403–407.
Bahmani-Oskooee, M., (1985), “Devaluation and the J-Curve: Some Evidence from LDCs’”, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 67(3), pp. 500–504.
Baltagi, B. H. (1995), Econometric Analysis of Panel Data, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Brada, J. C., A. M. Kutan, and S. Zhou, (1997), “The Exchange Rate and the Balance of Trade: The Turkish Experience”, Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 33(5), pp. 675–692.
Buluswar, M. D., H. Thompson, and K. P. Upadhyaya, (1996), “Devaluation and the Trade Balance in India: Stationarity and Cointegration”, Applied Economics, Vol. 28(4), pp. 429–432.
Campbell, J. Y. and P. Perron (1991), “Pitfalls and opportunities: What Macroeconomists Should Know about Unit Roots”, NBER Macroeconomics Annual, pp. 141–201.
Drabek, Z., and J. C. Brada, (1998), “Exchange Rate Regimes and the Stability of Trade Policy in Transition Economies”, Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 26(4), pp. 642–668.
Edwards, S., (1986), “Are Devaluations Contractionary?”, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 68(3), pp. 501–508.
Koray, F. and D. W. McMillin (1999), “Monetary Shocks, the Exchange Rate, and the Trade Balance”, Journal of International Money and Finance, Vol. 18 (6), pp. 925–940.
Frenkel, J. A. and C. A. Rodriguez, (1975), “Portfolio Equilibrium and the Balance of Payments: A Monetary Approach”, American Economic Review, Vol. 65 (4), pp. 674–688.
Gylfason, T., and O. Risager, (1984), “Does Devaluation Improve the Current Account?”, European Economic Review, Vol. 25 (1), pp. 37–64.
Himarios, D. (1989), “Do Devaluations Improve the Trade Balance? The Evidence Revisited”, Economic Inquiry, Vol. 27(1), pp. 143–168.
Himarios, D. (1985), “The Effects of Devaluation on the Trade Balance: A Critical View and Re-examination of Miles’s ‘New Results’”, Journal of International Money and Finance, Vol. 4 (4), pp. 553–563.
Im, K.S., H. M. Pesaran, and Y. Shin (2003), “Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels”, Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 115 (1), pp. 53–74.
Leonard, G. and A. C. Stockman, (2001), “Current Accounts and the Exchange Rate: a New Look at the Evidence”, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working paper, Number 8361.
Levin, A., C.-F. Lin and C. S. J. Chu (2002), “Unit Root Tests in Panel Data: Asymptotic and Finite Sample Properties”, Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 108(1), pp. 1–24.
MacKinnon, J. G., (1991), “Critical Values for Cointegration Tests”, in R. F. Engle and C. W. J. Granger (ed.) Long Run Economic Relationships: Readings in Cointegration, Advanced Texts in Econometrics, Oxford University Press, pp. 267–276.
Magee, S. P., (1973), “Currently Contracts, Pass Through and Devaluation”, Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, Vol. 1, pp. 303–323.
Mahdavi, S., and S. Ahmad, (1993), “The Exchange Value of the Dollar and the U.S. T rade Balance: an Empirical Investigation based on Cointegration and Granger Causality Tests”, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 33 (4), pp. 343–358.
Marwah, K. and L. R. Klein, (1996), “Estimation of J-Curves: United States and Canada”, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 29(3): pp. 523–539.
Koch, P. D., and J. A. Rosensweig, (1992), “The Dollar and the U.S. Terms of Trade”, Journal of Macroeconomics, Vol. 14 (3), pp. 467–486.
Koch, P. D., and J. A. Rosensweig, (1990), “The Dynamic Relationship between the Dollar and Components of U.S. Trade”, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Vol. 8(3), pp. 355–364.
Koch, P. D., and J. A. Rosensweig, (1988), “The U.S. Dollar and the Delayed J-Curve”, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review, Vol. 73(4), pp. 2–15.
Miles, M. A., (1979), “The Effects of Devaluation on the Trade Balance of Payments: Some New Results”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 87(3), pp. 600–620.
Newey, W. K, and K. D. West, (1994), “Automatic Lag Selection in Covariance Matrix Estimation”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol.61 (4), pp. 631–53.
Ng, S. and P. Perron (1995), “Unit Root Tests in ARMA models with Data Dependent Methods for the Selection of the Truncation Lag”, Journal of American Statistical Association, Vol. 90(429), pp. 268–281.
Pedroni, P. (2001), “Purchasing Power Parity Tests in Cointegrating Panels”, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 83 (4), pp. 727–31.
Pedroni, P. (2000), “Fully modified OLS for Heterogenous Cointegrated Panels” in B. H. Baltagi (ed.) Non-stationary Panel, Panel Cointegration and Dynamic Panels, Vol. 15, JAI Press, pp. 93–130.
Pedroni, P. (1999), “Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogenous Panels with Multiple Regressions”, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 61(0), pp. 653–670.
Pesaran, H., Y. Shin and R. P. Smith (1999), “Pooled Mean Group Estimation of Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels”, Journal of American Statistical Association, Vol. 94(446), pp. 621–634.
Rose, A. K., and J. L. Yellen, (1989), “Is there a J-Curve?”, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 20(1), pp. 53–68.
Thoenissen, C., (2003), “Current Account and Real Exchange Rate Dynamics and the Role of Net Foreign Assets,” University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom, mimeo.
Upadhyaya, K. P, F. G. Mixon Jr., and D. Dhakal, (1998), “Do Devaluations Improve Trade Balances? Evidence from Four South Asian Countries”, Indian Economic Journal, Vol. 46 (3), pp. 91–97.
Upadhyaya, K. P, and D. Dhakal, (1997), “Devaluation and the Trade Balance: Estimating the Long Run Effect”, Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 4 (6), pp. 343–45.
Zhang, Z., (1998), “Does Devaluation of the Renminbi Improve China’s Balance of Trade?”, Economia Internazionale, Vol. 51 (3), pp. 437–45.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chaudhuri, K. Is Devaluation Working? Evidence from India in Phase of Economic Liberalization. J. Quant. Econ. 3, 67–81 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404626
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404626