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The COVID-19-triggered collapse in oil prices in March and April 2020 was the seventh, and by far the most severe, in a series of such collapses since 1970. This paper, first, compares this most recent collapse and its drivers with previous ones in an event study. It finds that it was associated with an exceptionally severe plunge in oil demand. Second, in a local projections model, this paper estimates the implications of demand- and supply-driven oil price collapses for growth in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The paper finds that steep oil price collapses were associated with significant and lasting output losses in energy-exporting EMDEs but no meaningful output gains in energy-importing EMDEs. These results are robust to multiple robustness checks.

Coronavirus --- COVID-19 --- Demand Factors --- Economic Growth --- Emerging Market Economies --- Energy Markets --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Local Projections Model --- Macroeconomic Impact --- Macroeconomic Management --- Oil and Gas --- Oil Prices --- Pandemic Impact --- Supply Factors

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The view that policies directed at the real exchange rate can have an important effect on economic growth has been gaining adherents in recent years. Unlike the traditional "misalignment" view that temporary departures of the real exchange rate from its equilibrium level harm growth by distorting a key relative price in the economy, the recent literature stresses the growth effects of the equilibrium real exchange rate itself, with the claim being that a depreciated equilibrium real exchange rate promotes economic growth. While there is no consensus on the precise channels through which this effect is generated, an increasingly common view in policy circles points to saving as the channel of transmission, with the claim that a depreciated real exchange rate raises the domestic saving rate - which in turn stimulates growth by increasing the rate of capital accumulation. This paper offers a preliminary exploration of this claim. Drawing from standard analytical models, stylized facts on saving and real exchange rates, and existing empirical research on saving determinants, the paper assesses the link between the real exchange rate and saving. Overall, the conclusion is that saving is unlikely to provide the mechanism through which the real exchange rate affects growth.

Currencies and Exchange Rates --- Debt Markets --- Economic growth --- Economic Stabilization --- Emerging Markets --- Exchange rate depreciation --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Growth rate --- Macroeconomic impact --- Macroeconomic Management --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Policy Research --- Private Sector Development --- Real exchange --- Real exchange rate --- Real exchange rate volatility --- Real exchange rates --- Saving rates

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The view that policies directed at the real exchange rate can have an important effect on economic growth has been gaining adherents in recent years. Unlike the traditional "misalignment" view that temporary departures of the real exchange rate from its equilibrium level harm growth by distorting a key relative price in the economy, the recent literature stresses the growth effects of the equilibrium real exchange rate itself, with the claim being that a depreciated equilibrium real exchange rate promotes economic growth. While there is no consensus on the precise channels through which this effect is generated, an increasingly common view in policy circles points to saving as the channel of transmission, with the claim that a depreciated real exchange rate raises the domestic saving rate - which in turn stimulates growth by increasing the rate of capital accumulation. This paper offers a preliminary exploration of this claim. Drawing from standard analytical models, stylized facts on saving and real exchange rates, and existing empirical research on saving determinants, the paper assesses the link between the real exchange rate and saving. Overall, the conclusion is that saving is unlikely to provide the mechanism through which the real exchange rate affects growth.

Currencies and Exchange Rates --- Debt Markets --- Economic growth --- Economic Stabilization --- Emerging Markets --- Exchange rate depreciation --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Growth rate --- Macroeconomic impact --- Macroeconomic Management --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Policy Research --- Private Sector Development --- Real exchange --- Real exchange rate --- Real exchange rate volatility --- Real exchange rates --- Saving rates