Essays on International Macroeconomics and Trade
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation explores quantitative implications of heterogeneity in price stickiness and contractual vulnerability within an open economy context. Particular attention is given to the effects of these frictions on sectoral variables during economic downturns. Chapter 1 documents that U.S. producer prices of differentiated goods barely moved in recent recessions, while the declines in industrial production were large. In contrast, for nondifferentiated goods, large producer price reductions were accompanied by relatively small adjustments in production. Similar patterns have been found in international trade data on prices and quantities. I use a two-country general equilibrium model with trade in nondifferentiated and differentiated goods to shed light on the reasons behind these sectoral differences. I focus on two mechanisms: sector-specific nominal rigidities and endogenous variable markups at the producer level. The calibration of the main parameters of the model is based on micro data and national accounts data. The impulse responses of relative prices and quantities to a monetary shock are compared with empirical vector autoregressions, showing a good match. These responses can largely be explained by heterogeneity in the frequency of price adjustment, while the variable markup channel is quantitatively less important. Chapter 2, co-written with Renzo Castellares, starts from the observation that some products are more sensitive to imperfect contracting than others. Hence, industries exhibit different degrees of contractual vulnerability. We build a simple theory in which: (i) exporters are paid after delivery of the goods, and (ii) a complementarity exists between (procyclical) contract enforcement at the importing-country level and contractual vulnerability at the industry level. In this model, an adverse aggregate shock in an importing country generates a disproportional decline in imports in more contractually vulnerable industries. Using disaggregate…
abstract: This dissertation explores quantitative implications of heterogeneity in price stickiness and contractual vulnerability within an open economy context. Particular attention is given to the effects of these frictions on sectoral variables during economic downturns. Chapter 1 documents that U.S. producer prices of differentiated goods barely moved in recent recessions, while the declines in industrial production were large. In contrast, for nondifferentiated goods, large producer price reductions were accompanied by relatively small adjustments in production. Similar patterns have been found in international trade data on prices and quantities. I use a two-country general equilibrium model with trade in nondifferentiated and differentiated goods to shed light on the reasons behind these sectoral differences. I focus on two mechanisms: sector-specific nominal rigidities and endogenous variable markups at the producer level. The calibration of the main parameters of the model is based on micro data and national accounts data. The impulse responses of relative prices and quantities to a monetary shock are compared with empirical vector autoregressions, showing a good match. These responses can largely be explained by heterogeneity in the frequency of price adjustment, while the variable markup channel is quantitatively less important. Chapter 2, co-written with Renzo Castellares, starts from the observation that some products are more sensitive to imperfect contracting than others. Hence, industries exhibit different degrees of contractual vulnerability. We build a simple theory in which: (i) exporters are paid after delivery of the goods, and (ii) a complementarity exists between (procyclical) contract enforcement at the importing-country level and contractual vulnerability at the industry level. In this model, an adverse aggregate shock in an importing country generates a disproportional decline in imports in more contractually vulnerable industries. Using disaggregate…
author: Salas Maldonado, Jorge Miguel
language: en
date published: 2015
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:02:17Z
provider: University of Maryland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Maryland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/17021

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.13016/M2GK98