The effects of fiscal shocks on the exchange rate in the EMU and differences with the USA

Francisco de Castro Fernández () and Daniel Garrote ()

Empirical Economics, 2015, vol. 49, issue 4, 1365 pages

Abstract: We analyse the impact of government spending shocks on the real effective exchange rate and net exports in the Euro Area within a standard structural VAR framework. We show that higher government spending leads to real exchange rate appreciation and to a fall in net exports, jointly with lower primary budgetary surpluses, in line with the “twin deficits” hypothesis. Our results are consistent both with the home-bias hypothesis of public expenditure and with public investment contributing to generating relative productivity gains in the traded goods sector. Contrary to what is observed in the Euro Area, the real effective exchange rate depreciates in the USA in response to higher government spending. Such different behaviour is attributed to two factors, namely the leading role of the US dollar as a “safe haven” currency and the countercyclical behaviour of discretionary government spending in the USA. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Keywords: Euro Area; SVAR; Fiscal shocks; Effective exchange rates; Relative prices; Twin deficits; Fiscal multipliers; E62; H30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: The effects of fiscal shocks on the exchange rate in the EMU and differences with the US (2012)
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DOI: 10.1007/s00181-015-0925-z

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