Abstract |
We study the response of prices to exchange rate shocks for the Peruvian economy in a non-linear context. For that purpose we specify a Structural Vector Autorregressive model (SVAR) and compute impulse-responses functions for prices after exchange rate shocks. We follow Hamilton (2010) and Kilian & Vigfusson (2011), who explore the presence of asymmetric effects on USA output after oil prices shocks that either decrease or increase oil prices. In our setup we analyze shocks that either appreciate or depreciate the local currency under censored exchange rate changes. The results exhibit a remarkable asymmetry in the response of consumer prices and wholesale import good prices, both on impact and on propagation. In absolute value, the effect of a depreciation shock on the consumer price index after one year is about twice the size of that corresponding to an appreciation shock. Roughly speaking, the one-year passthrough to prices is 20 percent under depreciations and only 10 percent after appreciations. |