The basis for PPP is the "law of one price". In the absence of transportation and other transaction costs, competitive markets will equalize the price of an identical good in two countries when the prices are expressed in the same currency. For example, a particular TV set that sells for 750 Canadian Dollars [CAD] in Vancouver should cost 500 US Dollars [USD] in Seattle when the exchange rate between Canada and the US is 1.50 CAD/USD. If the price of the TV in Vancouver was only 700 CAD, consumers in Seattle would prefer buying the TV set in Vancouver. If this process (called "arbitrage") is carried out at a large scale, the US consumers buying Canadian goods will bid up the value of the Canadian Dollar, thus making Canadian goods more costly to them. This process continues until the goods have again the same price. There are three caveats with this law of one price. (1) As mentioned above, transportation costs, barriers to trade, and other transaction costs, can be significant. (2) There must be competitive markets for the goods and services in both countries. (3) The law of one price only applies to tradeable goods; immobile goods such as houses, and many services that are local, are of course not traded between countries. Show Economists use two versions of Purchasing Power Parity: absolute PPP and relative PPP. Absolute PPP was described in the previous paragraph; it refers to the equalization of price levels across countries. Put formally, the exchange rate between Canada and the United States ECAD/USD is equal to the price level in Canada PCAN divided by the price level in the United States PUSA. Assume that the price level ratio PCAD/PUSD implies a PPP exchange rate of 1.3 CAD per 1 USD. If today's exchange rate ECAD/USD is 1.5 CAD per 1 USD, PPP theory implies that the CAD will appreciate (get stronger) against the USD, and the USD will in turn depreciate (get weaker) against the CAD. Relative PPP refers to rates of changes of price levels, that is, inflation rates. This proposition states that the rate of appreciation of a currency is equal to the difference in inflation rates between the foreign and the home country. For example, if Canada has an inflation rate of 1% and the US has an inflation rate of 3%, the US Dollar will depreciate against the Canadian Dollar by 2% per year. This proposition holds well empirically especially when the inflation differences are large.
The currencies listed below are compared to the US Dollar. A green bar indicated that the local currency is overvalued by the percentage figure shown on the axis; the currency is thus expected to depreciate against the US Dollar in the long run. A red bar indicates undervaluation of the local currency; the currency is thus expected to appreciate against the US Dollar in the long run.
Why is PPP not accurate?Drawbacks of PPP: The biggest one is that PPP is harder to measure than market-based rates. The ICP is a huge statistical undertaking, and new price comparisons are available only at infrequent intervals. Methodological questions have also been raised about earlier surveys.
Why does the PPP theory fail?Purchasing power parity (PPP) will not be satisfied between countries when there are transportation costs, trade barriers (e.g., tariffs), differences in prices of nontradable inputs (e.g., rental space), imperfect information about current market conditions, and when other Forex market participants, such as investors, ...
What are the criticism of PPP theory?A criticism of a different nature is that PPP views the exchange rate is the determined variable and price levels as causal variables, whereas there are also chains of causation running from exchange rates to prices. Among them are Keynes, Whittaker, Machlup, samuelson and Balassa.
What are the limitations of purchasing power parity?Some of the potential disadvantages to using PPP when comparing the economies of different countries include the following. 1. Taxes and tariffs are not accounted for. Different countries' sales taxes can alter prices of goods and services between states and countries, making a PPP comparison less precise.
|