Theory of Purchasing Power ParityOne of the most prominent theories of how exchange rates are determined is thetheory of purchasing power parity (PPP). It states that exchange ratesbetween any two currencies will adjust to reflect changes in the price levels ofthe two countries. The theory of PPP is simply an application of the law of one priceto national price levels.As Example 1 illustrates, if the law of one price holds, a 10% rise in the yen priceof Japanese steel results in a 10% appreciation of the dollar. Applying the law of oneprice to the price levels in the two countries produces the theory of purchasing powerparity, which maintains that if the Japanese price level rises 10% relative to the U.S.price level, the dollar will appreciate by 10%. As our U.S./Japanese example illustrates,the theory of PPP suggests that if one country’s price level rises relativeto another’s, its currency should depreciate (the other country’s currencyshould appreciate).Another way of thinking about purchasing power parity is through a conceptcalled the real exchange rate, the rate at which domestic goods can be exchangedfor foreign goods. In effect, it is the price of domestic goods relative to the price offoreign goods denominated in the domestic currency. For example, if a basket ofgoods in New York costs $50, while the cost of the same basket of goods in Tokyocosts $75 because it costs 7,500 yen while the exchange rate is at 100 yen per dollar,then the real exchange rate is 0.66 ( ). The real exchange rate is below1.0, indicating that it is cheaper to buy the basket of goods in the United Statesthan in Japan. At the time of publication, the real exchange rate for the U.S. dollaris low against many other currencies, and this is why we see New York overwhelmedby so many foreign tourists going on shopping sprees. It is the real exchange rate thatindicates whether a currency is relatively cheap or not. Another way of describingthe theory of PPP is to say that it predicts the real exchange rate is always equal to1.0, so that the purchasing power of the dollar is the same as the purchasing powerof other currencies such as the yen or the euro.As you can see in Figure 15.2, this prediction of the theory of PPP is borne outin the long run. From 1973 to 2010, the British price level rose 91% relative to theU.S. price level, and as the theory of PPP predicts, the dollar appreciated against sterling,though by 66%, an amount smaller than the 91% increase predicted by PPP.Yet, as the same figure indicates, PPP theory often has little predictive power inthe short run. From early 1985 to the end of 1987, for example, the British price levelrose relative to that of the United States. Instead of appreciating, as PPP theory
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