Ludvig Söderling

Is the Middle East and North Africa Region Achieving Its Trade Potential

This paper analyzes export performance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) using a gravity model applied to panel data. It addresses two questions: (i) are there significant unexploited export markets for the MENA region?; and (ii) have integration efforts with the EU since the mid-1990s yielded positive results? The results suggest that several MENA countries are substantially underexploiting the United States as an export market. Moreover, the impact of integration efforts with the European Union has been moderate overall but significant in individual cases.

Business Cycle Accounting For Chile

We investigate sources of economic fluctuations in Chile during 1998-2007 within the framework of a standard neoclassical growth model with time-varying frictions (wedges). We analyze the relative importance of efficiency, labor, investment, and government/trade wedges for business cycles in Chile. The purpose of this exercise is twofold: (i) focus the policy discussion on the most important wedges in the economy; and (ii) identify which broad class of models would present fruitful avenues for further research. We find that different wedges have played different roles during our studied period, but that the efficiency and labor wedges have had the greatest impact. We also compare our results with existing studies on Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

Public Debt and Fiscal Vulnerability in the Middle East

Public debt in the Middle East increased during the mid-1990s mainly because of fiscal expansions. It decreased in recent years, thanks to high oil revenue, economic growth, some primary non-oil fiscal adjustment, and debt relief. While countries in the Middle East appear to have adequately reacted to high indebtedness in the past, public debt levels remain uncomfortably high in many, particularly non-oil producing countries and middle income oil producers. Non-oil countries adjust mainly by increasing revenues, whereas oil countries adjust expenditure. For non-oil producing countries, substantial fiscal adjustment would be needed to bring debt down to below 50 percent of GDP. Oil producers as a group appear to follow sustainable, though procyclical, fiscal policies. Middle-income (but not high-income) oil producing countries would need to adjust somewhat to bring their policies in line with the permanent oil income benchmark.

Escaping the Curse of Oil? The Case of Gabon

This paper studies the prospects for sustainable growth and economic development in Gabon, in the face of a severe decline in its main source of income and growth, i.e. oil. A simple Computable General Equilibrium model is used to simulate the development of the non-oil economy under various assumptions. The results of the simulations underline Gabons dependence on foreign financing-especially private-and its vulnerability to variations in oil prices. The potential role of an income stabilization fund is also discussed.

Structural Policies for International Competitiveness in Manufacturing: The Case of Cameroon

In this study, a new sample of 38 manufacturing firms from Cameroon is examined for the period 1980-95. A production function and an export function are estimated in order to study the determinants of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and export performance. The results demonstrate a mutually reinforcing relation between productivity and manufacturing export performance. Moreover, the study provides evidence indicating that adequate management of the real exchange rate is a crucial factor for the promotion of manufacturing exports. The performance of the manufacturing sector in Cameroon has deteriorated substantially since the mid 1980s. This decline is to a large degree explained by Dutch disease symptoms and inward looking policies for the manufacturing sector, resulting in a highly overvalued Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER). Based on the estimated export and production functions, a model is constructed to assess the cost of this REER evaluation, both in terms of productivity and exports.

The Role of Capital Accumulation, Adjustment and Structural Change for Economic Take-Off

In this study, we analyse extended periods of growth in Africa based on panel estimations from 27 African countries during the 1960-1996 period. Only a dozen of such rapid growth episodes are observable in Africa since 1960, and several of them eventually came to an end. We use all existing information on macroeconomic performance in Africa in a comparative manner, in order to assess the sustainability of current growth episodes. Our main conclusion is that sustainable growth needs to be based on a balanced mix of capital accumulation, macroeconomic adjustment and structural change. In addition to more commonly used determinants of Total Factor Productivity, we construct a measure for the effect of labour reallocation as well as an index of economic diversification and estimate the impact of the latter on long-term growth. We also build an analysis of investment behaviour, which is influenced by Total Factor Productivity gains, while influencing economic growth directly through ...

Credit Cyclicality in Chile; A Cross-Country Analysis

This paper analyzes the determinants of credit cyclicality. It constructs a financial development index and studies whether it affects the amplitude of impulse responses to shocks to output, terms of trade, global liquidity, and global risk appetite. The paper uses both country-specific VARs for cross-country analyses and panel VARs to compare impulse responses between various country groupings. The study finds evidence that financial development - especially stronger creditor rights - can mitigate credit cyclicality, given that the response of credit to output or terms of trade shocks is stronger in countries with weaker financial systems.