This paper offers a framework for measuring global growth and inflation, built on standard index number theory, national accounts principles, and the concepts and methods for international macro-economic comparisons. Our approach provides a sound basis for purchasing power parity (PPP)- and exchange rate (XR)-based global growth and inflation measures. The Sato–Vartia index number system advocated here offers very similar results to a Fisher system but has the added advantage of allowing a complete decomposition with PPP or XR effects. For illustrative purposes, we present estimates of global growth and inflation for 141 countries over the years 2005 and 2011. The contribution of movements in XRs and PPPs to global inflation are presented. The aggregation properties of the method are also discussed.

In this paper we re-examine whether purchasing power parity holds in the long run in China from a two-steps procedure correcting outliers and testing unit roots. Thus, the efficient unit root tests developed by Elliott, Rothenberg and Stock (1996) and Ng and Perron (2001) are applied on the Renminbi bilateral (to the US dollar) real exchange rate, corrected from outliers, over the period 1970 to 2006 (in monthly frequency). We underlined the effects of large, but infrequent shocks due to changes of Chinese exchange policy undertaken since the China’s foreign exchange reform on the real exchange rate, in particular several devaluations between 1984-1994. We also show that there is no tendency to the purchasing power parity in China to hold in the long run during this period.

This article explores the behavior of exchange rates in Spain during the 18th century. We analyze the exchange rates quoted in London on three Spanish cities between 1699 and 1826. After a brief review of how the Spanish monetary system worked and how exchange rates were determined, we assess to which extent the exchange rate responded to market fundamentals by testing two theoretical models of exchange rate determination. The results suggest that purchasing power parity held during the 18th century, with the exchange rate tracking quite closely the behavior of inflation differentials. Deviations from PPP appeared at the end of the century, due mostly to changes in the real exchange rate caused by the bilateral trade between Spain and Great Britain and, maybe, due to productivity differentials.