The Impact of Real Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Total Factor Productivity in Iran\'s Agricultural Sector

Abstract

Since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates, both real and nominal exchange rates have fluctuated widely. Empirical findings indicate significant impact of exchange rate uncertainty on macroeconomic variables such as output, trade, and investment. This article investigates the impact of the real exchange rate uncertainty on total factor productivity (TFP) in agriculture sector of Iran during the period of 1974-2007. The uncertainty of real exchange rate is defined as the conditional variances obtained from Exponential Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model. The econometric estimation using Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach shows that the real exchange rate uncertainty has a significant and negative effect on TFP in Iran's agriculture sector in long- and short term. According to the results, in order to reduce the real exchange rate uncertainty, it is recommended that the appropriate policies should be made by policymakers to lessen the difference between nominal and real exchange rates.

Keywords

• agriculture sector
• real exchange rate
• total factor productivity
• uncertainty
• iran