Commodity Terms of Trade: A New Database
This paper presents a comprehensive database of country-specific commodity price indices for 182 economies covering 1962-2018
Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive database of country-specific commodity price indices for 182 economies covering the period 1962-2018. For each country, the change in the international price of up to 45 individual commodities is weighted using commodity-level trade data. The database includes a commodity terms-of-trade index鈥攚hich proxies the windfall gains and losses of income associated with changes in world prices鈥攁s well as additional country-specific series, including commodity export and import price indices. We provide indices that are constructed using, alternatively, fixed weights (based on average trade flows over several decades) and time-varying weights (which can account for time variation in the mix of commodities traded and the overall importance of commodities in economic activity). The paper also discusses the dynamics of commodity terms of trade across country groups and their influence on key macroeconomic aggregates.
This work is part of the 鈥楳acroeconomics in Low-income countries鈥� programme
Citation
Bertrand Gruss and Suhaib Kebhaj (2019) Commodity Terms of Trade: A New Database. IMF Working Paper No. 19/21