Analyzing Heterogeneous Effects of Exchange Rate on Products’ Prices using Microdata of Iranian firms

The growing trend of international trade reinforces the interdependence of countries, and consequently amplifies the effects of exchange rates movements on the countries’ real sectors. The main channel for this effect is domestic prices. According to the empirical evidences, effects of exchange rate growth on prices, i.e., Exchange Rate Pass-Through (ERPT), vary across the products and firms. This paper explores factors explaining the difference in ERPT among the products and firms. To do so, price data of 2369 products from 355 Iranian firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange is used during 2006: Q1 to 2019: Q1. The panel estimation results show that current and lagged effects of the exchange rate on the prices are positive and significant, on average, and the lagged effect is larger than the current one. Moreover, the findings indicate an increase in import intensity and the market share of the firms lead to increase in the firm’s ERPT. Also, an increase in price led by exchange rate shock is larger in the firms with a higher degree of export orientation and strict financial constraint. However, state shareholding in firms induces decrease in ERPT only in firms with high import intensity and market share.