Evaluation of Exchange Rate Regime, Effect on Pass-Through Phenomenon: An Application of Propensity Score Matching Approach

Exploring effects of the main determinants of exchange rate pass through is crucial for the adoption of various economic policies, including currency and trade policies. The exchange rate regime of countries is the source of exchange rate and price changes and is substantial in the implementation of foreign exchange policies. Among the various factors affecting exchange rate pass through, an exchange rate regime has received less attention in empirical studies. Accordingly, the present paper seeks to find out how the exchange rate pass through, which is proxied as the import price, is affected by different exchange rate regimes. To answer the question, we have used the propensity score matching approach, which is considered as a non-parametric method, to investigate the effect of an exchange rate regime on the exchange rate pass through, while other effective factors are controlled. To this purpose, we have used data of 118 developing countries with different exchange rate regimes in 2019. To evaluate the marginal effect of the exchange rate regime on exchange rate pass through, we have modeled the exchange rate pass through by including other match variables such as the nominal exchange rate, marginal cost of exporters, real GDP growth, trade openness, liquidity growth and inflation. The empirical results showed that the exchange rate pass through has responded significantly to the selection of an appropriate exchange rate regime, so that the adoption of the floating exchange rate regime reduces the degree of exchange rate pass among the counties wherever implemented.