Abstract We empirically show that the austerity packages implemented in some euro area countries during 2010–2014 were only partially successful in generating internal devaluations. Countries that cut spending indeed experienced a decline in nominal wages, a real exchange rate depreciation, a fall in the relative price of non-tradables and a shift of consumption toward non-tradables, whereas we find no such evidence for countries raising consumption taxes. We show that this asymmetric response is in line with a small open economy model with GHH preferences. Moreover, the output costs of correcting current accounts were higher than anticipated because neither policy was successful in raising exports through lower prices. Instead, current account improvements were solely driven by lower imports stemming from faltering domestic demand. We provide evidence that exporters absorbed lower wages through higher markups, and show in a model with pricing to market that, had firms kept their markups constant, output costs of correcting current account imbalances would have been cut by almost one half.

中文翻译：

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紧缩会伴随内部贬值吗？

摘要我们从经验上表明，2010-2014年期间一些欧元区国家实施的紧缩方案仅在部分成功地导致了内部贬值。削减支出的国家确实经历了名义工资的下降，实际汇率的贬值，非贸易商品的相对价格下降以及消费向非贸易商品的转移，而我们没有发现提高消费税的国家有这样的证据。我们表明，这种不对称反应与具有GHH偏好的小型开放经济模型是一致的。此外，更正经常项目的产出成本高于预期，因为没有一项政策能够通过较低的价格成功提高出口量。取而代之的是，经常账户的改善完全是由于国内需求不振而导致进口减少。