Exchange rates and export performance: evidence from micro-data

This article presents a summary of early results from an ongoing Reserve Bank research programme on the impact of exchange rates on firm-level export behaviour. Understanding responses to exchange rate movements at the level of individual firms is key to a deeper understanding of the channels through which economic and policy changes are transmitted through the economy. Results suggest that New Zealand firms have limited ability to respond to exchange rate changes through price-setting. Rather, explicit hedging is common and firms’ trade behaviour reflects a desire to avoid the risk associated with exchange rate volatility.