Do countries catch cold when trading partners sneeze?
Author InfoKingsley I. Obiora (International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC) Abstract How do countries respond to shocks from their major trading partners? This paper addresses the question in the context of the observed shifts in trade linkages between the Baltic countries and their major trading partners. Vector autoregression (VAR) models were used to examine the magnitude and sources of growth spillovers to the Baltics from key trading partners, as well as shocks from the real effective exchange rate (REER). Our results show there are significant cross-country spillovers to the Baltics, with spillovers from the EU outweighing those from Russia. Shocks to the REER generally depress growth in the Baltics, and this effect rises over time. We also find that financial and trade linkages are the dominant transmission channels of spillovers to the region, which explains the current realization of downside risks to the Baltics from the global slowdown. In general, therefore, these results s
