Liability Dollarization and Exchange Rate Pass-Through

With Korean firm-level and aggregated industry-level data, we explore a balance sheet channel through which an exchange rate shock translates into domestic producer prices; we are the first to explore this channel both empirically and theoretically. Exploiting a large devaluation episode in Korea in 1997, we document that a sector with higher foreign currency debt exposure prior to the crisis experienced a larger price increase. Building a heterogeneous firm model with working capital and financial constraints, we study the transition path upon unexpected exchange rate depreciation. Upon unexpected depreciation, firms with high foreign currency debt exposure face tighter working capital and financial constraints, which reduces investment and increases costs of production and prices. The model matches qualitatively and quantitatively the observed marginal effect of the short-term foreign currency debt ratio on the sectoral price changes. The model with the balance sheet channel only can explain around 17% of the variation in price changes during the crisis. We also find that the interaction of strategic complementarity in firms' price setting and heterogeneity in foreign currency debt holdings across firms within an industry play an important role in amplifying the price increase