Chapter 20 Data Apps

Exchange Rates and International Finance

Explore the data of Chapter 20 without any code. Every chart below is live: hover over it to read the values, and use its buttons, menus and sliders to change what it shows.

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See also: Chapter 20 Model Apps, the chapter’s models without code.

Exchange rates in the long run

Fig. 1: The U.S. exchange rate versus the yen and the euro

Hover over a line to read the price of a dollar; the yen uses the left scale, the euro the right, and a fall is a depreciation.

Sources. Data: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates, via FRED: Japanese yen to one U.S. dollar (EXJPUS) and U.S. dollars to one euro (EXUSEU) (inverted to euros per dollar), monthly. Prepared file: data/ch20/fig20-1.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.1 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 1, other currencies: the price of a dollar in 25 currencies

Click a currency in the legend to add it, and switch scales with the buttons; above 100, a dollar buys more than in 1999.

Sources. Data: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates, via FRED: monthly rates of 25 currencies against the dollar, from the yen (EXJPUS) and the euro (EXUSEU) to EXUSUK, EXCAUS, EXSZUS, EXCHUS, EXKOUS, EXINUS, EXMXUS, EXBZUS and the others listed in the data notes. Prepared file: data/ch20/fx_monthly.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.1 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 2: Inflation in the United States, Japan and other countries

Use the menu to pick a group of countries, then click a name in the legend to hide or show it; the title gives the 1971–2024 averages.

Sources. Data: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Inflation, consumer prices, annual % (FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG); the U.S. and Japanese rows equal the U.S. series (FPCPITOTLZGUSA) and the Japanese series (FPCPITOTLZGJPN) that FRED copies from the World Bank; World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/inflation_wdi.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv, checked against data/ch20/fig20-2.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.2 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 3: The real exchange rate for Japan

Hover over a line to compare the Penn World Table index with the consumer-price estimate; both peak in 1995, when Japanese goods were dearest.

Sources. Data: Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Penn World Table 11.0 (doi:10.34894/FABVLR; Feenstra, Inklaar and Timmer 2015), price level of output-side GDP (pl_gdpo) of Japan relative to the United States; our estimate uses yen per dollar (EXJPUS) (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates, via FRED) and the World Bank’s consumer-price inflation via FRED (United States (FPCPITOTLZGUSA), Japan (FPCPITOTLZGJPN)). Prepared files: data/ch20/fig20-3.csv, data/ch20/fig20-1.csv and data/ch20/fig20-2.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.3 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 3, the Balassa-Samuelson effect: Big Mac prices and income

Hover over a dot to see the country; the fitted line slopes up, because Big Macs cost more in richer countries.

Sources. Data: The Economist, The Big Mac index, open data (release of July 2026); Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Penn World Table 11.0 (doi:10.34894/FABVLR; Feenstra, Inklaar and Timmer 2015), real GDP per person (rgdpo / pop) in 2023. Prepared file: data/ch20/big_mac.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Table 20.1 and the discussion of the Balassa-Samuelson effect in Chapter 20 of Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 3, other countries: real exchange rates since 1971

Use the menu to pick a group of countries, then click a name in the legend to hide or show it; every line is 100 in 1971.

Sources. Data: Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Penn World Table 11.0 (doi:10.34894/FABVLR; Feenstra, Inklaar and Timmer 2015), price level of output-side GDP (pl_gdpo) relative to the United States; World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/rer_pwt.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.3 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Exchange-rate regimes and the policy trilemma

Fig. 6: The U.K.-U.S. exchange rate

Hover over the line to read the pounds per dollar; long flat stretches are the gold standard and Bretton Woods, and floating starts in 1973.

Sources. Data: Lawrence H. Officer, MeasuringWorth, Dollar-Pound Exchange Rate From 1791, annual, inverted to pounds per dollar. Prepared file: data/ch20/fig20-6.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.6 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 6, 17 countries: the price of a dollar since 1870

Move the slider to change the base year, and click a country in the legend to add it; the vertical axis is a ratio scale.

Sources. Data: Òscar Jordà, Moritz Schularick and Alan M. Taylor, Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory Database, Release 6, exchange rate against the dollar (xrusd) (Jordà, Schularick and Taylor 2017, NBER Macroeconomics Annual). Prepared file: data/ch20/fx_history.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.6 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 8: Depreciations during several currency crises

Press the buttons to extend the period to 2025 and switch to the ratio scale; at 40, the currency buys 40 percent of its 1991 dollars.

Sources. Data: International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates dataset (ER), national currency per U.S. dollar, end of period (XDC_USD.EOP_RT), annual. Prepared file: data/ch20/fig20-8.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.8 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 8, crises everywhere: currencies against the dollar since 1991

Pick a group of countries from the menu, then click a name in the legend to hide or show it; below 100 is a depreciation.

Sources. Data: International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates dataset (ER), national currency per U.S. dollar, end of period (XDC_USD.EOP_RT), annual, about 210 economies; World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/fx_crises.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.8 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

The euro crisis

Fig. 9: 10-year government bond yields in Europe

Click a country in the legend to add it, and press the “fit the lines shown” button after adding Greece or Russia.

Sources. Data: OECD, Main Economic Indicators, long-term government bond yields, 10-year, via FRED: Germany (IRLTLT01DEM156N), Spain (IRLTLT01ESM156N), Italy (IRLTLT01ITM156N) and the same series (IRLTLT01{CC}M156N) for 31 other countries; Eurostat, EMU convergence criterion bond yields (irt_lt_mcby_m) for eight EU members. Prepared file: data/ch20/yields_monthly.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.9 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 10: Domestic bank lending in Europe

Pick a group of countries from the menu, and click a year in the legend to hide or show it; lending boomed in Greece and Spain until 2007.

Sources. Data: World Bank, Global Financial Development Database, private credit by deposit money banks, % of GDP (GFDD.DI.01); World Bank, World Development Indicators, domestic credit to private sector, % of GDP (FD.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS; the 2023 bars); World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/credit_wdi.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.10 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 11: Current account balances in Europe

Pick a group of countries from the menu, and click a period in the legend to hide or show it; below zero means borrowing abroad.

Sources. Data: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook (October 2026), Current account balance, % of GDP (BCA_NGDPD); World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/current_account_imf.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.11 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 12: Government debt in Europe

Pick a group of countries and a measure, OECD or IMF, from the menu; click a year in the legend to hide or show it.

Sources. Data: OECD, Economic Outlook No. 119, general government gross financial liabilities, % of GDP (GGFLQ), dataflow DSD_EO@DF_EO in the OECD Data Explorer; International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook (October 2026), General government gross debt, % of GDP (GGXWDG_NGDP); World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/debt.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.12 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Long-term competitiveness

Fig. 13: Unit labor costs in Europe

Move the slider to change the base year, and click a country in the legend to add it; with 2008 as the base, the gap is closing.

Sources. Data: OECD, Productivity Database, unit labour costs, total economy (ULCE), dataflow DSD_PDB@DF_PDB in the OECD Data Explorer. Prepared file: data/ch20/ulc_oecd.csv, checked against data/ch20/fig20-13.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.13 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 14: Total factor productivity in the United States and Europe

Use the menu to pick a group of countries, then click a name in the legend to hide or show it; every line is 100 in 2000.

Sources. Data: Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Penn World Table 11.0 (doi:10.34894/FABVLR; Feenstra, Inklaar and Timmer 2015), TFP at constant national prices (rtfpna); World Bank, country and lending groups (regions and income groups of the menus). Prepared files: data/ch20/tfp_pwt.csv and data/ch20/countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 20.14 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.