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A recent innovation in modeling exchange rates has been the use of nonlinear techniques such as threshold autoregressive models and its smooth transition variants. This paper investigates the smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) modeling strategy in an application to real exchange rates. The key findings are as follows. First, using the methodology advocated by Teräsvirta (1994), we find evidence of nonlinear dynamics for several of the spot dollar real exchange rates using monthly data on five of the G7 countries. However, once estimated, we find that the STAR specification is appropriate for only one of the three exchange rate series indicated to be an ESTAR process. Moreover, using simulations, we show that the underlying methodology used to detect nonlinearities in the data exhibit substantial size biases, which we attribute to influential observations. We also investigate an alternative nonlinear specification and find that we can model the dollar-sterling and the dollar-lira real exchange rates better as an open-loop TAR process instead of a SETAR process. JEL Classification: F30

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Has the character of adjustment of labor input in the US manufacturing sector been changing over the last few decades? This question is addressed with time-series estimation using data through 2001. Impulse responses of employment and average weekly hours to a given shock in output demand are generated from multi-equation vector autoregressions. The results reveal a marked change in the character of labor input adjustment as compared with the two decades prior to 1979, with some heterogeneity among 18 detailed industries. Adjustment of hours has risen somewhat while adjustment of employment has dropped considerably. This intensifying adjustment of hours vis-à -vis employment is consistent with hypotheses regarding employers' potential reactions to a skill-upgrading of jobs under greater market pressures to restrain cost. US manufacturing employers appear to be increasingly adopting strategies of "lean staffing," while "hoarding" and shedding work hours, in response to cyclical fluctuation in demand. This phenomenon may be a structural change contributing to a recent "jobless recovery" in the US.