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Abstract
The Swiss franc appreciated strongly against the currencies of Switzerland’s most
important trading partners after the global financial crisis in 2008. This has led to
renewed interest in the question of how sensitive Swiss exports are with respect to
exchange rate movements. We analyze this question for exports of the Swiss Agriculture
and Food Sector, using both time series and dynamic panel data models based on data
from 1999 to 2012. We find that in the long-run a one percent appreciation of the
Swiss franc leads on average to a decrease in exports of agricultural and food products
of approximately 0.9 percent. Our results suggest that on average, producers in the
Swiss Agriculture and Food Sector are able to successfully avoid price competition by
differentiating their products, producing high-quality products for niche markets.