Exchange Rate Disconnect in a Standard Open-Economy Macro Model

This paper demonstrates that the well-documented exchange rate disconnect can be explained within traditional exchange rate models. It is shown that even if the underlying fundamentals are invariant across exchange rate regimes, equilibrium real exchange rates are more volatile under flexible nominal exchange rates than under fixed rates. In particular, fixed rates reduce the requisite adjustments of the real exchange rate in response to both nominal and real shocks relative to a floating-rate scenario.     

Tariff and exchange rate pass-through for Chinese exports: A firm-level analysis across customs regimes

We examine whether a firm's import content share differentially affects the degree of tariff and exchange rate pass-through into its export prices. Our pricing-to-market model suggests that a firm's import content share negatively affects the degree of exchange rate pass-through but does not affect the degree of tariff pass-through. Using firm-level data for Chinese exporting firms during the period 2000–2006, we find evidence of an almost complete exchange rate pass-through. As expected, when we distinguish firms by their trade regime, processing-trade firms, especially pure-assembly firms which tend to have higher import-content share, have a lower exchange rate pass-through than ordinary trade firms. We find no evidence that the tariff pass-through differs across the various trade regimes.     

Exchange rate regimes and real exchange rate volatility: Does inflation targeting help or hurt?

This paper revisits the comparison of the effects of inflation targeters versus hard fixers and intermediate exchange rate regimes. In particular, we are interested in exploring the impact of inflation targeting (IT) on real effective exchange rate (REER) volatility for a panel of 62 developing countries over the period 2006–2012. We also analyze the impact of IT regimes on REER in terms of its two component parts, i.e. relative tradable prices across countries as well as sectoral prices of tradables and nontradables within countries. The paper accounts for self-selection concerns regarding policy adoption and examines the effects of commodity exports and foreign exchange intervention. Notably, IT regimes seem to have experienced greater REER volatility, largely driven by external prices in developed countries. For developing countries, IT regimes show no difference in REER volatility, though there is some evidence that they have lower volatility in internal prices.     

Why clashes between internal and external stability goals end in currency crises, 1797–1994

We argue that recent currency crises reflect clashes between fundamentals and pegged exchange rates, just as did crises in the past. We reject the view that crises reflect self-fulfilling prophecies that are not closely related to measured fundamentals. Doubts about the timing of a market attack on a currency are less important than the fact that it is bound to happen if a government's policies are inconsistent with pegged exchange rates. We base these conclusions on a review of currency crises in the historical record under metallic monetary regimes and of crises post-World War II under Bretton Woods, and since, in European and Latin American pegged exchange rate regimes.     

Exchange Rate Regimes and Reserve Policy: The Italian Lira, 1883–1911

The three exchange rate regimes adopted by Italy from 1883 up to the eve of World War I — the gold standard (1883–1893), floating rates (1894–1902), and “gold shadowing” (1903–1911)—produced a puzzling result: formal adherence to the gold standard ended in failure while shadowing the gold standard proved very successful. This paper discusses the main policies underlying Italy’s performance particularly focusing on the strategy of reserve accumulation. It presents a cointegration analysis identifying a distinct co-movement between exchange rate, reserves, and banknotes that holds over the three sub-periods of the sample. Given this long-run relationship, the different performance in each regime is explained by the diversity of policy measures, reflected in the different variables adjusting the system in the various regimes. Italy’s variegated experience during the gold standard provides a valuable lesson about current developments in the international scenario, showing the central role of fundamentals and consistent policies.     

REER Imbalances and Macroeconomic Adjustments in the Proposed West African Monetary Union

With the spectre of the euro crisis hunting embryonic monetary unions, we use a dynamic model of a small open economy to analyse real effective exchange rate (REER) imbalances and examine whether the movements in the aggregate real exchange rates are consistent with the underlying macroeconomic fundamentals in the proposed West African Monetary Union (WAMU). Using both country‐oriented and WAMU panel‐based specifications, we show that the long‐run behaviour of the REERs can be explained by fluctuations in the terms of trade, productivity, investment, debt and openness. While there is still significant evidence of cross‐country differences in the relationship between underlying macroeconomic fundamentals and corresponding REERs, the embryonic WAMU has a stable error correction mechanism, with four of the five cointegration relations having signs that are consistent with the predictions from economic theory. Policy implications are discussed, and the conclusions of the analysis are a valuable contribution to the scholarly and policy debate over whether the creation of a sustainable monetary union should precede convergence in macroeconomic fundamentals that determine REER adjustments.     

Risk Related Non Linearities in Exchange Rates: Evidence from a Panel of Central and Eastern European Countries

This paper investigates the recent evolution of five Eastern European exchange rates. Our aim is twofold: to provide an up-to-date view of the predictability and main relations of spot rates with economic fundamentals and to derive some considerations about exchange rate regimes, capital flows, and risk appetite. We propose a non-linear specification where the non-linearity refers to the effect of the interest rate differential. The paper supports the view that given the relevance of capital flows and their sensitivity to risk adjusted yield differentials, the choice of exchange rate regime should be a matter of careful strategy.     

Testing the Taylor Model Predictability for Exchange Rates in Latin America

Exchange rates forecasting performance is tested by a model which incorporates endogenous monetary policy through a Taylor rule reaction function. Other usual monetary and equilibrium empirical exchange rate models are also evaluated for comparison purposes. Predictability is tested by comparing the models to a benchmark random walk specification. We contribute to the recent literature in many ways. First, we include models of forward-looking endogenous monetary policy to the exchange rate forecasting exercise, the Taylor model. Second, our data, set across countries, is uniform in terms of economies adopting both inflation targeting and a flexible exchange rate. Third, our study sheds light on exchange rate determinants for emerging economies: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Our results show strong predictability evidence for the Taylor model and indicate that assuming models of endogenous monetary policy and the present value of expected fundamentals is a rewarding strategy to model exchange rate determination.     

Dynamic forecasting of sticky-price monetary exchange rate model

The Dornbusch-Frankel monetary model is used to estimate the out-of-sample forecasting performance for the U.S. or Canadian dollar exchange rate. By using Johansen's multivariate cointegration, up to three cointegrating vectors were found between the exchange rate and macroeconomic fundamentals. This means that there is a long-run relationship between exchange rate and economic fundamentals. Based on error-correction models, the random-walk model outperforms the Dornbusch-Frankel model at every forecasting horizon. The random-walk model also dominates the Dornbusch-Frankel model with the modified money demand function at every forecasting horizon except one month. However, this paper shows that the share price variable can improve the accuracy of forecasts of exchange rates at short-run horizons.     

The optimal exchange rate regime for a small country

This paper examines the welfare comparisons between a freely floating, a managed floating, and a pegged exchange rate regime. We compare the expected loss under these regimes by modifying and generalizing Hamada’s (2002) model to accommodate intervention policy. We consider the de jure and de facto classifications, where the former is defined by the officially stated intentions of the monetary authorities, while the latter is based on the actually observed behavior of the nominal exchange rate. We first examine the exchange rate regimes from the central bank’s policy stance and the actual exchange rate policy. Next we assume that the regime which the private sector perceives according to an official announcement may be different from the one adopted actually by the central bank. We examine nine combinations of the de jure and de facto regimes. We interpret that, whenever they are different, there is informational friction between the central bank and the private sector. We show that the welfare level of a small country under freely floating is no less than that under other regimes, and that with some restrictive conditions, the de facto pegged or de facto managed floating is close to freely floating. This partly explains “Fear of floating” and “Fear of pegging”.     

Leading Indicators of Currency Crises: Are They the Same in Different Exchange Rate Regimes?

We investigate whether leading indicators of currency crises differ across exchange rate regimes using data for 88 countries in the period 1981–2010. Our estimates suggest that in fixed exchange rate regimes external indicators, such as deviations of the real exchange rate from trend and the growth of international reserves, have the strongest predictive power. In contrast, in floating exchange rate regimes monetary policy and credibility indicators, such as domestic credit growth and inflation, are the best leading indicators of currency crises. Both credibility and external economic indicators have predictive power in intermediate exchange rate regimes.     

The common trend and common cycle of exports and the real exchange rate: Empirical results from Swiss data

Conclusion This paper contains an empirical analysis of the relationship of Swiss goods exports, the real exchange rate and world trade, using the common-trend-common-cycle methodology. This exercise shows that the trend and cyclical dependence of these variables are strongly different: exports and the real exchange rate exhibit a positive long-run or trend dependence of world trade whereas the short-run or cyclical relationship of exports to the real exchange rate is strongly negative with approximately a unit elasticity. These results, which differ strongly from standard dynamic regression or error correction estimates, can be interpreted as follows. In the short run we observe the strong negative cyclical relationship between exports and the real exchange rate, which we expect from short-run macroeconomic models with sticky prices. If we make the reasonable assumption that short-run real exchange rate movements are exogenous to exports and, for instance, caused by monetary policy then we come to the conclusion that cyclical real exchange rate variations lead to strong export cycles. However, in the long run, there is a completely different positive comovement of these two variables, which are both driven by the world trade trend. This common trend of exports and the real exchange rate can be understood as an equilibrium reaction of both variables, price and quantity of the exported goods, to exogenous changes in world trade given a production technology available for the country.     

The Swedish real exchange rate under different currency regimes

This paper presents evidence on the behaviour of the Swedish real exchange rate relative to Germany under different currency regimes during the period 1973:1–2001:4. The results suggest that the real exchange rate is cointegrated with Swedish and German productivity, which is consistent with Balassa (1964) and Samuelson (1964). In the short run, the exchange rate regime has mattered for the dynamics of the real exchange rate. Deviations from long-run equilibrium have been adjusted more quickly when the nominal exchange rate has been allowed to float freely. JEL no. C22, E31, F41     

新兴市场经济国家通货膨胀与汇率制度选择

本文利用23个新兴市场经济国家20年间的面板数据,对汇率制度和通货膨胀的关系进行实证研究,对我国汇率改革实践进行了考察。从我国的实际情况看,汇率波动的幅度越大则通胀率均值越大,2005年实行管理浮动以来我国通胀率处于明显的上升趋势。我国应该限制人民币升值幅度,发挥汇率的"名义驻锚"的作用,以此遏制通胀的进一步发展。     

Long-run monetary relationships in the EC countries

Long-Run Monetary Relationships in the EC Countries. - The paper investigates two classical neutrality propositions together with a Fisher-Interest-Rate-Equation and the link between exchange rate changes and inflation rates as postulated by the monetary approach to exchange rates. The empirical analysis uses cross-country data from three periods characterized by different monetary regimes. The empirical evidence strongly supports both classical neutrality propositions and the monetary approach to exchange rates, while the interest-inflation relationship is only weak.     

Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations in East Asia: Generalized Impulse-Response Analysis

Using generalised impulse response analysis, this paper investigates the dynamic adjustment of real exchange rates to real shocks for a group of East Asian currencies. The analysis reveals that the fundamentals, or real factors, explain some, but not all, of the variations of real exchange rates, and that the different disturbances have different degrees of importance for each currency. Therefore, there is no universal panacea for fluctuations in real exchange rates. The findings leave considerable scope for policy intervention to mitigate the unfavourable effects.     

Exchange Rate Regimes in the Asian-Pacific Region

This survey is designed to complemenl Treadgold's on Macroeconomic Manugement (APEL March 1990) by reviewing the literature on exchange rate regimes with reference to the Asian-Pacific region. After a brief typology of exchange rate regimes, the article discusses the choice between currency system, the relationship between choice of regime and policy objectives, constraints on choice of regimes, the distinction between 'traded' and 'non-traded' goods, the 'booming' export sector case and finally the relevance of regulatory distortions and the related question of transition from one regime to amiher.     

进口国汇率及其波动对福建省出口贸易的影响

本文利用月度数据,研究进口国名义汇率、名义汇率波动率、实际汇率、实际汇率波动率对福建省出口贸易的影响,通过协整检验来估计各变量间长期均衡关系。研究表明,福建省向美日韩、欧盟等国的出口与该国汇率及其波动无关,而福建省向香港、台湾、新加坡等地的出口则很大程度上受到其汇率水平变化的影响,但汇率波动率的影响却较小。同时,实证检验还发现,对于关注汇率变化的进口国而言,名义汇率和实际汇率水平的变化,对贸易的影响程度基本相同。     

人民币汇率对进出口贸易的影响研究——基于汇改前后的比较分析

本文运用Johansen协整方法对不同汇率制度环境下人民币汇率对我国进出口贸易的影响效应进行了比较分析,发现汇改前,无论是进口额还是出口额,均与人民币汇率不存在长期均衡关系,而汇改后的出口额却与人民币汇率存在显著的长期协整关系,且人民币汇率升值对出口的抑制效应非常显著。这意味着在研究人民币汇率对进出口贸易的影响效应时尤其不能忽略不同汇率制度环境的影响,所反映的政策含义表明政府当局在制定汇率制度时要保持审慎的态度,以避免人民币升值过快引起对我国出口的抑制效应。     

Inflation Under Alternative Exchange Rate Regimes: What Happens When Countries Differ in Size?

A three-country model is used to analyze how country size affects inflation under different exchange rate regimes. Two countries, an anchor country (leader) and a pegging country (follower), are examined where the latter differs in size. We find that the leader's preference for floating over pegging is unaffected by the follower's size except in the case where the follower is very small. However, as the follower gets smaller, the leader's inflation worsens under floating but improves under the single-currency peg. For the follower, as it gets smaller, its inflation performance improves when it floats its currency. But which regime is preferred is unclear.