Near-zero U.S. Interest Rates,Primary Commodity Prices,and Financial Control in Emerging Markets

The U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy at the center of the world dollar standard has a first-order impact on global financial stability. However, except in moments of international crises, the Fed focuses inward on domestic American economic indicators and generally ignores collateral damage from its monetary policies in the rest of the world. But this makes the U.S. economy less stable. Currently, ultra-low interest rates on dollar assets ignite waves of hot money into emerging markets by carry traders that generate bubbles in international primary commodity prices and other assets. These bubbles burst when some accident at the center, such as a banking crisis, causes a reflux of the hot money. Ironically, these near-zero interest rates hold back investment in the American economy itself.     

VEHICLE CURRENCY*

Historically, the world economy has been dominated by a single currency accepted in the exchange of goods and assets among countries. In recent decades, the U.S. dollar has played this role. The dollar acts as a “vehicle currency” in the sense that agents in nondollar economies will generally engage in currency trade indirectly using the U.S. dollar instead of using direct bilateral trade among their own currencies. A vehicle currency is desirable when there are transactions costs of exchange. This article constructs a dynamic general equilibrium model of a vehicle currency. We explore the nature of the efficiency gains arising from a vehicle currency and show how it depends on the total number of currencies in existence, the size of the vehicle currency economy, and the monetary policy followed by the vehicle currency’s government. We find that there can be significant welfare gains to a vehicle currency in a system of many independent currencies. But these gains are asymmetrically weighted toward the residents of the vehicle currency country. The survival of a vehicle currency places natural limits on the monetary policy of the vehicle currency country.     

美元短期走势分析

目前美元仍是各国外汇储备持有的主要资产,美国的货币和资本市场是世界上最具广度和深度的成熟市场之一,在未来相当长的时期里,美元资产仍将是包括中国在内的各国政府和民间对外投资的主要组成部分。美元贬值与世界经济走势并非经济基本面因素所致,美元走弱还属于货币当局“可控制的贬值”。高油价及通货膨胀的困扰,次级债危机的冲击使本来就不明朗的美国经济前景更加暗淡,无论是从美国的国内经济还是国际经济的基本面来分析,美元短期贬值已是大势所趋,无可挽回了。     

Virtual Currencies,the Money Market,and Monetary Policy

Virtual currencies are in vogue mainly due to two factors. First, as a protest against authority-driven monetary policy decisions and second, as alternatives to deficits in some monetary systems arising out of political instability or other causes. Assuming that virtual currencies indeed (partially) replace national currencies as payment vehicles, we attempt, in this article, to integrate the virtual currency supply and demand into the Keynesian money market framework. This article presents a few results for the central banks and outlines problems that may result for monetary policy formulation. Since this is the first such attempt to model a national money market as a combination of nationally-issued currency and globally-issued virtual currency, certain simplistic assumptions have been made. Nevertheless, the model offers directions on the impact of virtual currencies on the monetary system and the national money market. Additionally, the paper integrates the official standpoints of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on this topic.     

Commodity currencies and commodity prices: modelling static and time-varying dependence

This article employs the copula approach to study the relationship between exchange rates and commodity prices for large commodity exporters. Using data for the nominal exchange rates of four commodity currencies (Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars, and Norwegian krone) against the US dollar and the relevant country-specific commodity price indices, constructed on a daily basis, we find (1) a positive dependence between the values of commodity currencies and commodity indices, i.e. a commodity index increases when a respective currency appreciates and provides several explanations for this finding; (2) no major asymmetries in the tail dependence for most pairs of exchange rates and commodity indices and (3) a pronounced increase in the time-varying tail dependence following the global financial crisis.     

Bi‐currency versus Single‐currency Targeting: Lessons from the Russian Experience

This paper examines how the 2005 shift in Russian exchange rate policy from US dollar (USD) single‐currency to USD–EUR (euro) bi‐currency targeting has impacted domestic interest rates. The finding show that this policy shift has disconnected Russian interest rates from US dollar‐denominated interest rates, while instead linking them to a synthetic interest rate composed of USD and EUR rates at the same proportion as that of these two currencies in the currency basket against which the ruble's exchange rate is set. The Russian experience shows that while the adoption of bi‐currency targeting may help ensure that domestic interest rates are less dependent on the monetary cycle of a single country, these rates are instead likely to reflect financial developments in all countries whose currencies are included in the currency basket. This insight is likely to be relevant for other countries that pursue basket‐targeting policies.     

Synthetic money

This paper provides a methodology for constructing synthetic money, which is defined as an optimal currency basket that mimics a single currency. Empirical evidence is provided by constructing a synthetic dollar from a currency basket comprised of six currencies that excludes the U.S. dollar. We believe that synthetic money has a number of practical applications, including currency pegging operations by nations, denomination of global bond issues by large firms and countries, and analyses of currency movements over time by interested parties.     

West African Single Currency and Competitiveness

This paper compares different nominal anchors to promote internal and external competitiveness in the case of a fixed exchange rate regime for the future single regional currency of the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS). We use counterfactual analyses and estimate a model of dependent economy for small commodity exporting countries. We consider four foreign anchor currencies: the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the yuan. Our simulations show little support for a dominant peg in the ECOWAS area if they pursue several goals: maximizing the export revenues, minimizing their variability, stabilizing them and minimizing the real exchange rate misalignments from the fundamental value.     

THE DOLLAR'S INTERNATIONAL ROLE

The dollar was the dominant international currency following World War II. However, as the international economy has changed in dramatic ways, the dollar's international role also has changed. Although the dollar's role has declined, it remains an important international currency. Furthermore, the world does not appear to be moving toward a tripolar monetary system. The dollar and the deutsche mark, not the yen, are the most important international currencies. The dollar's role has declined due to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1973, the decline in the relative importance of the United States, and deregulation of the world financial market.     

Four harmonic cycles explain and predict commodity currencies' wide long term fluctuations

In theory and practice, it is difficult to accept a particular model of explanation and forecasting of exchange currencies as the literature review reveals. However, the currencies that are called commodity currencies, such as the Australian dollar are heavily influenced by commodity prices cycles, and hence they might be easier to analyze and predict. We investigate the possibility that the Australian dollar is primarily determined by a handful of harmonic cycles which in turn are based not only on commodity prices cycles but also on commodity production cycles and in general on economic cycles. In this way we can get a very good fit of the relevant data and good out-of-sample forecasts. We cross check these results by referring to the main issues involved, such as fundamentals, short and long cycles, and so on. In addition, our analysis, forecasting ability, and conclusions still hold for three more commodity currencies examined here: New Zealand's dollar, Canada's dollar, and Norway's krone.     

The Optimum Currency Area Puzzle

The theory of optimum currency areas, suggesting the redrawing of currency areas across countries or splitting of national money into several currencies, is at odds with the one-money-one-country pattern that has dominated monetary history for 26 centuries. This paper puts forward an equilibrium approach which, by stressing the influence of the border effect on intranational adjustment, solves the puzzle and analyzes the closely related issue of the viability of monetary unions and regional specialization.     

An Intertemporal Currency Board

The paper shows that the traditional wisdom of raising interest rates to defend a currency enriches rather than punishes the speculators. Furthermore, using high interest rates as a currency defense tool often produces the opposite effect in times of crisis. A new approach is proposed of using Hong Kong dollar "put" options as an explicit commitment by the government. The put option itself acts like an intertemporal currency board in keeping the linked exchange rate over time. This costly signaling produces a separating equilibrium that distinguishes the strength of the Hong Kong dollar from the other Asian currencies that were under pressure in 1997.     

CURRENCY AREAS AND MONETARY COORDINATION*

We integrate a monetary search model into open‐economy macro to analyze the gains from coordinating on inflation. Search frictions and local congestion lead to a determinate exchange rate between two currencies. Relative prices deviate from the law of one price. Because the deviations depend on the cross‐country differential in money growth, each country is tempted to inflate to exploit the deviations. Policy coordination reduces inflation and improves welfare for all countries. In contrast to traditional models, the gains from coordination continue to exist even after each country optimally sets a direct tax on the foreign use of the country's currency.     

ONE WORLD, ONE CURRENCY: EXPLORING THE ISSUES

Along with globalization of trade and finance has come a certain globalization of money. Some countries have adopted monetary unions and currency boards; others increasingly use international currencies in place of national monies. This article explores the idea of a global money—framed here as a voluntary, representative arrangement based on accepted principles for optimal conduct monetary policy. It argues that if the current pace of economic and financial integration continues, a global money may emerge that is better adapted to internationalization of production and exchange—although such a change may be a long time in coming. (JEL F330, F360, E420 )     

The workings of a commodity money system in an incomplete information macro model

This paper compares the properties of a token money system with that of a commodity money system in an uncertain environment. In an incomplete information world, relative prices are not known with certainty. However, a commodity money system provides some information because the nominal price of the monetary commodity is known. The benefits of this information-enhancing function may be offset, though by distortions in relative prices relative to their full information Walrasian equilibrium values. Because the two systems have vastly different structural parameters, we cannot unambiguously state which system is welfare superior.     

大宗商品价格变化与汇率波动的动态关系——兼论中国外汇储备结构调整

2008年全球金融危机以来,大宗商品价格变化与一些大宗商品输出国货币汇率的波动态势较为一致。这是偶然巧合还是必然联系?本文利用VEC向量误差修正模型等对相关数据进行了实证分析后表明,2008年以来,大宗商品价格上升对澳大利亚、加拿大等大宗商品输出国货币汇率有正面推动作用。基于此,本文建议:为降低外汇储备风险,中国需要适时增加大宗商品输出国货币和资产在外汇储备中的比重,同时相应减持美元和美元资产。     

Carry trades and US monetary policy

I document that Federal Reserve expansionary monetary policy has a positive impact on the excess returns arising from currency carry trades. I show that expansive monetary surprises are associated with an increase in future real interest differentials between high interest rate currencies and the US dollar, which leads to higher capital flows toward those currencies and an increase in their returns. Since this increase is not fully compensated by a decrease in the returns from the short position in low interest rate currencies, unexpected monetary expansions in the US result in higher carry trade returns.     

The demise of commodity price agreements: the role of exchange rates and special interests

We derive the equilibrium joint distribution of exchange rate and commodity price in a two-country rational expectations model. The correlation between commodity price and exchange rate appears crucial for the stability of commodity markets. This result arises from the common practice to quote commodity prices in consuming countries' currency, which subjects producing countries to the currency risk. Welfare results of commodity price stabilization are obtained and facilitate the interpretation of the position taken by industrialized countries long opposed to international commodity agreements. We apply our model to the Philippines and investigate the potential effects of the International Sugar Agreement (ISA) on the various conditional volatilities of the model. We conclude on the relative ineffectiveness of these agreements in limiting fluctuations of sugar prices.     

Optimum currency areas and the European experience

Across nations or regions, the debate on optimum exchange rate cum monetary policies is not yet resolved on three levels. First is the optimum domain of fixed exchange rates versus keeping them flexible. Second is the subordinate debate on whether one needs full monetary union (as in continental Europe) to secure an optimum currency area's internal domain; or, whether virtually fixed exchange rates — where national currencies remain in circulation — can be sufficient. Third is whether a regional grouping of economies with close trade ties (as in East Asia) gain by collectively pegging to an outside currency such as the US dollar. Using an axiomatic approach, which limits the set of cross‐country financial claims to what is feasible, I analyse how best to both share and reduce macroeconomic risks on these three levels. JEL classification: F31, F36.     

The demand for money and the real exchange rate misalignments in emerging European countries: A nonlinear approach

This paper investigates the extent to which domestic and foreign money balances in emerging European countries are influenced by foreign exchange considerations. A well-specified and stable relationship between real money demand and the exchange rate can be perceived as an important part of a successful monetary policy. This study examines the long-run determinants of real exchange rates (RERs) associated with the behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) approach and identifies currency misalignments in these countries. The misalignment is later used to test the nonlinear behavior of the demand for money. The results indicate that the RER misalignments have a significant impact on domestic money demand. When the currencies are overvalued, there is a reduction in domestic money demand, and when they are undervalued, there is an increase in domestic money demand. Furthermore, it can be concluded that overvaluation causes an increase in foreign money demand indicating a shift of preference from domestic to foreign currency.