世界将进入新一轮加息周期

近来一个时期,无论是在发达国家还是在发展中国家,通胀率和通胀预期都在以较快的速度上升,我们正面对全球性通货膨胀挑战。文章回顾了自去年下半年以来美、日、欧及新兴市场国家通胀形势的变化及其利率政策的应对,指出在由欧洲央行启动的本轮加息周期里,美联储的货币政策取向是在保持经济增长的基础上,抑制通货膨胀;欧洲央行则是在保持物价稳定的基础上,兼顾经济增长;发展中国家的加息行为,部分是为了控制投资过热,大部分是为了应对通货膨胀。     

Is the dollar peg suitable for the largest economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council?

The slumping of the GCC currencies against other major currencies and the ensuing rising imported inflation have sparked an ongoing debate about the viability of the dollar peg. This paper extends and applies the contribution of Berger et al. (2001) to the largest economies of the GCC, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, by introducing a foreign inflation dimension. Empirical estimations suggest little or no evidence supporting the suitability of a fixed exchange rate regime in any of the three analyzed economies. It is this paper's contention that policy makers ought to play an immediate and active role in identifying a suitable more flexible exchange rate regime as well as an achievable timeline and road map to effectively abandoning the dollar peg.     

发达国家央行拉开加息序幕

2011年初以来,由于石油等国际大宗商品价格大幅上升,发达国家的通货膨胀压力日益增大。文章在依次分析欧洲、英国、美国的经济与通胀发展形势乃至其货币政策决策者观点后指出,欧洲中央银行加息拉开了发达国家央行加息的序幕,预计年内欧央行还可能加息;英格兰银行将视经济情况决定年内加息时机;美联储在退出量化宽松货币政策后,可能于今年底或明年初提高美元基准利率。     

Dynamic efficiency of stock markets and exchange rates

We use generalized Hurst exponents to investigate long-range dependence across countries that have implemented an inflation targeting monetary policy regime and have a floating currency regime. We show that the degree of long-range dependence has changed after the 2008 crisis for equity markets but not as much for exchange rate markets. We compare results for developed and emerging economies and find that there still are some important differences but not as they were before the crisis. We also include an additional set of relevant countries and find that our results are more pronounced for inflation targeters. We discuss several implications of these results.     

Exchange rate regime durability and performance in developing versus advanced economies

Drawing on new data and advances in exchange rate regimes’ classification, we find that countries appear to benefit by having increasingly flexible exchange rate systems as they become richer and more financially developed. For developing countries with little exposure to international capital markets, pegs are notable for their durability and relatively low inflation. In contrast, for advanced economies, floats are distinctly more durable and also appear to be associated with higher growth. For emerging markets, our results parallel the Baxter and Stockman classic exchange regime neutrality result, though pegs are the least durable and expose countries to higher risk of crisis.     

The determination of capital controls: Which role do exchange rate regimes play?

This paper investigates the role of exchange rate regime choices in the determination of capital controls in transition economies. We first use a simultaneous equations model to allow direct interactions between decisions on capital controls and on exchange rate regimes. We find that exchange rate regime choices strongly influence the imposition or removal of capital controls, but the feed-back effect is weak. We further estimate a single equation model for capital controls with exchange rate regime choices as independent variables, and we find that there is a hump-shaped relationship between exchange rate regime flexibility and capital control intensity.     

Spillover effects from Euro area monetary policy across Europe: A factor-augmented VAR approach

I analyze spillover effects from a Euro area monetary policy shock to fourteen European countries outside the Euro area. The analysis is based on a factor-augmented VAR model with two blocks, which exploits a large cross-country data set. After a Euro area monetary policy expansion, production increases in most non-Euro area countries, whereas short-term interest rates and financial uncertainty decline. These effects are on average comparable to the responses in the aggregate Euro area. However, the size of spillover effects varies with country characteristics. Spillovers on production are larger in non-Euro area economies with higher trade openness, whereas financial variables react to a higher extent in countries with higher financial integration. Regarding the exchange rate regime, countries with fixed exchange rates show stronger spillovers both in terms of production and interest rates. Finally, prices increase in Western European economies outside the Euro area, but decline or do not respond in Central and Eastern Europe.     

完美货币与完美经济

没有完美的货币或者完美的经济组织形式。欧元和欧元区经济的问题,都是在全球化过程中所必须经历的阶段。一个好的经济体制,应该使＂国民生活水平＂最大化。但是,如果要具体到现实世界,＂生活水平最大化＂往往意味着很多,很可能意味着对其他经济体利益的侵蚀。本文从信用约束、经济一体化等角度,论述了欧元的使用对欧元区经济的益处;并指出了欧元使用带来的南欧国家财政赤字和贸易逆差问题。中国对外投资应该辩证地看待欧美经济体的长处和不足,合理配置外汇资产的比例。     

Inflation targeting & implications of oil shocks for inflation expectations in oil-importing and exporting economies: Evidence from three Nordic Kingdoms

In the context of the debate on inflation targeting, this paper analyses the impact of the oil shocks on inflation expectations in three Nordic Kingdoms. A NARDL framework is applied to data from Jan 1994 to June 2018 on the Kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Our key findings suggest that there are considerable nonlinearities and asymmetries in the relationship between inflation expectations, oil shocks and economic determinants of inflation expectations. The expectations formulated in the past have a very significant negative impact on future inflation expectations (adaptive expectations) and there is heterogeneity in the adaptiveness pace. A country's net oil trade position seems to reflect on the impact of oil price shocks on the inflation expectations and there is asymmetry and downwards inflation expectations rigidity. There is strong evidence of exchange rate pass-through to inflation expectations. Prevailing regimes of price stability can support to anchor future inflation expectations. Reduction in fiscal deficit and increases in money supply has a positive impact while unemployment has a negative impact on inflation expectations. The cumulative multiplier analysis showed that the impact of oil shock was symmetric in Sweden and Denmark but asymmetric in Norway which is a large net oil exporter. Besides the adoption of explicit inflation targeting regime by Sweden and Norway, the inflation expectations in the underlying economies are prone to the oil price shocks and macroeconomic determinants. These shocks pose a whole set of challenges to monetary authorities in these economies and the findings in the subject treatise provide some guidance on how each shock may transmit.     

International transmission of inflation under alternative exchange rate regimes: Empirical evidence and its implications

This is a study of the transmission pattern of inflation under alternative exchange rate regimes, fixed and flexible, among the Group of Seven (G-7) countries and their subsets, including four members of the European Union (EU) and two countries from North America. Our key empirical findings are as follows. The price levels of several countries that we found move together as a cointegrated system, forming an equilibrium relationship under both fixed and flexible exchange regimes. Second, the speed of adjustment estimates show that the transmission of inflationary disturbances across countries is less pronounced under the flexible exchange rate regime than under the fixed exchange rate regime. Third, the US was found to be the main producer of inflationary innovations among G-7 countries, whereas the UK was found to be the main producer of inflationary innovations among the EU countries, regardless of exchange rate regime.     

Inflation Targeting Around the World

This paper examines the inflation record of twenty-nine inflation- and noninflation-targeting economies. Both industrial and emerging market economies are considered. Empirical evidence is based on a comparison of actual and forecasted inflation, an econometric analysis that estimates changes in inflation persistence, and an estimate of the probability of a breach in the inflation target as a proxy for the fragility of the targeting regime. I find that inflation persistence has fallen in only a handful of emerging market economies. However, the inflationtargeting regime is not especially fragile in emerging market economies. As these economies gain experience with inflation targets and respond appropriately to forecast errors generated by the private sector, the likelihood of breaches in the target ranges tends to fall.     

Three‐Regime Asymmetric STAR Modeling and Exchange Rate Reversion

The breakdown of the Bretton Woods system and the adoption of generalized floating exchange rates ushered in a new era of exchange rate volatility and uncertainty. This increased volatility leads economists to search for economic models able to describe observed exchange rate behavior. In the present paper, we propose more general STAR transition functions that encompass both threshold nonlinearity and asymmetric effects. Our framework allows for a gradual adjustment from one regime to another and considers threshold effects by encompassing other existing models, such as TAR models. We apply our methodology to three different exchange rate data sets: one for developing countries and official nominal exchange rates, the second for emerging market economies using black market exchange rates, and the third for OECD economies.     

Fear of floating in Asia and the credibility of true floaters?

Quite often, countries commit to free floating exchange rate (ER) regimes but do not allow their ERs to float freely, exhibiting a fear of floating. We revisit ER regimes in Asia following the work of Calvo and Reinhart (2002), and also develop a new flexibility index based on probabilities gauging interventions in FX market. In light of our findings, we cannot disregard the existence of fear of floating in Asia, and find that economies widely known as truly floating economies exhibit this fear too. Further, the results validate our concerns regarding the IMF’s methodology of regime classification intermingling credible inflation targeting with fear of floating.     

基于“二元经济结构”的人民币汇率制度转换研究——运用三元模型

本文以26个具有“二元经济结构”特征的转型经济国家为样本,通过建立三元模型,对这些国家从1995￣2004年期间汇率制度转换情况进行了实证研究。结果表明,模型中的解释变量和反映“二元经济结构”特征的控制变量均具有很强的显著性,模型可靠稳定。最后,将我国的数据代入到模型中进行模拟和预测,得出了人民币汇率制度从1995年以来就应该向更加浮动的方向转换的结论。因此,应该把握当前有利时机,积极地向更加灵活的、有管理的浮动汇率制度的新框架进行转换。     

Self-oriented monetary policy,global financial markets and excess volatility of international capital flows

This paper explores the nature of macroeconomic spillovers from advanced economies to emerging market economies (EMEs) and the consequences for independent use of monetary policy in EMEs. We first empirically document that a US contractionary monetary policy shock leads a retrenchment in EME capital flows, a fall in EME GDP, and an exchange rate depreciation. We construct a theoretical model that can help to account for these findings. In the model, macroeconomic spillovers may be exacerbated by financial frictions. Absent financial frictions, international spillovers are minor, and an inflation targeting rule represents an effective policy for the EME. With frictions in financial intermediation, however, spillovers are substantially magnified, and an inflation targeting rule has little advantage over an exchange rate peg. However, an optimal monetary policy markedly improves on the performance of naive inflation targeting or an exchange rate peg. Furthermore, optimal policies don't need to be coordinated across countries. A non-cooperative, self-oriented optimal policy gives results very similar to those of a global cooperative optimal policy.     

Monetary convergence of the EU accession countries to the eurozone: A theoretical framework and policy implications

A flexible approach to direct inflation targeting offers the European Union accession countries a viable monetary policy choice that is believed to facilitate both the economic transition and the monetary convergence to the eurozone. Following this assumption, a model investigating the nexus between inflation and selected monetary variables in three EU accession countries: the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary is advanced. The empirical analysis is aimed at explaining the sensitivity of the CPI-based inflation path in these countries to backward- as well as forward-looking expectations, nominal exchange rate fluctuations, the eurozone inflation impulses, and output changes. The analysis implies that the monetary convergence begins with flexible inflation targeting and concludes with a full-fledged euroization.     

Inflation Targeting and Exchange Rate Pass-Through: The Turkish Experience

Using a vector autoregression model, we show that the pass-through from imported inflation to domestic inflation has weakened substantially and slowed after the adoption of inflation targeting in Turkey. We argue that this finding is due mainly to several features—such as enhanced credibility of the central bank, changing behavior of the exchange rate, and a shift in expectation formation—possibly acquired by the implementation of a successful inflation-targeting regime. These observations suggest that adopting an inflation-targeting regime in itself may help to reduce exchange rate pass-through.     

Exchange Rate Changes and Inflation in Post‐Crisis Asian Economies: Vector Autoregression Analysis of the Exchange Rate Pass‐Through

Macro‐economic consequences of large currency depreciations among the crisis‐hit Asian economies varied from one country to another. Inflation did not soar after the Asian currency crisis of 1997–98 in most crisis‐hit countries except Indonesia where high inflation followed a very large nominal depreciation of the rupiah. The high inflation meant a loss of price competitive advantage, a key for economic recovery from a crisis. This paper examines the pass‐through effects of exchange rate changes on the domestic prices in the East Asian economies using a vector autoregression analysis. The main results are as follows: (i) the degree of exchange rate pass‐through to import prices was quite high in the crisis‐hit economies; (ii) the pass‐through to Consumer Price Index (CPI) was generally low, with a notable exception of Indonesia; and (iii) in Indonesia, both the impulse response of monetary policy variables to exchange rate shocks and that of CPI to monetary policy shocks were positive, large, and statistically significant. Thus, Indonesia's accommodative monetary policy, coupled with the high degree of CPI responsiveness to exchange rate changes was an important factor in the inflation‐depreciation spiral in the wake of the currency crisis.     

The impact of international spillovers on Swiss inflation and the exchange rate

Understanding the effects and transmission of international spillovers is key to ensuring that the best possible decisions are reached by central banks – particularly those of small open economies. This paper analyses the impact of international spillovers on Swiss inflation and the exchange rate, and examines the response of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to these phenomena. In doing so, the paper compares the recent crisis period starting in mid-2008 with earlier decades. While the exchange rate absorbed a sizeable share of global inflationary pressure before the crisis, spillover effects transmitted through the exchange rate have been the principal cause of the significant decline in Swiss inflation since 2008. The SNB has therefore repeatedly adjusted its monetary policy – and resorted to some unconventional measures – in order to contain these spillover effects. These actions have so far kept the adverse effects of international spillovers on Swiss inflation at bay. However, as Switzerland's experience since the onset of the financial crisis shows, controlling inflation may occasionally become more difficult for small open economies.     

Pegged Exchange Rate Regimes—A Trap?

We analyze the role of an exchange rate peg as a commitment mechanism to achieve inflation stability when multiple equilibria are possible. We show that there are ex ante large gains from choosing a more conservative regime not only in order to mitigate inflation bias from time inconsistency but also to avoid high inflation equilibria. In these circumstances, using a pegged exchange rate as an anti-inflation commitment device can create a "trap" whereby the regime initially confers gains in anti-inflation credibility but ultimately results in an exit occasioned by a big enough adverse real shock that creates large welfare losses to the economy.