Exchange market pressures during the financial crisis: A Bayesian model averaging evidence

In this paper, we examine whether pre-crisis leading indicators help explain pressures on the exchange rate (and its volatility) during the global financial crisis. We use a unique data set that covers 149 countries and 58 indicators, and estimation techniques that are robust to model uncertainty. Our results are threefold: First and foremost, we find that price stability plays a pivotal role as a determinant of exchange rate pressures. More specifically, the currencies of countries that experienced higher inflation prior to the crisis tend to be more affected in times of stress. Second, we investigate potential effects that vary with the level of pre-crisis inflation. In this vein, our results reveal that an increase in domestic savings reduces the severity of pressures in countries that experienced a low-inflation environment prior to the crisis. Finally, we find evidence of the mitigating effects of international reserves on the volatility of exchange rate pressures.     

Models of exchange rates : A comparison of forecasting results

In this note we compare the results of several published papers on exchange rate forecasting. With regard to univariate time series models, we confirm the result that such models, on average, do not outperform the simple random walk forecasting rule. This conclusion corrects results reported in this Journal by Alexander and Thomas (1987).     

Relational roles and triangle dramas: Effects on power play and sentiments in industrial channels

This study compares behavioral characteristics — power, influence, and satisfaction — in channels with different levels of commitment to long-term, collaborative exchange within the supply network to dealers in the office furniture industry. Supporting exchange theory and Emersonian power theory, power, influence, and satisfaction are positively associated with cooperation between traders. Furthermore, the data support expectations for how interaction processes in one dealer-supplier exchange are affected by the character of the dealer's linkages to another supplier in the network.The authors contributed equally to this research and are listed alphabetically. They thank Robert Dahlstrom, Sejo Oh, Fritz Russ, and Ann Welsh for comments on previous drafts of this article.     

The impact of lunchtime closure on market behaviour: evidence from the Sydney Futures Exchange

This paper examines the impact of lunchtime closure on market behaviour. Between May and September, 1994 the Sydney Futures Exchange trialed lunchtime trading. The trial provides a unique natural laboratory experiment for examining the impact of lunchtime closure. The analysis reported in this paper documents abnormally high bid ask spreads, price volatility and trading volume on re‐opening of the market following lunchtime closure. These results confirm that closure has an impact on trading activity, and are consistent with the effects of strategic informed trading, a loss in price discovery and/or trading associated with risk transfer. An abnormal increase in trading volume prior to lunchtime closure is also documented, providing unambiguous evidence of trading activity motivated by risk transfer. Overall these results imply that lunchtime closure disrupts trading activity and reduces market quality by imposing additional costs on market participants.     

货币政策困境与人民币汇率问题研究

笔者主要讨论宏观政策遭遇保持人民币币值稳定和以加息手段抑制通胀不可兼得的两难困境。文章在阐明利率和汇率的相互作用关系的基础上,从人民币估值压力和汇率制度的角度分析了造成货币政策两难的原因,得出了人民币汇率在国内经济条件成熟时应走向有限浮动的结论,并在文章最后提出了关于汇制改革、利率市场化及放松资本管制过程中必须注意的一些问题。     

Economic,Political, and Institutional Prerequisites for Monetary Union Among the Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council

The paper reviews the arguments for and against monetary union among the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council—the United Arab Emirates, the State of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar and the State of Kuwait. Both technical economic arguments and political economy considerations are discussed. I conclude that there is an economic case for GCC monetary union, but that it is not overwhelming. The lack of economic integration among the GCC members is striking. Without anything approaching the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons among the six GCC member countries, the case for monetary union is mainly based on the small size of all GCC members other than Saudi Arabia, and their high degree of openness. Indeed, even without the creation of a monetary union, there could be significant advantages to all GCC members, from both an economic and a security perspective, from greater economic integration, through the creation of a true common market for goods, services, capital and labour, and from deeper political integration. The political arguments against monetary union at this juncture appear overwhelming, however. The absence of effective supranational political institutions encompassing the six GCC members means that there could be no effective political accountability of the GCC central bank. The surrender of political sovereignty inherent in joining a monetary union would therefore not be perceived as legitimate by an increasingly politically sophisticated citizenry. I believe that monetary union among the GCC members will occur only as part of a broad and broadly based movement towards far-reaching political integration. And there is little evidence of that as yet.

A structural break in the effects of Japanese foreign exchange intervention on yen/dollar exchange rate volatility

We study the impact of Japanese foreign exchange intervention on the volatility of the yen/dollar exchange rate since the early 1990’s in a GARCH framework with interventions as exogenous variables. Using daily intervention data provided by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, we show that the effect of interventions varies over time. From 1991 up to the late 1990’s, Japanese foreign exchange intervention is associated with an increase in volatility of the yen/dollar exchange rate. After the year 1997, Japanese foreign exchange intervention correlates with reductions in exchange rate volatility. This can be explained by the fact that Japanese foreign exchange intervention remained quasi unsterilized in the liquidity trap.

我国上市公司股改对价的公平性研究

在股权分置改革中,非流通股股东支付给流通股股东的对价水平在总体上是公平的,不公平成分占整个对价水平的比例很小。流通股股东持股比例、公司未来发展前景与公司股改对价水平之间均呈显著负相关关系。严格控制公司出台对价承诺方案,并对有对价承诺方案的公司加强监督,以及加强对机构投资者、非流通股大股东和上市公司之间内幕交易的监管,将是本次股改和股改后监管工作的重中之重。     

一种新的股市泡沫计量方法

针对我国股票市场股权改革和一级市场非市场化的特殊情况,本文提出把"整个"上市公司抽象成"一个"上市公司的假定,得到股市的理论收益率和实际收益率指标,根据这两个指标的动态变化关系,提出了一种新的股市泡沫计量方法.为了检验这一方法,本文计量了同期美国、日本股市泡沫的情况.实证结果显示新的计量方法能够很好地解释我国股市的泡沫情况.     

Foreign exchange risk and the predictability of carry trade returns

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the time-series predictive ability of foreign exchange risk measures on the return to the carry trade, a popular investment strategy that borrows in low-interest currencies and lends in high-interest currencies. Using quantile regressions, we find that higher market variance is significantly related to large future carry trade losses, which is consistent with the unwinding of the carry trade in times of high volatility. The decomposition of market variance into average variance and average correlation shows that the predictive power of market variance is primarily due to average variance since average correlation is not significantly related to carry trade returns. Finally, a new version of the carry trade that conditions on market variance generates performance gains net of transaction costs.