Exchange rate dynamics and US dollar-denominated sovereign bond prices in emerging markets

Using data on Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia and Turkey, our empirical results show that the exchange rates of their currencies have adequate explanatory power in explaining their US dollar-denominated sovereign bonds, particularly in the post-global financial crisis period. We develop a two-factor pricing model with closed-form solutions for the sovereign bonds in which the correlated factors are foreign exchange rates and US risk-free interest rates that follow a double square-root process relevant in the low interest rate environment. The numerical results and associated error analysis show that the model credit spreads can broadly track the market credit spreads.     

Trade uncertainties and the hedging abilities of Bitcoin

In this paper, we first estimate the monthly realised correlation, based on daily data, between stock returns of the United States (US) and Bitcoin returns. Then, we relate the realised correlation over the period October 2011 to May 2019 with a news-based measure of the growth of trade uncertainty of the US. Our results show that the realised correlation is negatively impacted by increases in trade uncertainty, which continues to hold under alternative robustness checks, suggesting that Bitcoin can act as a hedge relative to the conventional stock market in the wake of heightened trade policy-related uncertainties, and provide diversification benefits for investors.     

Does the US EXIM Bank really promote US exports?

This paper investigates the impact of US Export‐Import Bank (EXIM ) on US exports particularly in the wake of international competition from foreign national export credit agencies (ECA s). We employ a gravity framework on a country‐industry‐year‐level panel data set that matches EXIM authorisations with US bilateral exports. Our results depict the general ineffectiveness of the Bank in promoting exports within and across industries. Some heterogeneities behind the general finding are also uncovered: industries other than aerospace parts and products are more likely to benefit from EXIM authorisations, and EXIM authorisations to larger businesses seem to be more effective in encouraging exports. Furthermore, we find no evidence that EXIM encourages US exports by offsetting foreign ECA competition. These results are neither affected by competing countries’ membership to the OECD Arrangement nor by the size of American firms that received EXIM support. Our results cast doubt on the ubiquitously positive claims made by the Bank and its supporters, yet also provide policy lessons for countries that are either in the inception stages of establishing their own ECA s or are now placing greater importance on ECA financing in encouraging exports.     

Is faster or slower trading better? An examination of order type execution speed and costs

We examine order type execution speed and costs for US equity traders. Marketable orders that execute slower exhibit lower execution costs. Those who remove liquidity faster and pay higher trading costs transact in smaller size, spread trading across more venues, take more liquidity, and are better informed. Nonmarketable limit orders that execute slower exhibit greater adverse selection; and larger, uninformed traders who concentrate their trading in fewer venues submit them. Our findings suggest that slowing down the trading process, when faster options exist, can benefit certain market participants who seek to cross the bid–ask spread.     

美国贸易法301条款的修订及其启示

美国贸易法301条款是一项可以单方启动调查并认定他国法律、政策、行为违反协定或者不公平继而实施报复制裁的对外贸易措施,分为普通301条款、特别301条款与超级301条款。301条款最初简明规定了总统的权力和国会的否认权,但其后的修订对301条款的内容进行了扩展并使其更具体化。特别是301条款根据《2015年贸易便捷和贸易促进法》做出重大修改,涵盖了WTO体系尚未涵盖但最近已纳入自贸协定的新领域。然而,这些针对外国贸易活动的单方决定和措施附加等至今备受争议,且已对强调多边贸易争端解决的WTO体系构成严重威胁。美国贸易法301条款的修订主要围绕着美国贸易代表办公室(USTR)的措施、决定、对外国政府相关政策的监督、确认贸易自由化的优先顺序以及知识产权不适当保护的应对等内容进行。针对美国不断启动的301条款调查,我国应与美国积极开展沟通与协商,加强与美国产业界的接触和交流,发挥全球化程度高的企业的作用,力争以谈话和谈判化解矛盾;促进产业转型升级,重新审视“走出去”战略;履行加入WTO时的承诺,完善全方位的开放体制;合理拓展中国企业的海外利益,完善风险防范机制。     

Global uncertainties and portfolio flow dynamics of the BRICS countries

This paper investigates the dynamics of bond and stock market capital flows to BRICS countries under uncertainties such as global economic policy uncertainty and the US trade policy uncertainty. We use a time-varying Granger causality framework over the January 2008-November 2019 period to analyze the predictive power of uncertainties on capital flows in the form of bond and equity. The results show that the effects are heterogeneous across countries and stronger during the Global Financial Crisis period and post-2018 period while it lost its significance in the subsequent period. The negative influence of uncertainties on capital flows directed to BRICS countries is also evident in the results of non-parametric time-varying panel models. Overall, it is thought that the heterogeneous structure of the causality between uncertainty and portfolio flows into BRICS may present portfolio diversification benefits for global investors.     

COVID-19, stock market and sectoral contagion in US: a time-frequency analysis

We assess the conditional relationship in the time-frequency domain between the return on S&P 500 and confirmed cases and deaths by COVID-19 in Hubei, China, countries with record deaths and the world, for the period from January 29 to June 30, 2020. Methodologically, we follow Aguiar-Conraria et al. (2018), by using partial coherencies, phase-difference diagrams, and gains. We also perform a parametric test for Granger-causality in quantiles developed by Troster (2018). We find that short-term cycles of deaths in Italy in the first days of March, and soon afterwards, cycles of deaths in the world are able to lead out-of-phase US stock market. We find that low frequency cycles of the US market index in the first half of April are useful to anticipate in an anti-phasic way the cycles of deaths in the US. We also explore sectoral contagion, based on dissimilarities, Granger causality and partial coherencies between S&P sector indices. Our findings, such as the strategic role of the energy sector, which first reacted to the pandemic, or the evidence about predictability of the Telecom cycles, are useful to tell the history of the pass-through of this recent health crises across the sectors of the US economy.     

Why you should use high frequency data to test the impact of exchange rate on trade

This study suggests that testing the impact of exchange rate on trade should be done using high-frequency data. Using different data frequencies for identical periods and specifications between the US and Canada, we show that low-frequency data might suppress and distort the evidence of the impact of exchange rate on trade in the short run and the long run.     

Exchange rate sensitivity of commodity flows between the Philippines and the US

Previous studies that tried to assess the impact of exchange rate changes on the inpayments and outpayments of a country used aggregate trade flows between two countries. They are said to suffer from aggregation bias, and disaggregation by industry is recommended. In this paper, we consider response to exchange rate changes of export earnings (inpayments) of 133 industries that export from the US to the Philippines (Philippines’ importing industries) and outpayments of 65 US industries (Philippines exporting industries) that import from the Philippines using annual data over the period 1973–2012. While in most industries exchange rate changes had significant effects in the short run, the short-run effects did not last into the long run in most industries. Economic activity played more role in the long run than the exchange rate.     

“绝境景观”——美国国家公园中的印第安崖居研究

美国西南地区丰富的印第安文化遗存,促成了西南成为美国国家公园和国家纪念地分布最为密集的地区。其中最有代表性的景观要素——崖居,是印第安族群迫于亡种灭族的生存压力,在人类几乎无法完成空间建造的崖壁上,利用有限的生产资源创造的文化景观奇迹。当美洲大地上全是印第安城市及村落的场景在历史上几乎被完全抹去时,残留在美国西南大地皮肤褶皱中的崖居,被当作国家公园或国家纪念地中的重要景观资源保留下来,成为美国公众共享的国家记忆。通过对崖居空间元素、历史形成的分析,揭示崖居文化景观“化石”遗产样本的研究具有超越地域、人种、国别的启示和意义。