Monetary Shocks and the Fundamental Determinants of the Real Exchange Rate under the Hong Kong Currency Board

To assess the claim that flexible markets render monetary policy unimportant under the currency board, we test the impact of monetary shocks on Hong Kong's real exchange rate. Using vector autoregressions, we find persistent effects of monetary shocks on the real exchange rate, implying money is not neutral in Hong Kong. We then estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate, employing the definition developed by Rogoff-Obstfeld-Stein. The divergence between the observed and equilibrium rates is clearly stationary throughout the 1980s, but after a key policy shift in 1991 that divergence becomes non-stationary. We conclude that Hong Kong's real exchange rate moved away from the real fundamentals in the latter period.     

Persistence of Output Fluctuations Under Different Exchange Rate Regimes

In a recent paper, Giugale and Korobow (2000) present evidence that suggests that the time required by output to return to trend following a financial shock is faster under a flexible exchange rate regime than under a fixed exchange rate. In this paper, we use vector autoregression models to measure the persistence properties of output for a number of countries in the Asia–Pacific region. Our results suggest that output persistence is not uniquely related to a country's choice of exchange rate regime. The two countries in our sample with the least persistent output following a financial shock are Australia, where the exchange rate is fully flexible, and Hong Kong, where it is rigidly fixed via a currency board.     

Exchange rate policy in the pacific: an evaluation of currency basket regimes

The Pacific island countries have opted for exchange rate regimes with varying degrees of flexibility. Whereas several microstates have adopted an external currency as their legal tender, others have decided to use a basket currency, and yet others have chosen a managed float. The choice of exchange rate regime can have far reaching economic consequences. In the paper, we study the basket currency arrangements by Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, and Tonga. We first build a new four‐country exchange rate model that illustrates how monetary authorities should best determine the weights of the basket currencies given certain macroeconomic objective functions. In this model, we explicitly include tourism flows. In the second part of the paper, we estimate the de facto weights of foreign currencies in the currency basket of the four countries. We show how the composition has changed amid the global financial crisis. Finally, we demonstrate that the current weights are not optimal compared with the predictions of our model.     

Renminbi Exchange Rate: Peg to A Wide Band Currency Basket

Persistent renminbi (RMB) devaluation expectations are one of the greatest threats to China's macroeconomic stability. Market interventions backed by huge foreign exchange reserves and capital controls are not sufficient to eliminate the expectations of devaluation. Creating a market‐based and flexible RMB exchange rate regime holds the key to the elimination of devaluation expectations. The present paper compares the pros and cons of several policy options, and proposes to introduce, as a transition to free floating, a new exchange rate regime pegged to a currency basket with a wide band. The new regime should be able to give the RMB exchange rate enough flexibility to eliminate devaluation expectations as well as prevent excessive overshooting. To ensure a smooth transition, the new regime needs to be supported by controlling cross‐border capital flows.     

Macroeconomic Policy, Exchange Rate Regimes and Economic Growth

China has been keeping high economic growth rate since it carried out managed floating exchange rate regimes in 1994, while now begins to face retrenchment pressure brought by the depression of internal and external economy. The establishment of RMB exchange rate regime should take account of the validity of macroeconomic policy, macroeconomic growth and the regional internationalization of RMB.     

从变迁历史看人民币汇率制度改革新思路

本文介绍了人民币汇率制度的变迁历程,主要包括改革开放前的起步阶段、可调整固定汇率钉住制、钉住货币篮子和改革开放后的汇率双轨制及两种不同的有管理的浮动汇率制度。通过对历史上汇率制度的探讨和我国现状的分析,笔者认为我国汇率制度的改革应沿着"有管理的浮动汇率制—爬行钉住制—浮动汇率制"这条道路稳步发展,随着人民币汇率波动的逐步加大,人民币汇率制度最终过渡到浮动汇率制度。     

人民币汇率制度改革以及汇率波动性研究

自我国1978年改革开放以来,我国汇率制度的改革大体上经过了3个阶段:复汇率制度、单一有管理浮动汇率制度、参考"一篮子货币"有管理浮动汇率制度。本文着重讲述了这三个阶段汇率制度的改革情况,分析了人民币兑美元的汇率走势,并对汇率波动性进行实证研究,然后指出我国汇率制度当前存在的问题,以及针对这些问题提出改革的下一步路径。     

The Political Economy of Exchange Rate Regimes: Evidence from Hong Kong and Taiwan

This paper investigates whether the macroeconomic performance of a small- open economy depends on the choice of exchange rate regimes. Hong Kong and Taiwan - two economies with many similar macroeconomic characteristics, but different in their choices of exchange rate regimes - provide a good setting to study the relation between the choice of exchange rate regime and macro-economic performance. We examine the basic facts of growth and inflation and the coefficients' stability of their vector autoregression (VAR), as well as cyclical characters of other aggregate variables in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Our empiric finding indicates that macroeconomic performance is not systematically related to exchange rate regimes.     

One country,two currencies: The adoption of the Hong Kong currency board, 1983

Currency boards have had an enduring attraction as a solution to exchange rate and monetary credibility for small open economies, despite few successful examples. In this context, the case of Hong Kong stands out for its longevity; it survived the handover to China, the Asian financial crises in 1997, and the global crises in 2007–8 and 2020. The 1983 currency crisis and the decision to link the exchange rate to the US$ is usually treated as an outcome of local political uncertainty due to the Sino-British negotiations which set the framework for how Hong Kong would fit with the rest of China after 1997. We present fresh archival evidence from Hong Kong and London to reveal the year-long debates over Hong Kong's monetary system after a drop in the exchange rate in September 1982 and to demonstrate how most of the protagonists in Hong Kong and London came only reluctantly to accept the idea of re-pegging the dollar once public expectations had been raised. We also show how the mixture of currency and banking instability affected the terms of the negotiations in 1982 and 1983 and set the framework for the one country, two currencies system that prevails today.     

Exchange rate regime switching in Malaysia and Singapore in response to China’s move to a basket peg: A DSGE analysis

Motivated by the observation that when China broke from its US dollar peg in 2005, Malaysia and Singapore likewise loosened their currency ties to the US dollar, this paper considers how these two countries might best respond to a hypothetical transition by China to a new basket peg regime. We specify five alternative exchange rate strategies that encompass fixed, basket, and floating regimes and gradual versus sudden transitions. To project outcomes for macroeconomic variables under these alternative regimes, we apply a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model of a small open economy and incorporate exogenous shocks as actually occurred from 2005 Q1 to 2014 Q4. We then compare the strategies based on values of a cumulative loss function defined on the output gap, the inflation rate, and the real effective exchange rate. The exercise reveals that a gradual adjustment to a basket peg with long-term optimal weights is the first-best policy for both countries, where optimal weights are derived to minimize the loss function. Further, both a sudden shift to a basket peg with optimal weights and a sudden shift to a floating rate regime are superior to maintaining the dollar peg in Malaysia, but not to maintaining the existing basket peg in Singapore.     

The European Periphery in the Era of the Gold Standard: The Case of the Spanish Peseta and the Pound Sterling from 1883 to 1931

This paper analyses the relationship between the Spanish peseta, the currency of a peripheral country, and the pound sterling, the central currency of the gold standard. From 1883, when Spain suspended metallic convertibility, until 1931, when Great Britain definitively abandoned gold, the peseta was a fiat currency with a flexible exchange rate regime. Our results confirm, first, long-run PPP hypothesis compliance for the peseta/pound sterling rate during the period. Secondly, we illustrate how the inclusion of peripheral variables (erratic trade and financial risk), significantly improves the short-run adjustment to the PPP hypothesis. It appears that the floating regime thus helped Spain to smooth out the required external adjustment process resulting from balance of payments shocks.     

China's Exchange Rate Movements and Corporate Currency Invoicing Strategies

Since China introduced a new managed floating exchange rate regime in 2005, the persistent appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar has led Chinese firms to reassess their choice of invoice currency among the dollar and other international alternatives to price their exports. The present paper performs a systematic invoice currency analysis by surveying the published literature, summarizing criteria for decision-making, and evaluating the choices available to Chinese exporters implementing currency invoicing strategies to maximize expected profits. This study finds that the euro could play an increasing role as the invoice currency of Chinese firms, although the US dollar will still play a dominant role. Chinese exporters might shift gradually from the dollar to the euro in the face of the falling dollar, balancing between the two by necessity.     

Monetary autonomy in selected Asian economies: The role of international reserves

With the increased financial integration of Asian countries, monetary policy takes on the additional role of maintaining the stability of the financial system along with the traditional objectives of promoting growth and employment with price stability. Given the importance and relevance of monetary policy in Asian countries, we examine monetary autonomy and its interaction with financial integration, currency regimes and international reserves for the past two decades in the following Asian countries: Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India. The empirical analysis reveals two significant and interesting findings that have policy implications. First, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia, countries that have moved towards a floating currency regime, experienced simultaneous declines in the sensitivity of their interest rates (thereby increasing monetary autonomy), while India continues to increase the sensitivity of its interest rates with a pegged exchange rate and increased financial integration. Second, in all of the studied economies, the accumulation of international reserves has contributed, to some extent, to the retention of monetary autonomy in terms of preventing the sensitivity of the interest rates from rising. We speculate that the accumulation of reserves plays the role of an anchor for monetary autonomy in emerging market economies facing a “fear of floating”.     

全球金融危机背景下的我国货币错配问题研究

我国的货币错配具有一些自身的特点,表现为巨额正外币资产头寸,在全球金融危机背景下,这将带来巨大的风险挑战。因此加强对货币错配问题的研究对于宏观经济政策的制定特别是对汇率制度的改革,具有非常重要的现实意义。本文首先通过估计我国的货币错配水平,分析我国的货币错配现状,指出全球金融危机背景下的风险挑战,进而提出相应的风险防范措施。     

Inflation-targeting under a Managed Exchange Rate: the Case of the Chinese Central Bank

In 2004, the People's Bank of China (PBC) is reported to have abandoned the quantity of money as its intermediate goal and to adopt some elements of the apparatus of inflation targeting, without giving up the managed exchange rate regime for the renminbi (RMB), the Chinese currency. We show in this paper, using a dynamic setting, that partially implementing the apparatus of inflation targeting by the PBC to improve the performance of monetary policy encounters various difficulties from out-of-equilibrium dynamics to macro-economic and financial instability. In this context, some macro-economic measures can be helpful for reducing disequilibrium. Further development of internal monetary and financial markets and assigning balanced weights by the PBC to inflation and output targets are necessary conditions for the regime to be stable.     

人民币升值压力下的国际营销策略

我国自2005年7月21日,开始实行以市场供求为基础、参考一篮子货币进行调节、有管理的浮动汇率制度。汇改以来,虽然人民币对美元大幅升值,而中国经济似乎并未受到太大的影响,但是升值对于我国部分行业的造成压力和经济的长远发展却是不可忽视的。本文阐述了汇率决定理论并以此为基础,研究了人民币币值逾30个月来的市场表现以及升值对于部分行业的压力,指出了在此情形下的国际营销策略,其中战略措施包括实施"走出去"战略、加快产品更新换代和企业转型以及进行多元化选择和全球化配置,战术措施包括运用金融工具和举借美元外债。     

货币锚的选择与退出:对最优货币规则的再考察

百年来,无论是传统的固定与浮动之争,还是现代的中间与两极之争都无法解决什么才是最好的汇率制度这一难题。基于此,本文从什么才是最优的货币规则这一新的视角对基本的货币问题进行探讨,并得到一系列结论:(1)货币不可无锚,而锚的选择取决于网络外部性;(2)不同的下锚规则本质上决定了货币政策工具和政策目标的界定,原则上,一个国家、货币区甚至全球货币体系可选择黄金、单一或一篮子货币、一篮子商品、货币供给量作为固定的货币锚;(3)相对较高的外汇储备和适度的资本管制为一国货币锚有序退出提供了条件。     

The effects of financial and operational hedging on company value: The case of Malaysian multinationals

This study examines the value effects of financial and operational hedging in a managed floating exchange rate regime with strict limitations on the trading of Malaysian Ringgit for a sample of 109 Malaysian multinationals from 2004–2018. Using Tobin’s Q as a proxy for company value, the two-step system GMM estimation results show that, on average, derivatives hedging creates a value premium range of 7.88–8.21 % in the short-run, and 18.81–19.80 % in the long-run. This value premium emerged both after controlling for non-operational foreign exchange profits (losses), and its two components: transaction and translation profits (losses). In contrast, foreign debt hedging, on average, creates a value discount range of 8.19–8.54 % in the short-run and 12.70–13.12 % in the long-run. No evidence shows value effect for operational hedging though. The positive value effect of derivatives hedging should motivate managers of Malaysian multinationals to hedge foreign currency exposure through derivatives and encourage policymakers to take steps in developing derivatives market and products. However, the negative value effect of foreign debt hedging indicates that it destroys value. This negative effect might reflect two potential causes; higher company risk due to FC debt financing, and improper hedging practices including high costs of hedging in the underdeveloped derivatives market. These potential causes need further empirical evaluations.     

浮动汇率制度有助于经常账户的调节吗?——基于双倍差分法的实证检验

本文运用双倍差分法,分别选择20世纪90年代亚洲金融危机和20世纪70年代布雷顿森林体系的解体两个事件作为"自然实验",实证研究汇率制度与经常账户调节的关系。研究表明,相对于固定汇率制度,浮动汇率制度未能显著地促进经常账户的调节。通过让经常账户盈余国由固定汇率制度调整为浮动汇率制度的做法不会改善全球性经常账户失衡问题。     

THE ARGENTINEAN CURRENCY CRISIS: A MARKOV‐SWITCHING MODEL ESTIMATION

In 2002, the Argentinean currency board came to a sudden and dramatic end. Although the country had been suffering from weak economic fundamentals for years, the timing and severity of the currency crisis surprised most observers. The present study analyzes the role of fundamentals and self‐fulfilling speculation in the Argentinean crisis. Arguing within a theoretical model of a fixed exchange rate system that allows for multiple equilibria, we show that the crisis, although associated with weak fundamentals, cannot be explained by these macroeconomic factors alone. Estimating a univariate Markov‐switching model, the current study shows that shifts in agents’ beliefs did indeed also play a crucial role.