External Constraints on Monetary Policy and the Financial Accelerator

We develop a small open economy macroeconomic model where financial conditions influence aggregate behavior. Our goal is to explore the connection between the exchange rate regime and financial distress. We first show that a calibrated version of the model captures well the behavior of the Korean economy during its financial crisis period of 1997–98. In particular, the model accounts for the sharp increase in lending rates and the large drop in output, employment, investment, and measured productivity. The financial market frictions play an important role, further, explaining roughly half the decline in overall economic activity. We then perform some counterfactual exercises to illustrate how the fixed exchange rate regime likely exacerbated the crisis by tying the hands of monetary policy.     

The size of banking crises in credible fixed exchange rate regimes

Since monetary policy is constrained in fixed exchange rate regimes, we should observe fewer banking crises due to moral hazard in countries with credible currency pegs. However, three countries with seemingly credible pegs in the nineteen-eighties and -nineties, namely China, Hong Kong and Argentina, still suffered crises in their domestic banking sectors. The present note illustrates that bank incentives to take on excess risk still exist in countries with currency peg credibility and that the size of that risk exposure (and thus the potential for crisis) may be positively related to the level of central bank foreign exchange reserves.     

Convergence,capital accumulation and the nominal exchange rate

This paper develops a flexible price, two-sector growth model with a nominal side to study the role of the exchange rate in transition dynamics. We adopt a standard small open economy model with traded and nontraded goods, where the engines of growth are exogenous productivity improvements and capital accumulation. We enhance this standard framework by adding a preference for real money holdings, captured by money-in-the-utility. We follow Schmitt-Grohé and Uribe (2003) and assume that the interest rate on bonds issued by the small open economy is debt-dependent, and interpret it as a simple financial friction. We show analytically that the choice of the exchange rate regime influences the transition dynamics of a small open economy through the balance sheet of the central bank. We then calibrate the model to explore the quantitative significance of our results. We find that the choice of the exchange rate regime has significant and lasting effects on prices, consumption, investment and sectoral allocations, and the composition of financial assets.     

开放经济下的“双支柱”调控稳定效应研究

本文研究了管理浮动汇率制下我国货币政策和宏观审慎政策双支柱的调控稳定效应。首先,本文从实证层面考察了人民币汇率升贬值对央行货币政策的非对称影响。接着,本文构建了包含银行部门与货币错配的开放宏观经济模型,重点分析了在面对美联储加息、人民币贬值压力的情况下,货币政策(包括对汇率的反应)和宏观审慎政策(对外债的逆周期调节)的配合如何影响宏观经济和金融的稳定。结论表明,如果缺少宏观审慎政策的配合,货币政策对汇率的反应将导致产出、通货膨胀和资产价格等经济金融变量的波动增大。在存在宏观审慎政策的前提下,相对于完全浮动汇率制,管理浮动汇率制从中长期看能进一步促进产出和外债等核心变量的稳定。     

高利率能否捍卫汇率稳定：基于马尔科夫变换的世代交叠模型的分析

按照传统观点,在本国货币遭受投机攻击时,中央银行的典型做法是提高短期利率来捍卫货币和汇率制度。但批评者认为,提高利率会增加经济发展的成本,容易引发信用恐慌和产出减少。通过建立一个基于马尔科夫变换的世代交叠模型可以发现,利率被提的越高,汇率波动率也会随之相应增加。当高利率的货币政策使经济增长放缓甚至衰退,维持汇率稳定的可信度下降时,投机者就会发动对本币的投机攻击。最后在外汇储备耗尽的情况下,中央银行权衡得失后不得不实行浮动汇率制。     

新凯因斯DSGE模型与货币政策法则之汇率动态分析

对于小型开放经济而言,当经济存在价格僵硬的情况下,中央银行在面对不同冲击发生时,各政策法则执行对汇率波动的影响及动态调整过程差异较大。从中国台湾地区的情况为案例来看,在稳定汇率波动方面:当国内技术冲击时,货币法则优于利率法则;当国外通货膨胀时,利率法则优于货币法则;当国外利率冲击时,执行利率法则或货币法则,其结果无显著差异。在汇率动态调整方面:当国外利率调升时,中央银行执行利率法则与货币法则下,汇率的瞬时反应为过度贬值;当国外物价膨胀时,执行利率法则与货币法则下,汇率的瞬时反应表现为立即升值;当国内技术进步冲击时,因为国外冲击对小型开放经济体系影响力道较强,使得国内技术进度对体系的影响相对较小,其中在利率法则下,汇率微幅贬值,而在货币法则下,汇率微幅升值。     

基于VAR模型的我国外汇储备、货币供应量与信贷规模关系研究

1994年外汇管理体制改革以来我国外汇储备持续增长,已成为世界上外汇储备最多的国家。巨额外汇储备使得货币供应量增加,银行信贷规模不断扩大。结合2006年至2013年季度数据,基于VAR模型运用协整方法探讨我国外汇储备、货币供应量及银行信贷规模的关系,并通过脉冲响应和方差分解予以进一步分析。结果表明,三变量之间存在长期稳定的均衡关系,外汇储备的增长促进货币供应量的增加,而货币供应量的增加又进一步推动了银行信贷规模的扩张。最后,基于以上分析提出相关对策建议。     

Exchange Rate Targeting and Gold Demand by Central Banks: Modeling International Reserves Composition

This article explores the composition of international reserves under a central bank’s exchange rate policy target. The model allows for numerical estimation of a shadow price of the target exchange rate, interpreted as the central bank’s sacrifice of policy precision for additional unit of portfolio variance or return. The simulations indicate a percentage range gold demand by monetary authority in two regimes under multiple equilibria. Accumulating foreign reserves as precautionary policy suggests increasing shares of gold demand. The central bank would incur greater exchange rate target sacrifice if it wants to achieve higher portfolio returns. The results suggest that ability to target the exchange rate is unaffected by the higher volatility of monthly returns on gold.     

冲销干预对区域信贷利率的影响:一种新视角

在我国现行的外汇管理体制下,外汇储备增长导致了基础货币供应量的增长。为维持汇率稳定和防止流动性过剩,央行采取冲销干预手段对冲外汇占款。本文通过固定效应模型实证分析得出:冲销干预通过影响信贷资金的区域供给状况,进而影响区域信贷利率。据此,本文提出进一步完善汇率制度、改善金融生态环境等相关政策建议。     

Uncovering the Hit List for Small Inflation Targeters: A Bayesian Structural Analysis

We estimate underlying structural macroeconomic policy objectives of three of the earliest explicit inflation targeters within the context of a small open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. We assume central banks set policy optimally, such that we can reverse engineer policy objectives from observed time series data. Joint tests of the posterior distributions of these policy preference parameters suggest that the central banks are very similar in their overall objective. None of the central banks show a concern for stabilizing the real exchange rate. All three central banks share a concern for minimizing the volatility in the change in the nominal interest rate. We also show that the resulting optimal policy rule responds to exchange rate movements, even in the case where the central banks do not explicitly care about exchange rate stabilization. This result is also corroborated by results from an alternative simple-rule characterization and estimation of central bank behavior. These last two findings point to the pitfalls of making inferences, from the level of ad hoc simple rules, about what central banks may care about.     

Monetary policy in emerging markets: Can liability dollarization explain contractionary devaluations?

In emerging markets, external debt is denominated almost entirely in large, developed country currencies such as the U.S. dollar. This liability dollarization offers a channel through which exchange rate variation can lead to business cycle instability. When firms' assets are denominated in domestic currency and liabilities are denominated in foreign currency, an exchange rate depreciation worsens firms' balance sheets, which leads to higher capital costs and contractions in capital spending. To illustrate this, I construct a quantitative, sticky price, small open economy model in which a monetary policy induced devaluation leads to a persistent contraction in output. In this model, fixed exchange rates offer greater stability than an interest rule that targets inflation.     

Exchange market pressure and absorption by international reserves: Emerging markets and fear of reserve loss during the 2008–2009 crisis

This paper evaluates how the global financial crisis emanating from the U.S. was transmitted to emerging markets. Our focus is on the extent that the crisis caused external market pressures (EMP), and whether the absorption of the shock was mainly through exchange rate depreciation or the loss of international reserves. Controlling for variety of factors associated with EMP, we find clear evidence that emerging markets with higher total foreign liabilities, including short- and long-term debt, equities, FDI and derivative products—had greater exposure and were much more vulnerable to the financial crisis. Countries with large balance sheet exposure – high external portfolio liabilities exceeding international reserves—absorbed the global shock by allowing greater exchange rate depreciation and comparatively less reserve loss. Despite the remarkable buildup of international reserves by emerging markets during the period prior to the financial crisis, countries relied primarily on exchange rate deprecation rather than reserve loss to absorb most of the exchange market pressure shock. This could reflect a deliberate choice (“fear of reserve loss”) or market actions that caused very rapid exchange rate adjustment, especially in emerging markets with open capital markets, overwhelming policy actions.     

Capital controls and monetary policy autonomy in a small open economy

Is there a link between capital controls and monetary policy autonomy in a country with a floating currency? Shocks to capital flows into a small open economy lead to volatility in asset prices and credit supply. To lessen the impact of capital flows on financial instability, a central bank finds it optimal to use the domestic interest rate to “manage” the capital account. Capital account restrictions affect the behavior of optimal monetary policy following shocks to the foreign interest rate. Capital controls allow optimal monetary policy to focus less on the foreign interest rate and more on domestic variables.     

货币政策在银行危机管理中的效果

本文从货币政策的信贷传导渠道出发,探讨了金融危机条件下商业银行资本管理、准备金需求的变化、信贷配给对货币政策有效性的影响机制。分析表明,货币政策的有效性不仅取决于中央银行的政策意图,还受制于商业银行资本量、风险偏好以及信贷配给程度的变化。因此,强化危机时期的货币政策效果必须配合影响银行信贷行为的措施。     

The Impact of Foreign Banks on Monetary Policy Transmission During the Global Financial Crisis of 2008–2009: Evidence from Korea

This article examines the impact of foreign banks on the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the Korean economy during the period from 2000 to 2012, with a specific focus on the lending behavior of banks with different types of ownership. Using bank-level panel data of the banking system in Korea, we present consistent evidence on the buffering impact that the foreign banks, especially foreign bank branches including US bank branches, on the effectiveness of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Korea from the bank-lending channel perspective during the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.     

International Spillover Effects and Monetary Policy Activism

This paper examines how the preferences of a large economy’s central bank affect the trade‐off between output and inflation volatility faced by the central bank of a small open economy by analyzing the impact of a global cost‐push shock. We demonstrate that under the assumption of producer currency pricing, the trade‐off faced by the small open economy is likely to worsen as the foreign central bank becomes more focused on output stabilization relative to inflation stabilization; but the opposite is true in the case of local currency pricing.     

The dampening effect of bank foreign liabilities on monetary policy: Revisiting monetary cooperation in East Asia

This paper addresses the cost of formal monetary cooperation from the perspective of monetary policy effectiveness. As banks tend to borrow from abroad in foreign currencies to fund domestic lending, monetary policy may have a reduced effect on the credit market and the economy. Results derived from bank level data in East Asia indicate that bank foreign liabilities significantly reduce the effectiveness of the credit channel of monetary policy, implying a relatively low cost of giving up monetary autonomy.     

货币冲销政策的理论分析

近年来我国外汇储备不断增加使得央行不断采取冲销政策,以期实现控制通胀和稳定汇率的双重经济目标。而货币冲销政策的实施方式和操作力度,是影响一国货币政策调控的关键变量,值得我们国家的中央银行认真加以研究。     

Changing Monetary Policy Rules, Learning, and Real Exchange Rate Dynamics

When the exchange rate is priced by uncovered interest parity and central banks set nominal interest rates according to a reaction function such as the Taylor rule, the real exchange rate will be determined by expected inflation and the output gap or the unemployment gap of the home and foreign countries. This paper examines the implications of these Taylor rule fundamentals for real exchange rate determination. Because the true parameters in central bank policy rules are unknown to the public and change over time, the model is presented in the context of a least squares learning environment. This simple learning model captures the volatility and the major swings in the real deutschemark/euro–dollar exchange rate from 1976 to 2007.     

U.S. Monetary Regimes and Optimal Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

Monetary policy in the United States has been documented to have switched from reacting weakly to inflation fluctuations during the 1970s, to fighting inflation aggressively from the early 1980s onward. In this paper, I analyze the impact of the U.S. monetary policy regime switches on the Eurozone. I construct a New Keynesian two‐country model where foreign (U.S.) monetary policy switches regimes over time. I estimate the model for the U.S. and the Euro Area using quarterly data and find that the United States has switched between those two regimes, in line with existing evidence. I show that foreign regime switches affect home (Eurozone) inflation and output volatility and their responses to shocks, substantially, as long as the home central bank commits to a time‐invariant interest rate rule reacting to domestic conditions only. Optimal policy in the home country instead requires that the home central bank reacts strongly to domestic producer‐price inflation and to international variables, such as imported goods relative prices. In fact, I show that currency misalignments and relative prices play a crucial role in the transmission of foreign monetary policy regime switches internationally. Interestingly, I show that only marginal gains arise for the Euro Area when the European Central Bank (ECB) adjusts its policy according to the monetary regime in the United States. Thus, a simple time‐invariant monetary policy rule with a strong reaction to Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation and relative prices is enough to counteract the effects of monetary policy switches in the United States.