The euro: Major policy implications for Europe and the global economy

The paper examines the potential of the euro as an international currency. Owing to a large home base the long‐run potential is substantial. Much depends on whether the European Central Bank will be able to gain the reputation of a tough authority that issues a stable currency. Based on a comparison with the concepts of monetary targeting and inflation targeting, it is argued that the ECB's policy strategy is inferior as regards providing guidance to inflation expectations. The paper also discusses exchange rate policy and concludes that it is unlikely that Europe will join a new international exchange rate system.     

Is there a “reform fatigue” in the euro area?

The absence of monetary policy within a currency union increases the need for structural reforms that make the participating economies more flexible. However, the absence of exchange rate risk with respect to the other members of the union may reduce the urgency for such reforms. A number of other considerations also suggest that theory is ambiguous about the impact of participating in a currency union on progress in structural reforms. This paper addresses this issue empirically for the euro area. The results suggest that reforms in the euro area seem to have decelerated following the introduction of the euro, but from a fast pace. The paper discusses a number of possible explanations, including “reform fatigue,” the absence of “market punishment,” and “good-times” complacency. Estimates from an empirical growth model suggest that the slowing of reforms may slow down annual output growth by up to 0.2%. However, the results are preliminary and depend on the area of reform considered. Furthermore, the reform dynamics may change with the euro area starting slowing at the end of 2007.     

人民币国际化与国际货币体系改革

从美国债务上限调整的议案及美国信贷主权评级的下调,可见现行由美元和欧元所组成的二元国际货币体系并不稳定。为测度出人民币的引入能否增加国际货币体系的稳定性,本文先建立面板回归模型分析影响一国货币国际化的基础条件因素,并在模型的基础上,测度出人民币在可自由兑换后将成为一个能与欧元相互抗衡的国际货币。通过方差比较,本文论证了由美元、欧元和人民币三种货币所组成的外汇储备组合较二元体系下的稳定,说明人民币国际化有助于改革现行的二元体系,使国际货币体系发展成为更稳定的三元体系,从而促进全球经济的健康发展。     

信用本位、对称竞争与国际货币多元化

运用博弈论的方法分析对称竞争性国际货币多元化体系的稳定性问题可知，在信用本位的背景下，建立在对称竞争基础上的国际货币多元化体系具有内生的稳定性。欧元、日元、英镑和人民币作为国际货币，虽在其背后均存在不同形武的发展障碍，但其均具有成为与美元并重的对称竞争性国际货币的可能性。     

Behavioural equilibrium exchange rate and total misalignment: evidence from the euro exchange rate

In the present paper we attempt to investigate whether the nominal exchange rate of the euro against the currencies of the four major trading partners of the eurozone, namely China, Japan, the UK and the USA, converges or not to its equilibrium level. Applying recent unit root and system cointegration techniques in the presence of structural shifts in the data, our results indicate that there exist an equilibrium relationship between each of the euro/yuan, euro/yen, euro/UK pound and euro/US dollar nominal exchange rates and the fundamentals defined by the monetary model. Following these results, our modified Behavioural Equilibrium Exchange Rate model suggests that at the end of the estimated period, the euro/Chinese yuan and the euro/UK pound nominal exchange rates follow an equilibrium process. Our empirical results also imply that the single European currency is considered as overvalued against the US dollar, while it is considered as undervalued against the Japanese currency.     

Greek Monetary Economics in Retrospect: The Adventures of the Drachma

This paper enumerates the adventures of the drachma step by step, dividing its story into seven parts. Specifically, its main purpose is to present some historical perspective on the behaviour of the monetary and fiscal policies pursued in Greece during the period from the early 1830s until the introduction of the euro. For Greece, the lessons of historical experience are very important. Since the formation of the modern Greek state, government officials have striven – sometimes making hard efforts – to keep abreast of international monetary developments. This was because they understood that the participation of a peripheral, poor and inflation‐prone country with a weak currency and an underdeveloped money market, like Greece of the time, in a monetary club of powerful economies could improve her international credit standing and imply important benefits in terms of exchange rate and monetary stability, and long‐term foreign borrowing .     

Exchange Rate Movements and Unemployment in the EU Accession Countries—A Panel Analysis

According to the traditional “optimum currency area” approach, not much will be lost from a very hard peg to a currency union if there has been little reason for variations in the exchange rate. This paper takes a different approach, and highlights the fact that high exchange rate volatility may as well signal high costs for labor markets. The impact of exchange rate volatility on labor markets in the CEECs is put to the test, finding that volatility vis‐à‐vis the euro significantly increases unemployment. Hence, the elimination of exchange rate volatility could be considered as a substitute for a removal of employment protection legislation. However, labor market reform could be argued to be an equally worthy strategy, backed up by central bank independence and the adoption of an anti‐inflation monetary policy rule.     

现行国际货币体系的不公正性与发展中国家的策略

现行国际货币体系的基本特征是储备货币多元化和以浮动汇率制为主流的汇率制度选择自由化，发展中国家似乎摆脱了原有的布雷顿森林体系和纪律和约束。但实际上，在现行国际货币体系下，发展中国家在储备货币依赖、江率制度选择、国际收支调节和抑制国际投资本冲击等方面均受到不利的影响（甚至是伤害）。本文首先论述了现行国际货币体系对发展中国家不公正性的表现，然后深入分析了其根源，最后提出了发展中国家应采取的若干策略。     

CURRENCY SUBSTITUTION, U.S. MONEY DEMAND, AND INTERNATIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE

A number of writers have argued in recent years that massive international currency substitution has been a major cause of exchange rate volatility and monetary instability in the United States and other major countries. Such analysis is frequently coupled with recommendations for a return to pegged exchange rates. This paper critically examines the evidence presented for this currency substitution view. It argues that the weight of latest research suggests that direct international currency substitution has not been of major quantitative importance for the U.S. However, empirical evidence supports traditional views that international capital mobility can generate substantial short-run monetary interdependence even under flexible exchange rates. Thus, even though international currency substitution is of little importance to U.S. monetary conditions, a broader range of international considerations may be of considerable importance for the U.S. economy.     

On the credit and exchange rate channels of central bank asset purchases in a monetary union

Throughout the euro area crisis, financial fragmentation across jurisdictions became a prime concern for the single monetary policy. The ECB broadened the scope of its instruments and enacted a series of non-standard measures to engineer an appropriate degree of policy accommodation. The transmission of these measures through the currency union remained highly dependent on the financial structure and conditions prevailing in various regions. This paper explores the country-specific macroeconomic transmission of selected non-standard measures from the ECB using a global DSGE model with a rich financial sector: we extend the six-region multi-country model of Darracq Pariès et al. (2016), introducing credit and exchange rate channels for central bank asset purchases. The portfolio rebalancing frictions are calibrated to match the sovereign yield and exchange rate responses after ECB's Asset Purchase Programme (APP) first announcement. The domestic transmission of the APP through the credit intermediation chain is significant and quite heterogenous across the largest euro area countries. The introduction of global portfolio frictions on euro area government bond holdings by international investors opens up for a larger depreciation of the euro. The interaction between international and domestic channels affect the magnitude and the cross-country distribution of the APP impact.     

Monetary integration strategies and perspectives of new EU countries

The poor record of economic convergence between the euro area and those countries that joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004 raises serious doubts about the possibility for the latter countries to adopt the European single currency in the not too distant future. In fact, many new EU countries would have to make considerable efforts in order to fulfil all EMU criteria by the end of the present decade. These efforts could lead to output and growth losses in these countries, which would run counter to their catching‐up process with respect to the rest of the EU. To avoid a number of shortcomings elicited by the obligation to respect the convergence criteria in the short term, and also to avoid the financial instability risks implied by participation in the ERM II, this paper suggests an alternative plan for integrating the new EU countries monetarily. The plan consists in creating a European settlement agent in charge of the final payment of the new EU countries’ international transactions. These transactions would be settled using an international monetary standard whose creation would eliminate instability on the foreign exchange market by its being the yardstick that the current international monetary system lacks.     

Accounting and the European single currency

This paper considers some accounting problems in the period leading up to the introduction of the European single currency, the euro. Taking into account two different scenarios regarding the economic and monetary union (EMU) from its first stage, different aspects concerning the area of accounting have been revised. These include exchange differences, financial states comparison, financial states conversion, increase in capital, discriminatory treatment of active and passive monetary and nonmonetary assets, accounting records, annual accounts or rounding. This paper will point out some of the problematic areas that may arise from the introduction of the euro. Although several aspects have been taken into account, as the EMU approaches, many other issues will need to be discussed.     

基于VAR模型的中欧贸易“J曲线效应”实证分析

欧元作为一种新兴世界货币既在全球经济中发挥日益重要的作用,也是人民币汇率形成机制中的重要权重货币,由于欧盟是中国最大的贸易伙伴,故欧元兑人民币实际汇率变动对中欧贸易平衡产生重要影响。本文采用1999—2008年间欧元兑人民币汇率数据和中国与欧元区贸易季度数据构建VAR模型,并运用单位根检验、协整检验和脉冲响应函数的分析方法对欧元汇率变动对中欧贸易相对差额的影响进行实证分析。结果表明,人民币兑欧元的贬值初期会引起中国对欧元区贸易收支的短期恶化,但经过一段时间后由于我国对欧元区出口数量增加,贸易盈余趋于稳定,中国对欧元区贸易存在汇率贬值的"J曲线效应"。     

On the welfare benefits of an international currency

Is it beneficial for a country's currency to be used internationally? And, if so, can we quantify the benefit? Since the emergence of the euro, there has been great interest in the consequences of a transfer of the dollar's premier international role to the euro. This paper presents a novel model-based approach towards assessing the welfare benefits associated with the international use of a country's currency. Apart from the familiar benefits associated with seigniorage, residents of the issuing country experience an increase in the purchasing power of their currency both at home and abroad. In the calibration exercise carried out in this paper, we find the benefits of an international currency to be quantitatively significant. The welfare gain for the Euro area in having the euro internationally used ranges from 1.9% to 2.3% of consumption depending on relative inflation rates. The rest of the world is not indifferent as to which currency circulates as the dominant international currency. Conditional on their currency not being used internationally, their preference is for the dominant international currency to be the one with the lowest inflation rate.     

Exchange Rates and Monetary Policy

This paper looks at the relation between exchange rates and monetary policy. It focuses in particular on the role of the exchange rate of the euro in the context of the ECB's monetary policy strategy. The objective of monetary policy is to maintain price stability. The euro area is a large and relatively closed economy. Therefore, the exchange rate of the euro is not an intermediate target nor is it an objective. Nevertheless, the ECB's stability–oriented monetary policy strategy does not neglect the exchange rate of the euro. Clearly, exchange rate developments are taken into account both when looking at the transmission mechanism of monetary policy and when assessing the current economic situation and prospects for the euro area.     

Assessing independent monetary policy in small, open and euroized countries: evidence from Western Balkan

This article approaches to the optimum currency area from the empirical side by investigating the costs of adoption of a single currency for small, open and euroized Western Balkan countries (WBC). Using several econometric techniques, this study attempts to answer three questions relevant for monetary integration of the WBC and similar transition countries: What are the constraints on an independent monetary policy? What is the need for operating an independent monetary policy? and What is the ability to conduct an independent monetary policy? The constraints on independent monetary policy in most of the WBC at this stage are relatively serious because of high levels of openness and euroization. They limit the ability of the central bank, which is oriented to price stability, to use the nominal exchange rate for achieving other goals (for example, output stabilization). Regarding the second question, the results from structural VAR framework suggest a low synchronization for supply and demand shocks between the WBC and the euro area, indicating potentially high costs of losing independent monetary policy. Furthermore, the results from Kalman filter technique inform that the shock convergence process is slow or absent in the WBC vis-à-vis the euro area. Regarding the last question, the results from cointegration and VAR analysis suggest that the ability to conduct an independent monetary policy, assessed by analyzing the interest rate channel as the most prominent transmission channel in the euro area, is relatively weak in the WBC.     

Solving the Currency Conundrum

This paper reviews the prospects for the exchange rate system in different parts of the world. It discounts radical changes like a single world currency and a trio of regional monetary unions: in Europe, where intergration is political as well as economic and financial, the euro should provide the basis for an expanding zone of monetary stability; in the Americas, in contrast, dollarization is likely to be the solution for countries with strong financial links to the USA that find it difficult to run an autonomous monetary policy; and in Asia, continued floating is the only plausible outcome, given the obstacles to the alternatives.
(J.E.L.: F3)     

The long-run convergence of exchange rates and prices in the European Union

This paper provides tests of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) for members of the EU-27 not in the euro area, using multivariate and panel cointegration techniques, for the period since the introduction of the euro currency in 1999 until the end of 2009. The results indicate that long-run PPP holds in ten cases and that domestic prices or the nominal exchange rate is the main driver of the short-run adjustment to stationarity. These results are discussed in terms of monetary convergence in the long-run.     

中国货币替代现象的VEC模型:1994-2005

随着人民币汇率制度改革的进行和资本账户开放进程的加快,中国的货币替代现象理当引起我们更大的关注.本文通过建立货币替代的VEC模型对中国的货币替代程度及其影响因素之间的关系作了动态分析,最后得出人民币名义有效汇率在长期和短期内都是影响中国货币替代的主要因素,名义有效汇率的频繁波动会造成货币替代乃至货币需求的不稳定.因此加快人民币汇率制度改革、降低美元在人民币汇率盯住篮子中的比重就显得尤为重要了.     

Tail behaviour of the euro

This paper empirically analyses risk in the euro relative to other currencies. Comparisons are made between a subperiod encompassing the final transitional stage to full monetary union with a subperiod prior to this. Stability in the face of speculative attack is examined using Extreme Value Theory to obtain estimates of tail exchange rate changes. The findings are encouraging. The euro's common risk measures do not deviate substantially from other currencies. Also, the euro is stable in the face of speculative pressure. For example, the findings consistently show the euro being less risky than the yen, and having similar inherent risk to the Deutsche mark, the currency that it is essentially replacing.