Research on the choice of RMB exchange rate regime

From the perspective of welfare, by synthesizing the normative and empirical analysis, this paper applies the framework of “new open economy macroeconomics” to the qualitative and quantitative researches on the choice of RMB exchange rate regime in the short and medium run. It sets up the structural model, takes the economical data during 1985–2005 to perform both the positive and simulative analysis, and it is shown that: with the increases of international real demand and international price index, in order to improve the welfare of people, the RMB exchange rate regime should be more flexible. __________ Translated from Jingji yanjiu 经济研究 (Economic Research Journal), 2007, (11): 45–57     

Herding and the shifting determinants of exchange rate regime choice

It is difficult to pin down the factors that determine states’ choice of exchange rate regime because those very factors present a moving target. Many scholars have taken on the same question: what are the determinants of exchange rate regime choice? But as a group they have been unable to identify a stable answer. The reason for this is that the factors that best predict exchange rate regime vary dramatically across time. An explanation for this variation is offered: rational herding, or information cascades, can explain why one factor becomes prominent for a period of time then suddenly drops off and is replaced by a better predictor.     

The structure of public debt and the choice of exchange rate regime

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between the denomination of public debt and the choice of exchange rate regime. Three types of debt (nominal, indexed, and foreign) and two regimes (fixed and flexible) are considered. Indexed debt is insulated against unexpected inflation. The real (domestic‐currency) value of foreign debt is subject to valuation effects from real exchange rate shocks. The ‘fear‐of‐floating’ result, that foreign debt makes pegging more attractive, is shown to hold unambiguously only if the peg is fully credible. If the peg lacks credibility, a critical factor is the perceived likelihood of using the ‘escape clause’ of a switch to a float, which raises the costs of pegging. Foreign debt increases the temptation to resort to the escape clause, so when a peg is not fully credible (as is almost always the case in reality), pegging tends to be less attractive than floating in the presence of foreign debt.     

Income instability,terms of trade,and the choice of exchange rate regime

In this article terms of trade fluctuations, which constitute an important source of income instability in many LDC's, are decomposed into three principal components: (a) shifts in world market conditions, (b) shifts in home market conditions and (c) changes in exchange rates. The appropriateness of a ‘basket peg’ is then analyzed in terms of a country's net export-side market power and a weighting formula is derived which would offset variations in third countries' exchange rates on the home country's terms of trade. Initial empirical results tend to support the hypothesis that basket pegs are usually adopted by countries with net export-side market power.     

The choice of exchange rate regime: An empirical analysis for transition economies*

We analyze the choice of exchange rate regimes of the 25 transition economies in Europe and the CIS after 1990. The empirical results show that the traditional Optimum Currency Area considerations provide relevant guidance for the regime choices in these countries. Moreover, regime choices are influenced by inflation rates, cumulative inflation differentials, and international reserves sufficiency. That is, macroeconomic stabilization and the ability to commit to exchange rate pegs also play important roles. Large government deficits have ambiguous effects; they increase the likelihood of moving from flexible to intermediate regimes as well as that of moving from fixed to intermediate ones.     

Exchange rate regime classifications and exchange rate variability

It is well known that the exchange rate regime (ERR) declared to the IMF is often different from the actual regime. Several alternative schemes for de facto regime classification have been developed. In this article, we compare the ability of four popular schemes to track exchange rate variability (ERV). We find that the existing ERR classifications do not match well with the degree of ERV, especially for intermediate regimes. For instance, in the Levy-Yeyati and Sturzenegger (2003) coding, the intermediate regimes exhibit greater ERV than the floaters. On the other hand, for the Reinhart and Rogoff (2004) coding, the fixers show greater variability than some intermediates.     

发展战略与汇率制度选择

一般而言,一国汇率制度的选择会受该国经济和政治因素的影响,而发展中国家在选择汇率制度时还会受到其发展战略的影响.本文考察了发展战略与汇率制度选择之间的关系,发现实施赶超战略和进口替代战略的国家会选择固定汇率制度并高估本币币值,甚至采用多元汇率制度;实施出口导向战略的国家会选择固定汇率或者钉住汇率制度,一般钉住美元且波幅很小,并低估本币币值;而只有真正实施比较优势战略的国家才选择浮动汇率制度,政府很少干预汇率的变化.现阶段,我国要坚定地实施有管理的浮动汇率.并适当控制人民币的升值速度.     

Choice of exchange rate regime and currency zones

We investigate the choice of exchange rate regimes in different currency zones (the US dollar, Euro and the CFA zones), and geographic regions (Latin America and Caribbean, East Asia and Pacific, Europe, core Europe, and the CFA countries). We control for country and regional heterogeneity, time dummies, endogeneity and perform various robustness checks. Results from regional analysis substantially differ from the aggregate analysis despite controlling for random effects. Even at the regional level controlling for currency zones affects our findings. Regional results are generally robust to regime measurement, and sample changes (number of observations).     

The exchange rate regime in Asia: From crisis to crisis

Prior to the Asian financial crisis, most Asian exchange rates were de facto pegged to the US Dollar. During the crisis, many economies experienced a brief period of extreme flexibility. A ‘fear of floating’ gave reduced flexibility when the crisis subsided, but flexibility after the crisis was greater than that seen prior to the crisis. Contrary to the idea of a durable Bretton Woods II arrangement, Asia then went on to slowly raise flexibility and reduce the role for the US dollar. When the period from April 2008 to December 2009 is compared against periods of high inflexibility, from January 1991 to November 1991 and October 1995 to March 1997, the increase in flexibility is economically and statistically significant. This paper proposes a new measure of dollar pegging, the “Bretton Woods II Score”. We find that Asia has been slowly moving away from a Bretton Woods II arrangement.     

The real exchange rate,regime changes and volatility shifts

We make use of a data-set with both long span and high frequency to test for purchasing power parity (PPP) while allowing for a structural shift in the volatility of the Mexico–US bilateral real exchange rate (RER). The Kim, Leybourne and Newbold (2002) unit root test, robust to changes in the innovation variance, indicates mean stationarity of the monthly RER, and hence evidence of PPP, for the full sample, 1930–2012, and various subsamples. The persistence of deviations of the real rate from its PPP level as measured by half-lives ranges from 1.37 to 2.41 years.     

Invoice currency choice,nonlinearities and exchange rate pass-through

ABSTRACT

Estimating time-varying thresholds as a proxy for exporter’s predicted exchange rates, this study proposes a new approach to analyse possible asymmetric behaviour of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) or pricing-to-market (PTM) in Japanese exports between yen appreciation and depreciation periods. Constructing the industry-specific nominal effective exchange rate on a contract (invoice) currency basis, we perform the multivariate threshold near-vector autoregressive (near-MTVAR) estimation and reveal a strong tendency of symmetric ERPT in the short-run, between yen appreciation and depreciation periods. From the 2000s, however, Japanese machinery exporters increased the degree of PTM even in the long-run, while other industries raised the degree of long-run ERPT, reflecting the difference of product differentiation across industries. This evidence has significant implications for the recent unresponsiveness of the Japanese trade balance to the large depreciation of the yen.     

Exchange rate pass through,macro fundamentals and regime choice in Latin America

The impact of changes in exchange rate on inflation is an issue of extreme importance for nations with a history of high inflation. While there have been significant studies on industrial and advanced economies, little analysis has been conducted on smaller economies that are open to trade and financial relationships. This paper estimates exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into CPI and import prices from 1970 to 2010 for nine Latin American nations. ERPT is further estimated for each decade documenting declining pass-through after the turn of the millennium. The paper also examines the impact of macro fundamentals on ERPT, and finds monetary policy stability, inflation rate and trade openness to have a positive impact on pass-through. Finally, de facto exchange rate flexibility indices are constructed and ERPT rates are found to negatively affect them.     

Dynamic stability under a dual exchange rate regime with neutral intervention operations

This paper examines the dynamic stability under dual exchange rates with neutral intervention operations. It is shown that the relationship between the stability properties and the residents' net foreign asset position depends crucially on the impact of foreign assets on the current account, and that, regardless whether the domestic economy is in a net creditor of debtor position, it is not possible for the system to have an infinite number of stable paths.     

Crisis and recovery: Role of the exchange rate regime in emerging market economies

Following the recent global financial crisis, questions about the mechanisms that can help countries cope with large shocks have resurfaced. This paper examines the role of the exchange rate regime in explaining how emerging market economies fared in the recent global financial crisis, particularly in terms of output losses and output rebound. After controlling for regime switches during the crisis, using alternative definitions for pegs, and taking account of other likely determinants, we find that the growth performance for pegs was not different from that of floats during the crisis. The picture is different for the recovery period 2010–2011, as pegs appear to be faring worse, with growth recovering more slowly than floats. These results suggest an asymmetric effect of the regime during and recovering from the crisis. We also find that proxies of the trade and financial channels are important determinants of growth performance during the crisis, while only the trade channel appears important for the recovery thus far.     

阿根廷贸易政策与汇率制度的错配及启示

上世纪，阿根廷贸易政策与货币政策的错配导致了其宏观经济的不稳定。长期以来，阿根廷深受庇隆主义封闭政策的影响，实行进口替代战略，使其优者变劣，劣者不优。不仅使产业结构失衡，对外贸易长期处于逆差。同时，长期实行僵硬的固定汇率制度但允许资本自由流动，引发了恶性通货膨胀。长期的高消费、低储蓄与进口替代导致了低的资本积累率，政治家权利欲望只能以巨额的财政赤字与高筑外债来维持，当政权无以为继时又靠通货膨胀来掠夺财富，从而引发经济和政治危机的循环。另外，阿根廷在贸易自由化之前允许资本项目的自由化显然是一个严重的错误。     

Evidence on the sectoral monetary transmission process under a fixed exchange rate regime

Traditional macroeconomic models suggest that monetary policy changes are largely ineffective in fixed exchange rate economies. However, Edwards and Végh (1997) present a model that shows this might not be the case, as a tightening in monetary policy raises financial costs faced by firms and therefore lowers real wages and, by extension, consumption. This paper empirically tests this hypothesis using data on a country with one of the longest running fixed exchange rate regimes (1975–present). The results of the study confirm the theoretical predictions of Edwards and Végh, but they also show that the propagation of nominal shocks in fixed exchange rate systems is comparatively slower than in countries with a more flexible exchange rate regime.     

The choice of an optimum exchange currency regime for a small economy: An econometric analysis

This paper investigates empirically the issue of a fixed versus a flexible exchange currency regime for a small economy: The West African Monetary Union. The econometric analysis implements a Mundellian trade-off between economic development and monetary stability which measures the main cost and benefit of the various exchange currency regimes examined. The empirical results indicate that the fixed trade-weighted basket peg is optimal by the Tower and Willet criterion and that it meets some of Kenen's criteria for an efficient exchange currency regime.     

Real exchange rate and exchange rate policy in Hungary

Five real exchange rate indicators are computed to assess the international competitiveness of Hungarian industry. These indicators are explained in econometric equations by employment, unemployment, productivity, interest spread and real producer wage. Causality tests reveal that external performance has an impact on real exchange rates, and contributes to explaining real exchange rates. There is very limited scope for policy intervention to constrain the negative effects of capital inflows without incurring other costs.