Retrospect of the Chinese Exchange Rate Regime after Reform： Stylized Facts during the Period from 2005 to 2010

In the present paper, we estimate the de facto RMB exchange rate regime, the currency basket, the floating band and the foreign exchange market pressure before and after the reform of the Chinese exchange rate regime in 2005. We find the following stylized facts： the value of the RAIB became stable after the reform; the weight of the US dollar remained high in the basket, while other currencies remained statistically significant; and the floating band gradually increased to lO percent during 2005-2008, and then greatly narrowed from the late summer of 2008 under the assumption of a yearly resetting interval. We find that the foreign exchange market pressure increased from 2005 to 2008. A possible reason is that the weight of the US dollar in the basket was slightly lower than the share of the US dollar in total transactions on the Chinese foreign exchange market. Therefore, it is reasonable for China to adopt a dollar peg exchange rate regime.     

An Examination of Component Returns and Volatility for Country-Specific Equity Funds in Emerging Markets＇ Evidence From Asian Financial Crisis

This research aims to examine the daily return generating processes for country-specific funds in five east-Asian countries for the period 1995-2000. The effects of component returns and their volatility on the dollar denominated returns and volatility of U.S., international investors and the effects of exchange rate regimes on risk and return are also evaluated. The GARCH-M model is adopted, without the restrictive assumptions of linearity, independence, and constant conditional variance. The time frame, 1995-2000 captures a 30 months period prior to these East Asian countries aborting exchange rate stabilization/intermediate exchange rate regimes in response to the currency crisis. The decomposition of returns to holders of country-specific equity funds into the component returns due to changes in the exchange rate and the returns valued in the fund＇s foreign currency during a period of crisis provides additional information. This research provides evidence of the importance of examining component returns. With regards to the effects on volatility, both the conditional variances associated with the exchange rate returns and the returns denominated in the foreign currencies show some importance, especially the conditional variances associated with the returns denominated in the foreign currencies. With regards to the effects of return component, the exchange rate returns have a greater effect on the fund returns than foreign currency dominated returns.     

What Causes China＇s High Inflation？ A Threshold Structural Vector Autoregression Analysis

China＇s astonishing economic growth implies a necessity to understand its inflation. The present paper employs threshold nonrecursive structural vector autoregression analysis to explore the asymmetric effects of macro-variables on inflation in low and high inflation regimes. The empirical evidence demonstrates, first, that the reactions of inflation to various shocks are inflation-regime-dependent and asymmetric. Second, monetary policy influences China ＂s high inflation and adjusting the domestic interest rate in China may be an effective way to control inflation in a high inflation regime, but not in a low inflation regime. In a high inflation regime, a high inflation rate may cause the macro-policy authorities to increase the domestic interest rate, in an attempt to stabilize high inflation. Third, contrary to expectations, the world oil price is not a strong cost-push factor in a low inflation regime. Oil price increases may increase inflation in a high inflation regime, but there is no such obvious effect in a low inflation regime. Finally, China ＂s nominal effective exchange rate influences inflation in both low and high inflation regimes. A nominal effeetive exchange rate appreciation might be effective in controlling domestic inflation in both regimes.     

Pricing to Market： Chinese Export Pricing to the USA after the Peg

In July 2005, the Chinese Government unpegged the RMB from the US dollar. As the RMB has followed a remarkably predictable appreciation over time, I examine the price of Chinese exports to the USA after unpegging the exchange rate. Results suggest that the Chinese industries with greater import market share were able to raise their prices after the removal of the pegged exchange rate regime; however, over time there is a significant deflationary trend. Chinese export prices tended to decrease under an unanticipated RMB appreciation; this effect was more pronounced for industries with more pricing flexibility. This suggests that Chinese exporters are consistently ＂pricing to market＂ and thus creating a significant foreign exchange policy implication. Specifically, a more flexible exchange rate regime will likely have little impact on the prices of Chinese exports to the USA but might increase the profit volatility of Chinese firms.     

Dynamic Transition of Exchange Rate Regime in China

Thepaper considers the optimal transition path for China＇s exchange rate regime. How can China successfully make the shift from the current dollar peg regime to a more desirable regime, whether a basket peg or a floating regime？ To answer this question, we develop a dynamic small open economy general equilibrium model. We construct four transition policies based on a basket peg or a floating regime and compare the welfare gains of these policies relative to maintaining the dollar peg regime. Two main results are derived from the quantitative analysis using Chinese data from 1999Q1 to 2010Q4. First, following a gradual adjustment to a basket peg regime is the most appropriate path for China to take, with minimal welfare losses associated with the shift in the exchange rate regime. Second, a sudden shift to the basket peg is the second best solution, and is superior to a sudden shift to floating because the monetary authority can efficiently determine optimal weights to attach to currencies in the basket to achieve policy goals once they adopt a basket peg regime.     

Choosing an Appropriate Exchange Rate System for Developing Countries

The developing countries emerging market crisis during the second half of 1990s has had a major impact on changing the views of academicians, policy designers and developing countries＇ authorities with respect to exchange rate policies, particularly after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Although the Asian Financial Crisis has brought enormous damage to those hit countries, it left very precious lessons for the developing countries. Countries have to make a decision under uncertainty - they must choose an exchange-rate system and associated monetary policy without full information on the consequences of that choice. They must weigh the arguments and the costs of errors from adopting different exchange rates. They must evaluate the alleged benefits of each system and the opportunities for achieving those benefits through alternative, substitute means. They must also evaluate methods of reducing the potential costs of each system. It is true that no single exchange rate regime can. be prescribed as best for all, nor is the best choice of exchange rate regime always clears for all places in all times, even in light of their specific circumstances. There are no simple, universal answers. But under most circumstances and for most developing countries, one system of flexible exchange rate is better than others.     

The Reform on Equilibrium Exchange Rate and Intervention Models of Renminbi＇s Exchange Rate

This paper establishes a theoretical analysis framework by integrating both the foreign exchange rate regime and the issue of financial globalization. It also deals with the research and analysis on how to prudently push forward the reform on renminbi （RMB）＇s exchange rate, adjust and institute the free convertibility of RMB, so as to meet the demands of further expansion of the Chinese economic and financial reform and opening-up, participation in the economic and financial globalization, integration into the global economy and the acceleration of the Chinese economy, against the backdrop of financial globalization.     

Does China＇s Huge External Surplus Imply an Undervalued Renminbi？

A pegged exchange rate regime has been pivotal to China's export-led development strategy. However, its huge trade surpluses and massive build up of international reserves have been matched by large deficits for major trading partners, creating acute policy concerns abroad, especially in the USA. This paper provides a straightforward conceptual framework for interpreting the effect of China's exchange rate policy on its own trade balance and that of trading partners in the context of discrepant economic growth rates. It shows how pegging the exchange rate when output is outstripping expenditure induces China's trade surpluses and counterpart deficits for its trading partners. An important corollary is that given its strictly regulated capital account, China's persistently large surpluses imply a significantly undervalued renminbi, which should gradually become more flexible.     

What Exchange Rate Regime Should China Follow

Exchange rate policy is one of the most important macroeconomic policy challenges for developing countries such as China. Should China continue to maintain a fixed exchange rate of the Chinese currency the Renminbi （RMB）, or should the exchange rate become more flexible？ The author argues that China should not apply extreme forms of fixed or floating exchange rare regimes, but should consider a crawling band intermediate exchange regime.     

Measuring Net Foreign Assets： The Case of China

This paper discusses two methods of measuring net foreign assets（NFA）： directly using the financial account and indirectly using the current account. The former method is found to be more accurate than the latter method. The paper also includes a detailed discussion of the valuation methodology. The results show that China＇s NFA are much lower than the cumulative current account surplus or the cumulative foreign exchange reserves. This leads to an underestimation of growth in foreign direct investment and an overestimation of the capacity of foreign exchange reserves to cope with possible withdrawals. Therefore, the Chinese Government should pay more attention to valuation issues to obtain more accurate measurement of NFA. Meanwhile, the Chinese monetary authority should relax its control on the foreign exchange settlement system, allow the private sector to hold a certain amount of foreign exchange, and encourage foreign assets to be denominated in RMB to solve structural problems, including entity and currency mismatch     

The RMB/US Dollar Exchange Rate——An International Political Economy Perspective

I. IntroductionOn July 21, 2005, China unexpectedly appreciated the RMB by 2 percent, and declared themoving of the RMB exchang rate regime into a managed floating regime, with reference toa basket of currencies. This brought respite to the long, ongoing debate over RMB’sappreciation. Due to the fact that the exchange rate is always considered a technical matter,best left to economists to handle, the mainstream approach of the RMB discussion is theeconomic approach. Although reviewing d…     

Strategic Asset Allocation for China＇s Foreign Reserves： A Copula Approach

In this paper, we study strategic asset allocation for China＇s foreign reserves using a risk- based approach. Four aspects of the risk management are investigated： an investment universe, dependence structure, allocation strategies under risk minimization and trade-off between risks and returns. A regime-switching copula model is developed to investigate the dynamic dependence between assets. One regime emphasizes a short-term safe asset and the other regime emphasizes a long-term safe asset. The optimal allocation is derived following two strategies： risk minimization and trade-off between risks and returns in utility maximization with disappointment avoidance, lf the central bank focuses solely on risk minimization, the asymmetries in the asset return dependence encourage the flight to safety. However, if higher risks are allowed in exchange for higher returns, even the exchange is very conservative, and the asymmetries would discourage the flight to safety. Therefore, we suggest that China should mitigate its flight to safety after 2008 and increase holdings of short-term bank deposits, long-term treasury bonds and euro bonds.     

China's New International Financial Strategy amid the Global Financial Crisis

The Chinese Government has stepped up its drive to reconstruct its international ftnancial strategy after the sub-prime crisis developed into a global financial crisis in 2008. The main aim of the strategy is to reduce the country＇s dependence on the US dollar in foreign trade, cross-border capital flows and foreign exchange reserve management. The strategy can be divided into three tiers： renminbi internationalization, regional monetary cooperation and reconstruction of the international monetary regime. So far, the Chinese Government has fared well in the application of all three tiers. We hoM that the Chinese Government should continue in the same direction in a coordinated manner despite various challenges it faces.     

Autonomy and Effectiveness of Chinese Monetary Policy under the De Facto Fixed Exchange Rate System

This paper uses monthly data to examine the autonomy and effectiveness of monetary policy in China under the de facto fixed exchange rate arrangement in place from 1998 to 2005. The results obtained from Granger causality tests in a vector autoregression framework indicate that： （i） China actually conducted independent monetary policy during the fixed exchange rate period; and （ii） market-oriented policy measures are impotent in influencing real output and prices. The framework of the investigation into the autonomy of monetary policy adapts to the Chinese economic condition that primary loan and deposit rates are set by the central bank. Based on the empirical results, the present paper provides alternative strategies to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in China, including developing the financial system and solidifying microeconomic fundamentals instead of forcing the adaptation of a more flexible exchange rate regime.     

On China’s Exchange Rate Flexibility and Stability: The More Flexible against the U.S. Dollar, the More Stable in Effective Terms

I. IntroductionFor many years, the Chinese authorities have often expressed their appreciation for the merits of a flexible exchange rate regime for China and their willingness to make the exchange rate of the renminbi, China’s national currency, be determined by market forces. 1 In the same breath, however, they also stressed the importance of a “stable exchange rate” forChina, although it is not clear what the authorities meant by a “stable exchange rate.” (The People’s bank of Chin…     

An Inquiry into the Determinants of the Exports of China and India

Regression analysis is used to tease out the relative significance of influences on the supply and demand for the exports of China and India. On the supply side, the value-added tax in China has discouraged export supply. The elimination of the rebate on those taxes will discourage exports. Higher wages discourage exports, but the share of exports by foreign invested enterprise is a positive influence, as is a higher share of value added in output and greater experience in exporting. On the demand side, exports depend in part on aggregate income levels in importing countries. Relative wages have been more important than exchange rates in determining the demands for Chinese and Indian exports. This evidence does not support the pressures for a devaluation of the RMB. There is also evidence of the positive significance of the accustomization of purchasers to buying Chinese exports.     

Comment from the Editor-in-chief

Ronald McKinnon is one of the most respected foreign economists in China and his view on exchange rate policy is well known and very influential in China. His and Gunther Schnabl＇s paper China＇s Exchange Rate and Financial Repression： The Conflicted Emergence of the Renminbi as an International Currency is one of the most serious and comprehensive studies of China＇s exchange rate policy and capital account policy in recent years.     

Development in China＇s Foreign Trade： 2003-2012

China＇s foreign trade has entered a new stage, marked by some profound changes since 2003. After 5 years ＇consecutive high growth, China＇s foreign trade experienced a significant slowdown in growth following the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The purpose of this article is to present a review of the development in China＇s foreign trade over the past l O years, and to explore important changes that have taken place during this period of time. A majorfinding of the presentpaper is that the traditional forces driving the high export growth in China, that is, low-cost labor, low-cost resources and low-cost money, have been disappearing. The policy implication is that over the next l O-15 years, the most important conditions for sustaining high export growth will be promoting the development and export of private enterprises in traditional heaw industries and high-technology industries, and relying on technological progress and high produc6vity to propel export expansion.     

An analysis on the relationship between RMB interest rate and exchange rate based on BEER model

The internal money market and international money market will mix together when the finance market is open. Researching on the relationship between interest rate and RMB exchange rate is so meaningful. Based on the reality of market-based reform in our country, the paper employs the BEER model to analyze the interest rate＇s influence to the RMB equilibrium exchange rate, and inspects the realistic performance of the interest rate and exchange rate mechanism. Then it seeks some effective measures to promote the interactive development of the interest rate and exchange rate markets.     

The Empirical Analysis of the Reason and the Influence of the Rapid Growth of Foreign Exchange Reserves in China

The fluctuation of Chinese foreign exchange （Forex） reserve is affected by those factors, such as the volume of the Balance of Payments, the M2, the balance of external debts and so on. In this paper, the author establishes a model for the fluctuation of China＇s official foreign exchange reserve with the method of econometrics, finding out that it is the surplus of the balance of payments that results in the rapid growth of foreign exchange reserves. Then, this paper uses substantial data to objectively demonstrate the negative impact of position for Forex purchase and its sterilization operation on monetary policy and the economic development of the diverse sectors and regions.