Reserve requirements,currency substitution,and seigniorage in the transition to European monetary union

This article considers a transition toward European monetary union that combines increased substitution of currencies and greater monetary, financial, and fiscal policy coordination. It explores how such a transition would affect national inflation and interest rates and required reserve ratios when governments depend in part on seigniorage funding for public expenditures. We find that greater coordination of policies would lead to lower inflation and interest rates but higher reserve-requirement ratios. Because higher reserve-requirement ratios could place European banks at a competititve disadvantage, we conclude that the interaction between reserve requirements and seigniorage concerns makes it less likely that the gradualist approach of the Maastricht treaty is a sustainable means of transition to European union.     

Bank cooperation and banking policy in a monetary union: A political-economy perspective on EMU

Why do large European banks lobby for monetary union? We show in a game-theoretic model that montary union can trigger a change in the structure of the market for international banking transactions with asymmetric effects on profits: large banks are induced to cooperate internationally and gain from European Monetary Union (EMU), while small banks are likely to lose. Monetary union can be interpreted as a device for large banks to push small banks out of the market for cross-border financial services.     

Macroeconomic stabilization through monetary and fiscal policy coordination: Implications for European Monetary Union

In a two-country model, we consider the implications of monetary and fiscal policy coordination for macroeconomic stabilization. We show that the optimal regime is one of monetary and fiscal policy coordination under flexible exchange rates. In the context of the European Community, this suggests that the desire to fix exchange rates may not be costless. In addition, we show that fiscal coordination requires a relatively high degree of flexibility in fiscal policy. This result suggests that limits on the flexibility of fiscal policies, as suggested in the Delors Report, may hinder macroeconomic stabilization.     

The Norwegian debate on the gold standard and monetary integration in the 1870s

Abstract

The origin of the gold standard and the desire for monetary integration shared the same root, the prevailing liberal worldview of Norwegian elites. The actual timing of the final move, however, was strongly influenced by fear of foreign exchange volatility in the wake of the German monetary unification rather than the fear of inflation highlighted in earlier studies. The diminished prospect for a single “world money” after the Franco-Prussian war made monetary integration a dividing issue. In 1873, the attempt by the government to safeguard some of the advantages of integration by joining the Scandinavian Currency Union (SCU) was defeated by the parliamentary majority. The opposition was based both on a more optimistic view of the prospect of even further monetary integration and on fears of political opposition to Scandinavianism and the government. However, eighteen months later, parliament conceded and Norway joined the SCU.     

人民币国际化对货币政策有效性的影响

人民币国际化是否影响货币政策有效性?是人民币国际化程度提高之后货币大规模跨境流动而引起的担忧。文章研究发现,在给定其他因素不变的情况下,人民币国际化程度的提高放大了境外汇率变动对国内经济产出和价格的影响。因此,人民币国际化背景下,中央银行应将境外汇率失衡纳入货币政策的反应函数,反应系数取决于境外利率、产出和价格对境外货币需求的决定系数。理论分析还表明,人民币国际化程度不影响货币政策对国内价格的有效性,而是否影响货币政策对国内经济产出的有效性,则取决于经济结构特征。实证结果表明,目前人民币国际化未对国内利率、产出和价格带来明显冲击,且无论是在M0层次,还是在M2层次,人民币国际化均未明显影响国内货币政策有效性。     

浅析汇率波动下的外贸企业风险防范

自2005年7月21日我国汇率制度改革以来,人民币汇率已累计升幅超过7%。这使得我国出口产品的竞争力减弱,外贸企业的利润减少,抑制了出口积极性,同时也加大了外贸企业的外汇风险。因此,如何正确地认识外汇风险和较好地防范与化解外汇风险,如何保障企业的正常经营成果并赢得未来国际市场、进一步健康发展,是外贸企业一个亟待探讨和解决的问题。     

Target zones and exchange rate management: A stability analysis of the European Monetary System

Since the creation of the EMS in 1979 and the Louvre Accord in 1987, economists and policy makers have debated whether exchange rate management can actually secure better economic performance. This paper supplies some empirical evidence to help answer that question in the context of an environment free of unanticipated shocks. Our results identify the important design characteristics of a target zone or EMS type system focusing on the width of the bands, the length of time between realignments, and the choice of exchange rate parity. Secondly we examine the popular conservation of variance theory: that reducing exchange rate instability will just cause greater instability in the underlying monetary controls. Finally we produce evidence to support the claim that the method of exchange rate management is important because gross or persistent misalignments cause large welfare losses whereas moderate misalignments would impose only small costs. Work on the EMS relative robustness to shocks is under way.     

The Effects of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on National Fiscal Sustainability

This paper presents a methodology to analyze the responsiveness of fiscal sustainability to the endogenous fiscal discipline that will be strengthened by the EMU. This discipline arises in response to the harmonization of tax systems, the loss of control of current and prospective money financing, and the deepening of financial market-based discipline. The model developed in this paper is a generalization of Blanchard's 1984 model, in which the interest rate is determined endogenously. This provides the framework to analyze more features of the linkage between sustainability and endogenous fiscal discipline. This paper also presents a new intratemporal fiscal sustainability index.     

人民币汇率再度升值的国际政治经济博弈

中国与美、日、欧等发达国家的国际政治经济博弈构成人民币汇率升值压力的的外部环境。日本是鼓吹人民币升值的始作俑者,美国则是向人民币汇率施压的主力军,欧盟是人民币升值论中的“搭便车”者。中国缓解人民币升值压力的对策包括完善外汇市场结构、加强对跨境资本流动的监测和管理、逐步扩大人民币汇率浮动区间、完善中央银行外汇干预机制及提高亚洲区域内货币的结算功能等。     

Real exchange rate misalignment and business cycle fluctuations in the Asia-Pacific

Real exchange rate (RER) misalignment, which is the deviation between the actual real exchange rate from its equilibrium, occurs frequently among developing countries. Studies have shown that RER misalignment may have negative economic implications, such as a decline in economic growth, exports, and export diversification and an increased risk of currency crises and political instability. Using quarterly data for 22 sample countries from 1990 to 2018, this paper investigates the impact of RER misalignment on business cycles in the Asia-Pacific by employing a panel vector autoregression involving consumer price index (CPI) inflation, output gap, short-term interest rates, and RER misalignment. We find that RER overvaluation may reduce CPI inflation and short-term interest rates. We also find that the Asia-Pacific region is highly heterogeneous in that the output gaps of some countries, particularly from the Southeast Asian region, are more susceptible to RER misalignment shocks.     

Global Implications of Monetary and Fiscal Policy Rules in the EMU

In order to analyze successful strategies for economic policy in a global environment both international interdependencies and the strategic behavior of global players must be considered. We use a global model of the world economy (the MSG2 Model) to show the effects of dynamic policy optimization in the presence of various supply and demand shocks to different world regions. We show that fixed rules are generally superior for supply shocks, while demand shocks call for more active or discretionary policies.     

人民币实际汇率调整趋势与中国经济转型

1978年以来的人民币实际汇率呈现出长期的贬值态势,本文结合中国经济改革的历程深入分析了实际汇率贬值的内在机制,认为市场化进程中的制度变迁和技术进步是其根本原因。而目前经济的内外失衡所引发的实际汇率和名义汇率的升值压力,本质上是深层次市场化改革推进受阻后经济结构扭曲的外在表现。本文认为,以汇率形成机制改革为主要内容的名义的市场化改革只能缓解而无法根除这种压力,推行土地、劳动力和自然资源等要素价格在内的实际的市场改革才是纠正内外失衡,缓解汇率升值压力的治本之道。     

The exchange rate and monetary conditions in the Euro area

The Exchange Rate and Monetary Conditions in the Euro Area. — Using information from a variety of sources, this paper suggests that the exchange rate will play an important role in the transmission of the impact of monetary policy on the real economy and inflation in the euro area. As a first approximation it would be reasonable to assume that an increase in the real 90-day interest rate of 100 basis points would have the same effect on demand two years later as a 3.5 percent fall in the real euro exchange rate. This implies that the euro area will tend to behave like a large open economy rather than a closed economy and hence that it would be helpful in informing monetary policy to construct a Monetary Conditions Index (MCI).     

European versus American Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative

China has started to deploy its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the European Union (EU), and the EU in turn has regional and global interests that intersect with the BRI's scope. Subject to future adjustments of China's BRI strategy, the initiative's potential contribution to the EU requirements for infrastructure development could be significant, even though its modalities in the EU are inevitably different from those in countries that are poorer or have more difficult financial market access. The EU's attitude to the BRI, however, has not yet fully coalesced. Despite superficial similarities in public discourses, the EU has a profoundly distinct perspective from that of the US on the BRI, and more generally on the rise of China and its growing global influence. For the EU, the BRI generates challenges but also potential benefits. The EU should improve its ability to welcome sensible BRI projects, including through the adoption of greater reform of screening frameworks for foreign direct investment. More generally, the EU should enhance its ability to define policies independent of the US on China and the challenges resulting from China's rise. China should also make further efforts to foster a constructive relationship with the EU.     

The stock market and the ringgit exchange rate: a note

This paper presents and tests an augmented monetary model that includes the effect of stock prices on the bilateral exchange rates. The model is applied to the ringgit/US dollar (RM/US) and ringgit/Japanese yen (RM/JY) exchange rates. The empirical analysis is conducted by the Johansen method of cointegration. Using the data from the recent float that ends with 1996:Q4, the study is motivated, among others, by an interesting preliminary finding that although the augmented monetary model is cointegrated, it is subject to parameter instability and that the parameter time dependency can be attributed at least partly to a particular subset of the variables in the system including stock prices. We find that a restricted VAR model which imposes exogeneity restrictions on I(1) variables, such as stock prices, among others, exhibits both cointegration and parameter stability. In addition, we demonstrate that exchange rate adjusts to clear any disequilibrium in the long-run relationship. The empirical findings tend to suggest that the equity market is significant in affecting the exchange rate and in explaining at least in part the parameter instability evidenced in the cointegrating system. Hence, we conclude that models of equilibrium exchange rate should be extended to include equity markets in addition to bond markets.     

我国出口汇率传递的非对称性:来自中日贸易的证据

文章扩展了Yang（2007）的厂商定价模型,对汇率传递非对称性、特点和成立条件进行理论分析,发现对称传递需要满足严格的条件,而现实中更常见的是非对称汇率传递。在一定条件下,商品需求弹性越大,越可能呈现出口国货币贬值传递率高而升值传递率低的特点。利用2000年1月至2011年12月我国出口日本的966种商品价格数据,发现汇率波动向价格传递具有非对称性：（1）人民币升值时,日元价格上涨较少;而贬值时,价格下降较多。我国出口商品的需求弹性较大,在日本市场上面对的是一个强竞争结构。（2）若月度升值超过一定幅度（测算约为2.43%）,传递率又会有所上升,说明尽管日元价格易跌难涨,但在升值导致成本上涨较多、明显挤压利润时,厂商不得不适当提高日元售价。采用2000年至2018年9月日本从中国进口单位价值指数进行稳健性检验,得出类似结论。现阶段稳定的人民币名义汇率对我国出口企业是更为有利的。     

WTO规则下两岸经贸关系正常化问题探讨

本文应用博弈论等研究方法,依据两岸同为WTO成员以及ECFA是WTO框架下的区域合作形式等客观事实,论证两岸经贸合作的法理依据及正常经贸关系,分析两岸建立正常经贸关系的现实基础及现存差距,界定两岸经贸关系正常化的涵义,探寻消除差距、实现两岸经贸关系正常化的基本路径。     

欧债危机对中国的影响及中国的态度与举措

文章认为,欧洲主权债务危机双重影响着中国:从消极方面来说,它影响中国对欧洲的商品出口,会导致人民币汇率大幅波动,加大了中国对欧洲投资的风险,加剧了中国金融市场的波动,影响中国的汇率机制改革;从积极方面来说,它有利于中国大规模进行海外投资,有利于提高中国的国际地位。面对欧债危机,中国一方面应积极参与解决欧债危机的行动,另一方面必须强调欧债危机的解决关键在欧洲自身的努力。     

Estimating the equilibrium exchange rate of the Central and Eastern European acceding countries: The challenge of euro adoption

This study estimates the equilibrium real and nominal exchange rates for five Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. A new approach is adopted, which combines the fundamental equilibrium exchange rate (FEER) with the behavioural equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) methodology. In a VAR-based 3-equation cointegration system, we estimate structural equations for internal and external balances and link them to the real exchange rate. The estimated misalignment is used to derive equilibrium nominal exchange rates. The sustainability of an ERM-II-type exchange rate regime is investigated on ex post data, and the credibility problem of fixing the currencies of CEE countries vis-à-vis the single European currency is analysed. JEL no. E31, F31, O11, P17     

从内生动力看ECFA时代两岸经贸关系的发展

基于内生动力的作用,两岸经贸交流发展迅速,但受两岸关系的负面因素影响,经贸合作内生动力受到严重束缚。全面建构和落实两岸经贸合作机制,释放两岸经贸合作的内生动力,是ECFA时代推进两岸经济关系发展的必然选择。