Domestic financial market frictions,unrestricted international capital flows,and crises in small open economies

Summary. We present an example of a small open economy where small increases in the world interest rate may induce a sharp decline in output and a precipitous depreciation of the exchange rate. Due to a costly state verification problem in domestic credit markets, combined with unrestricted international capital flows, our economy generates two long-run equilibria, one with low GDP and a relatively depreciated real exchange rate (RER), and one with high GDP and a relatively appreciated RER. The first is always a saddle, while the second may be a sink or a source, depending on the level of the world interest rate. A crisis is identified with the economy switching from an equilibrium path approaching the high-output steady state to the saddlepath approaching the low-output steady state. In Mexicos recent history, periods of growth associated with appreciation of the RER have alternated with periods of sharp contraction and depreciation of the RER. Our economy displays such behavior in response to changes in the world interest rate.Received: 9 April 2002, Revised: 20 March 2003JEL Classification Numbers: E5, F4.G. Antinolfi, E. Huybens: We thank Steve Fazzari, Tim Kehoe, Todd Keister, Manuel Santos, Karl Shell and especially Bruce Smith for very helpful discussions. Jaime Calleja Alderete, Eduardo Camero Godínez, and Juan Vargas Hernández provided excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are ours. Huybens was an assistant professor in the Centro de Investigación Económica, ITAM, at the time this article was written, and part of this work was completed while Antinolfi was a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not reflect those of the World Bank or the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Correspondence to: G. Antinolfi     

The international policy trilemma in the post-Bretton Woods era

The international macroeconomic policy trilemma suggests that despite the appeal of exchange rate stability, financial account openness and monetary sovereignty, these cannot be achieved simultaneously. Using elements of Euclidean geometry, this paper proposes a new method for testing the trilemma and finds considerable evidence in support of it. Further tests indicate that, on average, policy configurations are not on the trilemma constraint, i.e. there is a degree of ‘trilemma-ineffectiveness’, which is costly for real output growth and price inflation. It is shown that these costs are associated with limited exchange rate stability and financial account openness.     

Growth effects of FDI in 80 developing economies: the role of policy reforms and institutional constraints

Theoretical and empirical literatures have identified several channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) influences economic growth. This paper examines the impact of FDI on economic output growth per worker using aggregate production function augmented with FDI inflows, economic policy reforms and institutional constraints. The paper covers 80 developing countries over the period 1980–2006. We use panel data and employ fixed, random effects and GMM methods for estimation. Our results highlight the importance of FDI, policy reforms and institutional development for growth in developing economies. Finally, we demonstrate that irrespective of reforms and institutions, an increase in FDI affects output growth positively.     

Determinants of the adjusted net saving rate in developing economies

The adjusted net saving rate, initially known as the genuine saving rate, was first published by the World Bank in the late 1990s as a more comprehensive measure of national saving and one more indicative of sustainable development. The adjusted net saving rate incorporated not just physical capital depreciation, but natural capital depletion and environmental damage, as well as including some human capital formation. In this paper, using a cross‐section of developing economies for 2001–2006, determinants of the adjusted net saving rate are estimated. For comparison, the same determinants for the gross national saving rate are estimated. Also, a basic Solow growth model is extended to incorporate natural resources and to justify a more comprehensive measure of savings, such as the adjusted net saving rate, for modeling economic growth. The two measures of savings are then compared as determinants in estimations of economic growth. Understanding the determinants of the adjusted net saving rate is useful for policies to promote sustainable development.     

The equilibrium real exchange rate and macroeconomic performance in developing countries

This article presents first estimates of the growth impact of the equilibrium real exchange rate (ERER) for a sample of 63 developing countries over 1970–2007. The results suggest that real exchange rate misalignment, not the level of the ERER, matters for macroeconomic performance in these countries.     

Managing real exchange rate for economic growth: Empirical evidences from developing countries

Abstract

This article analyses macroeconomic policies capable of influencing the long-run real exchange rate (RER). In this vein, it identifies economic policy tools that can devalue RER, covering a theoretical issue neglected by the economic literature, which argues that competitive exchange rate enhances growth. After discussing the “Trilemma,” we identify those variables that could affect RER without constraining monetary policy or exchange rate regime choice. In what follows, we model the probability of achieving an undervalued (small or large) RER for a sample of 14 developing countries from 1980 to 2010 (30?years) by applying econometric techniques for discrete choice and censored data. Afterwards, we compare the results for Latin American nations with Asian ones. They suggest that competitive exchange rate requires different approaches depending on the region. Moreover, Latin American countries need to take on additional policies so that interventions in the foreign exchange market become effective.     

The effect of remittances on the current account in developing and emerging economies

This paper presents an analysis of the effect of remittances on the current account in developing and emerging economies, incorporating an assessment of the extent to which exchange rate regimes impact the relationship. The main findings suggest that there is a positive effect of remittances on the current account contemporaneously, but that the lagged effect is negative, which could be indicative of the existence of some underlying mechanisms characteristic of the Dutch disease phenomenon. In addition, the results show that a more flexible exchange regime dampens the contemporaneous positive effect that remittances have on the current account. The paper, therefore, asserts that policymakers face trade‐offs pertaining to the use of exchange rate policy in managing the effects of remittances on the current account, which should be given due consideration when such policy choices are made.     

Further evidence on the PPP analysis of the Australian dollar: Non-linearities, fractional integration and structural changes

The aim of this paper is to analyse the empirical fulfilment of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) theory for the Australian dollar. In order to do so we have applied recently developed unit root tests that account for asymmetric adjustment towards the equilibrium [Kapetanios, G., Shin, Y., Snell, A., 2003. “Testing for a unit root in the nonlinear STAR framework”, Journal of Econometrics, 112, 359–379] and fractional integration in the context of structural changes [Robinson, P.M., 1994. “Efficient tests of nonstationary hypotheses”, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 89, 1420–1437; Gil-Alana, L.A., 2008. “Fractional integration and structural breaks at unknown periods of time”, Journal of Time Series Analysis, 29, 163–185]. Although our results point to the rejection of the PPP hypothesis, we find that the degree of persistence of shocks to the Australian dollar decreases after the 1985 currency crisis.     

Financial flows and economic growth in developing countries

This paper assesses the impact of financial flows and their composition on the real exchange rate and on economic growth for a sample of low- and middle-income countries over the period of 1980–2012. Financial flows can directly support economic growth by relaxing constraints on domestic resources, but can also indirectly weaken growth through appreciation of the real exchange rate. We use the generalized method of moments (GMM) for dynamic panel. Results show that net financial flows affect economic growth both directly and indirectly: (i) a one percent increase in total financial flows appreciates the real exchange rate by 0.5 percent; (ii) the real exchange rate appreciation effect of remittances is twice the effect of aid and ten times greater than the effect of Foreign Direct Investments; (iii) financial flows stimulate economic growth regardless of the development level. An increase of $10 per capita financial flows leads to a gain of 0.08 points of annual growth. This gain amounts to 0.15 when we control for the negative impact of the real exchange rate. Instability of market-oriented flows, such as FDI and portfolio investments, exacerbates instability of the economic growth rate.     

Nonlinearities in the real exchange rates: new evidence from developed and developing countries

This paper investigates nonlinearities in the dynamics of real exchange rates. We use Monte Carlo simulations to establish the size properties of the Teräsvirta-Anderson test, when the dynamics of the real exchange rate is influenced by an exogenous process. In addition, we show that a modified nonlinearity test, which includes additional right-hand-side variables, performs much better than the original in both Monte Carlo exercises and in the actual data on 1431 bilateral real exchange rate series. Finally, we investigate the dynamics of the real exchange rate for both developed and developing countries using the modified test for the recent floating period. In general, the results find a greater incidence of nonlinear dynamics for developing country real exchange rates.     

The Washington Consensus revisited: a new structural economics perspective

The Washington Consensus reform resulted in economic collapse and stagnation in many transition economies and “lost decades” in other developing countries in 1980s and 1990s. The paper provides a new structural economics perspective of such failures. The Washington Consensus reform failed to recognize that many firms in a transition economy were not viable in an open, competitive market because those industries went against the comparative advantages determined by the economy’s endowment structure. Their survival relied on the government’s protections and subsidies through various interventions and distortions. The Washington Consensus advised the government to focus their reforms on issues related to property rights, corporate governance, government interventions, and other issues that may obstruct a firm’s normal management. Without resolving the firms’ viability problem, such reforms led to the firms’ collapse and an unintended decline and stagnation of the economy in the transition process. This paper suggests that the viability assumption in neoclassical economics be relaxed when analyzing development and transition issues in socialist, transition, and developing economies.     

Real exchange rates in emerging economies

We analyse the role of various investment margins in explaining the real exchange rate appreciation recorded in European transition countries. We present a model that introduces a quality investment margin and show that the margin is needed for replicating the observed pace of real exchange rate appreciation.     

Restructuring financial systems in transition and developing economies: an approach based on the French financial system

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the redesigning of financial systems in Central and Eastern European and developing countries by focusing attention on specific financial institutions appropriate to easing the transition and fostering the creation of markets. The paper argues that the immediate emulation of the better-known institutions of the most developed, market-based financial systems, i.e. the US and the UK, should not be taken for granted. It underlines, instead, the importance of drawing inspiration from the experiences of a variety of institutions and financial systems. Particularly relevant are those systems that have experienced forms of transition and a mix, over time, of market and state intervention.
The approach of this paper is one of institutional financial economics (Neave, 1991 and Williamson, 1986), in which structural details of financial institutions and contracts, in our case French financial institutions, are analysed. We argue that the principles on which some French financial institutions are based and aspects of their functioning are of value to reformers. We discuss the lessons that can be learnt from the Crédit National, the Commissariat Général du Plan, the CODEVI and the SOFARIS.     

汇率变动、对外贸易与经济增长——以湖南省为例

选取了2005年7月汇改以来至2013年12月的季度数据,通过建立联立方程模型,利用3SLS(三阶段最小二剩法)计量方法就人民币汇率的变动对湖南省对外贸易、经济增长的影响进行实证研究。实证结果表明:人民币实际有效汇率升值1%,经济增长速度降低0.612%;湖南省进出口额的增长速度降低2.79%,人民币实际有效汇率升值对湖南省经济总量的增长有紧缩效应。     

货币升值对经济增长影响的国际比较及启示

首先对日本、德国、美国和东亚国家货币升值对各自国家经济增长的影响进行国际比较,然后对1990年后日本经济增长率大幅下降的原因进行分析,指出目前中国的经济与1990年代的日本经济存在巨大的差异,人民币适度升值不会引起中国经济增长率的大幅下降,人民币升值应遵循主动性和渐进式原则.     

Industrial policy revisited: a new structural economics perspective

Whether or not governments should play a facilitating role in economic development has long been a topic for economic discourse and research. As an important instrument to promote economic development, throughout history even to the present, industrial policy is often and actively used by governments. Much controversy surrounds whether and how governments should implement industrial policy.In this article, failures and successes of implementing such policies are analyzed through a new structural economics perspective. Specifically, the article argues that (1) sector-targeted industrial policy is essential to achieve dynamic structural change and rapid, sustained growth in an economy; (2) most industrial policies fail because they target industries that are not compatible with the country’s comparative advantages; (3) successful industrial policy should target industries that reflerct the country’s latent comparative advantages; (4) historical experiences show that in the catching-up stage, the industrial policies of successful countries, in general, have targeted the industries in countries with a similar endowment structure and somewhat higher per capita income; and (5) the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework (GIFF), based on new structural economics, is a new, effective way to target latent comparative-advantage industries and support their growth.     

PPP in the medium run: The case of Norway

Existing studies generally reject purchasing power parity (PPP) on data sets from countries that have been affected by large real shocks, including Norway. However, we offer strong evidence of PPP between Norway and its trading partners during the post-Bretton Woods period, in which the Norwegian economy has experienced numerous real shocks such as discoveries of large petroleum reserves and oil price shocks. In particular, the behavior of the Norwegian real and nominal exchange rates appears remarkably consistent with the PPP theory. Moreover, convergence towards PPP is relatively rapid; the half-life of a deviation from parity is just about 1.5 years. We show that such deviations are primarily eliminated by adjustments in the nominal exchange rate and we offer some explanations for the relatively rapid convergence towards PPP.     

“中国制造”路在何方:兼论滞涨威胁下的对外经济政策

当前中国宏观经济面临诸多难题,特别是对外贸易和汇率、外汇储备过多等问题.众多影响因素之下,中国作为世界工厂的地位受到威胁,形成了所谓的"中国制造"难题.本文通过分析新古典贸易理论,认为主流经济学的贸易理论不适合解释当前对外贸易中出现的问题;一个存在技术进步的中美贸易虚构的模型可以看出中美贸易导致中国贸易条件恶化的可能性.本文认为,要保持中国对外经济的健康发展,实现"中国制造"的顺利升级,必须保持独立的货币政策和提高名义经济增长率,唯此才能获得人民币升值牢固的基础和对外贸易的主动权.     

Agricultural productivity,the real effective exchange rate,and structural change: Some evidence from Africa

Agriculture is thought to play a number of roles in the early development process. All of these roles involve fostering non‐agricultural development, in particular manufacturing. It is argued in this paper that agriculture plays a role that has hitherto been ignored. Specifically, if agricultural labor productivity increases faster than manufacturing labor productivity, the real effective exchange rate will depreciate. This depreciation of real effective exchange rate occurs because in very poor countries agriculture makes up the dominant share of both GDP and employment. The depreciation also makes it easier for a country to expand the production of tradables relative to nontradables, with manufacturing being the main tradable. This proposition, which as agricultural labor productivity increases relative to manufacturing labor productivity the real effective exchange rate depreciates, is tested using data drawn from 10 sub‐Saharan African countries.