Internet searches and transactions on the Dutch housing market

We use Google searches of the word ‘mortgage’ to explain monthly housing transactions in the Netherlands in the period from 2004 until 2015. Our estimates indicate that Google searches of the previous months are significantly positively associated with housing transactions in the current month. This shows evidence that Internet search data can provide information about real market behaviour.     

A prototype model of the foreign exchange market of Canada: Forecasting capital flows and exchange rates

A balance-of-payments structural model of the foreign exchange market of Canada, endogenizing capital flows, the spot and forward exchange rates and the entities of the monetary sector, is developed using quarterly data for 1971–81. The capital flows have been disaggregated into ten categories and the exchange rates of the Canadian dollar have been analysed against five major currencies. While the model does not adhere strictly to purchasing power or interest rate parity, it does recognize them and it also incorporates other economic fundamentals, expectations and risk. Government interventions, although generated endogenously, are quantified implicitly and globally. The model tracks the post-Bretton Woods in-sample experience and generates ex post predictions reasonably well.     

Catching up: The role of demand, supply and regulated price effects on the real exchange rates of four accession countries

The main aim of this paper is to examine the exchange rate behaviour of a group of four transitional, EU accession countries, with a view to making policy recommendations regarding their full accession to the European Monetary Union. We employ a dynamic OLS panel estimator to investigate the relative importance of demand and supply influences on the exchange rates of these countries. Our analysis shows that both supply‐ and demand‐side effects are important for the accession countries, although their overall effect on inflation differentials and competitiveness seems to be small. An additional focus of the paper is the examination of the role that administrated, or regulated, prices and the productivity of the distribution sector play in the real exchange rate dynamics. Using a unique database we show that administrative prices have been a powerful force behind price and real exchange developments for our group of accession countries. The distribution sector is shown to have an independent effect on the internal price ratio over and above that generated by the Balassa–Samuelson effect.     

Interest expectations and exchange rates news

Using a new survey data set ofmatched exchange rate and interest rate expectations for eight currencies relative to the German mark, we examine empirically the relationship between exchange rate returns, news and risk premia. News on interest differentials enters significantly in equations for the difference between the spot rate and the lagged forward rate for the British pound, Japanese yen, Spanish peseta and the US dollar. An unexpected rise in the interest rate differential tends to strengthen the domestic exchange rate. For each of these currencies, we also find significant effects of our ex-ante measure of the risk premium. In addition, we investigate the effect of lagged interest rate differentials as proxy for the risk premium and find that they do not capture time-varying risk premia as is widely suggested in the literature, but probably capture a peso-problem, learning about a policy change, a market-inefficiency or a combination of these factors.     

The political economy of the impossible trinity

This paper reconsiders the policy trilemma in an open economy by incorporating political economy concerns. We argue that the impact of government ideology on monetary independence, exchange rate stability, and capital flow restrictions should be analyzed in the broader context of restrictions imposed by the impossible trinity instead of the usual single-dimensional constraints. Employing a de facto measurement of these restrictions for a sample of 111 countries from 1980 to 2010, we show that the impact of government ideology on a country's position in this trilemma is highly context dependent: we find that its impact on exchange rate stability and monetary independence varies between developed and developing countries. We also show that the impact of government ideology on these two trilemma components is contingent on the stance of the respective economy's business cycle. Left-leaning governments seem to favor exchange rate stability over monetary independence in case of a negative output gap; suggesting a reversal of their commonly assumed partisan preferences in economically tight times.     

Exchange rates and asymmetric shocks in small open economies

We study the stabilizing properties of exchange rates in five small open economies during to periods of floating exchange rates and inflation targeting. In the cases of Sweden and Canada, the nominal exchange rates behave in a stabilizing manner. Most exchange rate movements emanate from the exchange rate itself and are hence not responses to fundamental shocks. However, these non-fundamental shocks have only negligible effects on output and inflation. Our findings indicate that exchange rates display some stabilizing properties but can mainly be characterized as disconnected from the rest of the economy. We would like to thank Nils Gottfries and participants at seminars at Uppsala University and the Riksbank for helpful advice and useful comments. Post gratefully acknowledges financial support from Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser.     

Professional forecasts of interest rates and exchange rates: Evidence from the Wall Street Journal’s panel of economists

We analyze economists’ forecasts of interest rates and exchange rates from the Wall Street Journal. We find that a majority of economists produced unbiased forecasts but that none predicted directions of changes more accurately than chance. Most economists’ forecast accuracy is statistically indistinguishable from a random walk model in forecasting the Treasury bill rate, but many are significantly worse in forecasting the Treasury bond rate and the exchange rate. We also find systematic forecast heterogeneity, support for strategic models predicting the industry employing the economist matters, and evidence that economists deviate less from the consensus as they age.     

人民币均衡汇率与汇率失调:1991-2004

本文运用行为均衡汇率模型对人民币均衡实质汇率和汇率失调程度进行了实证研究,样本区间为1 991年1季度—2 0 0 4年3季度。本文的主要发现是:( 1 )从1 994年4季度起人民币均衡实质汇率处于不断升值的状态,其背后的主要驱动力量是我国制造业劳动生产率的快速上升和经常项目盈余导致的净对外资产余额的不断增加;( 2 ) 2 0世纪90年代以来,人民币实际实质汇率在大部分时期偏离均衡实质汇率轨迹,表现为人民币汇率的失调。其中,1 992年2季度—1 994年4季度为人民币汇率低估时期,1 995年1季度—1 999年2季度为人民币汇率高估时期,而1 999年3季度往后的时期人民币汇率重新转为低估,并且低估程度有进一步扩大的趋势。本文对人民币汇率失调的原因分析表明1 997年以来硬钉住美元的汇率政策是造成人民币汇率失调的一个主要宏观政策因素。因此,本研究的政策含义是,从应对人民币汇率失调的角度,更为灵活的汇率政策将更有利于中国经济的稳定健康发展     

Heterogeneous expectations in the foreign exchange market

In this study a regime-switching approach is applied to estimate the chartist and fundamentalist (c&f) exchange rate model originally proposed by Frankel and Froot (1986). The c&f model is tested against alternative regime-switching specifications applying likelihood ratio tests. Nested atheoretical models like the popular segmented trends model suggested by Engel and Hamilton (1990) are rejected in favour of the multi-agent model. Our findings turned out to be relatively robust when assessing the models sub-sample estimates and out-of-sample performance.JEL Classification: F31, F37, G12, G15 Correspondence to: S. Reitz     

Friction model and foreign exchange market intervention

The friction model is consistent with the hypothesis that a central bank intervenes in a foreign exchange market only if the necessity grows beyond certain thresholds. For this feature, the model is adopted in some recent studies as an attractive central bank reaction function. However, with official data on Federal Reserve and Bundesbank intervention, this paper shows that the friction model's advantage relative to a linear model may be negligible in terms of RMSE and MAE of in-sample fitting and out-of-sample forecasts. The implication is that intervention decisions are at the monetary authorities' discretion rather than dictated by a rule.     

Exchange rate policies during transition from plan to market

This paper reviews the exchange rate policies adopted in the early years of transition, paying attention to the dilemmas concerning the degree of convertibility, the initial choice of exchange rate regime and the required scale of devaluation. The initial liberalization and devaluation were then followed by a period of real exchange rate appreciation, which was accompanied by improving export performance; this second phase has policy implications that are briefly discussed. Throughout, a key constraint is the inability of the central bank to target simultaneously monetary aggregates, interest rates and the exchange rate. In the presence of large capital inflows the authorities have to manage the exchange rate and domestic monetary policy in order to keep inflation acceptably low while maintaining international competitiveness.     

A Minskyan account of emerging currencies dynamics

Abstract

The currencies of a few emerging market economies (EMEs) have been following a specific dynamic since the early 2000s: They are strongly subordinated to international financial conditions, appreciating in moments of tranquility and presenting sharp depreciations in peaks of uncertainty. What is the mechanism behind it? To answer this question, this article applies the Minskyan framework to the context of money managers and their portfolio allocation decisions. The approach provides a detailed account of the mechanisms of the appreciation phase, thus complementing the emerging currencies’ literature that is focused on crisis episodes. The result is a dynamic characterized by deviation-amplifying systems—the opposite of the mainstream view where fundamentals lead to an equilibrium-seeking mechanism. Apart from these contributions to the exchange rate literature, it enriches the Minskyan literature for providing a broader reading of the original framework that allows it to be transposed to a larger set of contexts and for identifying the main elements to be translated in an analysis of a different context.     

Cryptocurrencies and Cagan’s model of hyperinflation

The drivers of the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum are studied within a framework based on Cagan’s model of hyperinflation. In the model, the prices of the cryptocurrencies are driven by stochastic adoption and velocity shocks as well as endogenous expectations of future prices. The model is estimated with data for prices, transaction volumes, and money supplies. A majority of price fluctuations in both currencies can be attributed to shocks in adoption, velocity shocks are much less important. The money demand sensitivity to expected price changes is estimated to be larger for Bitcoin than for Ethereum, and both have higher sensitivity than fiat currencies during episodes of hyperinflation.