Hong Kong's exchange rate regime:: Lessons from Singapore

Singapore's managed floating exchange rate regime contrasts with Hong Kong's currency board system featured by the Hong Kong–United States dollars peg. This paper appraises the two different exchange rate regimes by comparing their track records in maintaining macroeconomic stability and trade competitiveness in the 1990s. A review of the two regimes' institutional characteristics and macroeconomic performance reveals the systemic inadequacy of Hong Kong's exchange rate regime under a changing global financial environment. As East Asia emerges from the recent financial crisis, Singapore's experience of successfully moving away from a currency board system to a credible managed floating regime offers a lesson worthy of attention from Hong Kong.     

台港地区对1949～1979年中国大陆经济史研究评析

本文对港台地区研究者关于1949-1979年之间中国大陆经济的研究分专题进行了简要的叙述,对其中几个有代表性的观点进行了评析,分析了港台学者研究的特点,并指出只有坚持改革开放才是中国经济建设的唯一选择。     

经济一体化与香港股市的国际联动实证研究

本文从汇率制度、利率水平、国际贸易、投资群体等方面,分析香港股票市场所处的宏观管理运行环境,考察香港和美国的密切经济关系,研究全球一体化不断加深的情形下香港、日本和美国股市的动态关系。研究结果表明,三大市场的动态关系依然存在;但恒指跟上证指并不存在协整关系。     

THE HONG KONG CURRENCY BOARD'S DEFENSE AGAINST FINANCIAL MARKET PRESSURE: A BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

Exchange rate regimes do not operate in an institutional vacuum, even when the scope for exercising policy discretion is distinctly limited. The Hong Kong linked exchange rate system is no exception. An interesting feature of the institutional environment in this case, not highlighted previously, is the apparent divergence in the assumptions of policymakers and market players regarding the merits of this mechanism in particular and currency boards in general. The corollary is that the Hong Kong monetary authorities need to intensify their efforts to disseminate relevant information, focusing especially on targets in the financial sector.     

Financial crises,Asian stock indices,and current accounts: An Asian-U.S. comparative study

This paper investigates the effects of financial crises-based exchange rate, real interest rate, and personal consumption expenditure on stock market indices and balances of current account in four Asian countries/areas, and the U.S. from 1997 to 2010. Results obtained from Sims's first-order DSGE representation suggest that two policy variables – changes in the exchange rate and changes in the real interest rate lagged by one quarter – act as stabilizers for contemporaneous changes in stock indices for Thailand, Malaysia, and the U.S., but as destabilizers for Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, changes in personal consumption expenditure lagged by one quarter only play a destabilizing role in Hong Kong. For contemporaneous changes in the current account balance, all three policy variables become destabilizers for all five countries except the one-quarter lagged change in real interest rate, which acts as a stabilizer in Malaysia.     

China,Hong Kong,and Taiwan: A quantitative assessment of real and financial integration

The status of real and financial integration of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan is investigated using monthly data on 1-month interbank rates, exchange rates, and prices. Specifically, the degree of integration is assessed based on the empirical validity of real interest parity, uncovered interest parity, and relative purchasing power parity. There is evidence stating that these parity conditions tend to hold over longer periods, although they do not hold instantaneously. Overall, the magnitude of deviations from the parity conditions is shrinking over time. In particular, China and Hong Kong appear to have experienced significant increases in integration during the sample period. It is also found that exchange rate variability plays a major role in determining the variability of deviations from these parity conditions.     

THE YEN‐DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE AND MALAYSIAN MACROECONOMIC DYNAMICS

This paper empirically assesses the effect of the yen‐dollar exchange rate on selected macroeconomic variables, namely, real output, price level, and money supply, for Malaysia. The results, which are based on a vector autoregressive framework, suggest that variations in the yen‐dollar rate can have significant influences on Malaysia's macroeconomic variables. More specifically, the yen‐dollar depreciation leads to contraction in real GDP and money supply. These results are fairly robust to alternative model specifications. We believe that, apart from providing important insights into the interactions between the yen‐dollar rate and domestic macroeconomic variables, our results contribute to the debate on choice of exchange rate regimes for Malaysia.     

东亚金融一体化程度研究

本文通过使用汇率波动率、人均消费增长率的相关度、未抛补的利率平价偏差、双边贸易强度、利率相关度这五个指标来反映中国、日本、韩国以及中国香港、中国台湾任意两个经济体之间金融一体化的程度,并采用主成分分析的方法计算出了任意两个经济体之间金融一体化程度的大小。最后,本文依照分析结果结合目前东亚金融合作现状、东亚经济体面临的国际国内经济环境提出了促进东亚金融一体化的政策建议。     

The foreign exchange exposure of Chinese banks

Using the capital market approach and the equity price data of 14 listed Chinese banks, this empirical study finds that there is a positive relationship between bank size and foreign exchange exposure. This relationship may reflect the larger foreign exchange operations and trading positions of larger Chinese banks and their significant indirect foreign exchange exposure arising from impacts of the renminbi exchange rate movements on their customers. Empirical evidence also suggests that the average foreign exchange exposures of state-owned and joint-stock commercial banks in China are higher than those of banks in Hong Kong, notwithstanding their limited participation in international banking businesses compared with their Hong Kong counterparts. It is also found that negative foreign exchange exposure is prevalent for larger Chinese banks, suggesting that an appreciation of the renminbi tends to reduce their equity value. It is therefore likely that the banking sector's performance will be hampered. Together with the fact that decreases in equity values generally imply a higher default risk, the effects of different scenarios of renminbi appreciation on the default risk of Chinese banks should therefore be closely monitored.     

One country,two currencies: The adoption of the Hong Kong currency board, 1983

Currency boards have had an enduring attraction as a solution to exchange rate and monetary credibility for small open economies, despite few successful examples. In this context, the case of Hong Kong stands out for its longevity; it survived the handover to China, the Asian financial crises in 1997, and the global crises in 2007–8 and 2020. The 1983 currency crisis and the decision to link the exchange rate to the US$ is usually treated as an outcome of local political uncertainty due to the Sino-British negotiations which set the framework for how Hong Kong would fit with the rest of China after 1997. We present fresh archival evidence from Hong Kong and London to reveal the year-long debates over Hong Kong's monetary system after a drop in the exchange rate in September 1982 and to demonstrate how most of the protagonists in Hong Kong and London came only reluctantly to accept the idea of re-pegging the dollar once public expectations had been raised. We also show how the mixture of currency and banking instability affected the terms of the negotiations in 1982 and 1983 and set the framework for the one country, two currencies system that prevails today.     

China's Exchange Rate Policy: The Case for Greater Flexibility

Since the Asian crisis, the merit of the Chinese government's de facto peg to the US Dollar has been the subject of widening debate. This paper reviews the issues surrounding China's currency regime choice and assesses the case for greater fiexibility. Reform era exchange rate policies are examined along with the performance of the economy during and since the Asian crisis. In the Chinese context, the arguments for and against fixed exchange rates are then explained and assessed. Finally, an elemental comparative static macroeconomic model is used to examine the implications of domestic and external shocks under different exchange rate regimes and with differing degrees of capital mobility. The results support the view that more fiexibility would be beneficial to China and that this benefit can be expected to increase as capital mobility increases.     

An analysis of dynamic risk in the Greater China equity markets

This study looks at the time-varying nature of systematic risk in the Greater China equity markets. The Shanghai and Shenzhen markets both have a low average systematic risk when measured against the world market. The short outbursts in systematic risk for these two markets seem to be directly related to policy shifts. The Hong Kong and Taiwan markets are more integrated with world markets and they show signs of large variations in systematic risk over time. Furthermore, conditional betas in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets are stationary, while the Hong Kong and Taiwan betas are integrated of order one. In addition, long memory tests show that all four markets exhibit a long-run dependence in their conditional betas. While the two mainland China market betas are covariance stationary, the Hong Kong and Taiwan betas are not.     

中国上市公司海外并购绩效分析

本文利用2005～2009年间进行海外并购的210家中国上市公司的数据,检验了我国上市公司进行海外并购前后绩效的变化情况。利用会计指标法研究公司并购后的长期绩效发现,并购后整体样本绩效出现了不显著的先降后升的情况。另外,对港澳台资企业的并购比对单纯的外国企业的并购更容易取得成功。结合企业面临的现实条件,中国企业对待海外并购应抱审慎的态度,先易后难,以提高成功率。     

THE ROLE OF HONG KONG IN SINO-TAIWAN AND SINO-KOREA TRADE, 1981-87

Sino-Taiwan and Sino-Korea trade through Hong Kong has been growing steadily since early 1980's. Direct trade is impossible because of the lack of diplomatic relations between China and Taiwan and China and S. Korea, Thus, an intermediary is essential to carry out the transactions. Then, there is the issue of why Hong Kong is chosen as the major intermediary. This relates to the transportation costs and transaction costs advantages that Hong Kong possesses as an entrepot. As the major intermediary in Sino-Taiwan and Sino-Korea trade, Hong Kong is playing multiple roles. It is serving as an entrepot in commodity trade; as an agent in the export of technology from Taiwan and S. Korea to China; as a mediator in trade disputes; and as the middle-man in some trade related issues such as the application of patent protection and the establishment of trade offices. Above all it is observed that Hong Kong has major roles to play not only in the case of indirect trade, but also in the case of direct trade. In the future, there might not be much chance for the legalization of direct trade. Nevertheless, the recent change in the trade and investment policies of Taiwan and S. Korea has shown that the future prospect of indirect trade is very bright.     

中国高额外汇储备的负效应分析

近些年来我国外汇储备（未含香港、台湾地区）规模增长迅速,逐年呈上升趋势,到2008年9月底外汇储备余额已超过1．9万亿美元。超过万亿美元规模的巨额储备,意味着我国有着充裕的国际支付能力。但不断增长的外汇储备也会产生诸多的不良影响。文章重点分析了持续不断增长的高额外汇储备给我国经济发展所带来的负效应,以期对加强外汇储备管理有一定的参考作用。     

Persistence of Output Fluctuations Under Different Exchange Rate Regimes

In a recent paper, Giugale and Korobow (2000) present evidence that suggests that the time required by output to return to trend following a financial shock is faster under a flexible exchange rate regime than under a fixed exchange rate. In this paper, we use vector autoregression models to measure the persistence properties of output for a number of countries in the Asia–Pacific region. Our results suggest that output persistence is not uniquely related to a country's choice of exchange rate regime. The two countries in our sample with the least persistent output following a financial shock are Australia, where the exchange rate is fully flexible, and Hong Kong, where it is rigidly fixed via a currency board.     

香港跨境贸易人民币结算面面观

全球金融危机爆发以来,人民币跨境贸易结算特别是针对港澳跨境贸易人民币结算的政策频繁出台,这是为推动我国与周边国家和地区经贸关系发展、规避汇率风险、改善贸易条件的一大举措。本文以香港跨境贸易人民币结算为分析对象,分别对香港和内地两地将受到的影响进行深入分析。人民币结算将增加香港进出口企业的汇率风险、香港金融业在短期和长期也将会受不同程度的影响;内地外贸企业则能有效规避汇率风险、节约结算成本,人民币结算在长期也将为人民币国际化作出贡献。但是,跨境贸易人民币结算所面临的内外阻力更加不容忽视。     

Learning and the capital goods sector under free trade: The case of Hongkong

Attention is focused on technological change and attendant learning processes in the more industrialized Third World countries. The importance of relatively simple learning processes is stressed and the conditions necessary for facilitating more complex forms of learning - particularly protection and promotion - are examined. Here it is shown that the capital goods sector is of central importance. The case-study material deals with the machine- producing sector in Hong Kong, chosen as the representative case of free trade and minimal government intervention, and comparison is made with learning processes in a number of other more industrialized Third World Countries including India, Argentina and Taiwan. In the final section the implications of the discussion of learning for theories and techniques of investment allocation - including social cost-benefit analysis, the effective rate of protection and the related domestic cost of foreign exchange - are examined.     

Impact of CEPA on the labor market of Hong Kong

A panel data method is used to evaluate the impact of the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between Mainland China and Hong Kong. Using the time series data of Hong Kong, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Taiwan, U.K., and U.S. to construct what would have happened to Hong Kong's unemployment rate had there been no CEPA, we find that the CEPA effects gradually increases over time and eventually reached a constant level of reducing Hong Kong's unemployment rate by 9% a year.     

江西入境旅游港澳台市场分析及拓展策略

港澳台市场是江西入境旅游的核心市场。通过对港澳台市场的进行总体及个体特征分析,为港澳台市场拓展定位提供指导,并有针对性地提出港澳台市场的拓展策略。