The effect of exchange rate volatility on U.S. bilateral trade with Africa: A symmetric and asymmetric analysis

The impact of exchange rate volatility on U.S. trade with the world or on U.S. trade with major partners has been assessed by many researchers, but none have considered the case of U.S. trade with African nations. We fill this gap by assessing the symmetric and asymmetric impact of the real bilateral exchange rate volatility between the U.S. dollar and each African partner’s currency on the U.S. trade flows with each of the 20 partners from Africa. We found asymmetric short-run effects of exchange rate volatility on almost all U.S. exports to and imports from each of the 20 countries. In addition, significant long-run asymmetric effects were discovered in the case of U.S. exports to 15 countries and U.S. imports from 12 countries. Our findings are partner-specific.     

Carry-trades on the yen and the Swiss franc: are they different?

Using monthly data from 1986 to 2009 for 11 major currencies against the U.S. dollar (USD), we find that interest rate differentials between nine of these currencies are generally positive (sample mean of 0.86%) but are strongly negative for Japan (mean of ?2.78%) and for Switzerland (mean of ?2.22%). Investigating empirical models of nominal exchange rate changes we find for all panels that about 2% of real exchange rate misalignments are corrected in the following month. We also find important differences across samples and for the two carry-trade currencies the key results are as follows. First, interest rate differentials have a negative impact on exchange rates: higher paying currencies should appreciate, contrary to the ex-ante uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) condition. We find that this result is very robust to money supply (M1) differentials serving as instrumental variables to inflation rates. In addition, these two currencies depreciate slightly when money supply (M1) differentials increase. Second, dummy variables for periods of market turmoil suggest a particularly strong appreciation of these currencies against the USD, consistent with the unwinding of carry-trade activities.     

The J-curve dynamics of U.S. bilateral trade

Three earlier studies examined the impact of dollar depreciation on bilateral trade between the United States and her six largest trading partners. They used different methodologies that resulted in different outcomes. In this paper we consider 18 major trading partners of the United States and employ a relatively new method to investigate the short-run as well as the long-run response of the bilateral trade balance to currency depreciation. While as with previous research we are unable to discover any J-curve pattern in the short run, in the long run real depreciation of the dollar has favorable effects on the U.S. trade balance in most cases. Valuable comments of an anonymous referee are greatly appreciated. Any remaining errors, however, are the authors'.     

The J-Curve: Evidence from commodity trade between Canada and the U.S.

Several studies in the literature have tried to assess the impact of real depreciation of the Canadian dollar on the Canadian trade balance. They have either relied on the trade data between Canada and the rest of the world or between Canada and her major trading partners. In this paper we consider the trade between Canada and her major trading partner, the U.S. However, unlike previous research, we disaggregate the trade data between the two countries by commodity. We use export and import data over the period 1962–2004 from 152 commodities and the bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modeling and show that real depreciation of the Canadian dollar has short-run effects on the trade balance of two-thirds of the industries. However, only in 50% of the industries, the short-run effects translate into the long-run favorable effects.

The 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Stock,FX and VIX markets

The U.S. presidential election is one of the global political events that have the profound effects on the Global Financial Markets (GFMs). The aim of the study is to examine Stock, FX and VIX markets under the U.S. presidential election 2016. The findings strongly suggest that ‘U.S. presidential election effects’ hold in equity and FX markets across the GFMs. The empirical outcome signifies that markets are inefficient in the short-run (election year) and allows the opportunity to make abnormal gains from the market. The ‘Republican president elect’ has shown negative effects on the Nifty50, S&PASX200, and IPC equity markets while FTSE100, DJIA, Top40, EuroStoxx50 and Nikkei225 have reported positive returns. The Trumps’ proposal on international trade has caused major loss in the global currency market against the U.S. dollar. The investors’ sentiment to be measured extremely low on the poll announcement day but VXJ and AXVI based market participants have shown very high degree of concern. The Bearish-run election effects to be observed during the election period while post election period has shown Bull-run effects (Asia-pacific markets).     

Asymmetric effects of exchange rate changes on Turkish bilateral trade balances

Previous studies that have assessed the short-run and the long-run effects of exchange rate changes on Turkey’s trade balance with its major partners relied upon a linear adjustment process that could not find much support for favorable effects of exchange rate changes. In this paper, once we separate real appreciations from real depreciations via the partial sum concept and introduce nonlinearity into the estimation and testing procedure, we show that the effects of exchange rate changes are asymmetric. More precisely, while lira appreciation does not have any significant effects on Turkey’s bilateral trade balances, lira depreciation has significantly favorable effects on Turkey’s trade balance with its European partners (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Great Britain).     

The exchange value of the dollar and the U.S. trade balance: An empirical investigation based on cointegradon and Granger causality tests

This article performs tests of Granger causality in the relationships between the nominal ad real exchange rates of the dollar and the U.S. trade balance as well as its price and quantity components over the period 1973:IIQ–1989:IIIQ. Our results suggest: (i) weak statistical evidence of unidirectional causality running from the nominal exchange rate to import prices and nominal trade balance (ii) no statistical support for the proposition that the real exchange rate simply “accommodates” changes in the real trade balance, and (iii) strong (no) causal links between the nominal and real exchange rates and export (import) volume. We tentatively conclude that movements in the exchange rate have a rather limited effect on the trade balance and that this effect is more likely to materialize on the export side of the trade balance.     

Comparing exchange rate forecasting models: Accuracy versus profitability

In this paper we compare the rankings of alternative exchange rate forecasting models using two different evaluation criteria: forecast accuracy and profitability in forward market speculation. Either or both of these criteria may be useful to the practitioner depending on the forecasting application. We use both time-series and static and dynamic structural models to construct forecasts for the Canadian dollar/U.S. dollar and German mark/U.S. dollar exchange rates over the period 1976 :12–1984: 9. Our results confirm earlier findings that simple time-series models such as the random walk rank highest in forecast accuracy. The random walk also ranks high in terms of profitability for the German mark, but for the Canadian dollar the profitability rankings are quite different than the accuracy results. For both currencies we find that some models are very profitable in forward speculation, which is evidence against the speculative efficiency hypothesis but may be consistent with the existence of risk premia in foreign exchange markets.     

International trade and the U.S. wage structure

Politicians are concerned about the effects of increased foreign trade on U.S. workers. Data from 1978 to 1987 are used to appraise the impact of foreign trade on U.S. manufacturing wages. The results indicate that wages are positively associated with a sector’s level of international comparative advantage. However, this follows from other characteristics aside from the net trade balance. These characteristics may include rent sharing or international technological convergence. Imports and exports also influence wages, where this impact varies with the industry’s unionization. Regardless, the results suggest that greater trade is not a major cause of the decline in U.S. real wages.     

Stock prices and exchange rates in VEC model—The case of Singapore in the 1990s

This paper uses an error correction model to explore 1) the asymmetric effects of four different exchange rates on Singapore stock prices and 2) the effects' sensitivity to economic instability. Both the Singapore currency appreciation against the U.S. dollar and Malaysianringgit and depreciation against the Japaneseyen and Indonesianrupiah lead to a longrun increase in stock prices for most selected periods of the 1990s; however, the effect associated with the U.S. dollar exchange rate has a sign reversal between the 1997–98 crisis period and the 1999–2000 recovery period. The influence of exchange rates on stock prices increases in a chronological order in the 1990s. The author would like to thank three anonymous referees and Joachim Zietz,JEF editor, for helpful comments. A summer research grant by the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, Salisbury State University, is gratefully acknowledged.     

Dynamics of floating exchange rate: how important are capital flows relative to macroeconomic fundamentals?

While focusing on traditional macroeconomic fundamentals, existing literature has provided little understanding of impacts of various types of capital flows on the dynamics of floating exchange rates. This paper develops a structural VAR model that takes into account macroeconomic fundamentals as well as various types of capital flows in explaining the fluctuations of the floating exchange rates of the Australian dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the U.S. dollar over 1980–2004. Our main findings are as follows. Among the traditional macroeconomic fundamentals, relative interest rate still plays a significant role in explaining exchange rate dynamics for all three currencies. Capital flows play an important role in explaining the fluctuations in the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar, but not the U.S. dollar. In particular, portfolio investment is the most explanatory factor for the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar. For the U.S. dollar, relative interest rate explains the most of exchange rate fluctuations, especially in the medium to the long run. The results indicate that capital market transactions do play important roles in determining exchange rates; however, it may have different implications for the reserve currencies versus the non-reserve currencies. Further research is needed.     

Exchange rate volatility and fluctuations in the extensive margin of trade

The existing evidence for exporters׳ entry and exit in response to exchange rate movements is based on either low frequency data or a sample with large devaluations. Using quarterly data of U.S. bilateral trade with 99 countries, this study provides new evidence that the extensive margin of trade fluctuates over the business cycle. First, I show that the extensive margin of exports to the U.S. and the extensive margin of imports from the U.S. are more volatile than the output of almost all trading partners. Next, I find that fixing exchange rates with the U.S. dollar, having a free trade agreement with the U.S., and an increase in country size is significantly associated with the stability of the pattern of trade with the U.S.     

Impact of exchange rate volatility on commodity trade between U.S. and China: is there a third country effect

Impact of exchange rate uncertainty on trade flows still continues to dominate the literature. Most previous research has used aggregate trade data between one country and the rest of the world or between two countries at a bilateral level. A recent study, however, considered the trade between the U.S. and China at the commodity level, but excluded the ??third-country?? effect in its analysis. In this paper, we consider the commodity trade between the U.S. and China one more time and investigate whether volatility of the real U.S. dollar-Canadian dollar has any implication on the trade flows between the U.S. and China. The answer happens to be in the affirmative, though a more significant third-country effect is found in the short run as compared to the long run.     

U.S. interest rates and the exchange value of the dollar: A test of causality

This study examines the causal relationship between interset rates and the exchange value of the dollar using Granger causality tests. Cointegration tests show that error correction models are not necessary in this case. The results suggest that the combination of short- and long-term U.S. interest rates, in nominal or real terms, Granger cause the exchange value of the dollar, and that the difference between nominal domestic and foreign rates does not Granger cause the exchange value of the dollar. This result supports the proposition that budget deficits contribute to trade deficits.     

The future of the dollar–euro exchange rate

Monetary unification in Europe is expected to produce a major new international currency, which may compete with the U.S. dollar as the currency of choice in foreign exchange transactions, financial asset markets and central bank reserves. This study considers two important issues regarding the euro: its global role as medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value and its position relative to the U.S. dollar. Among the main considerations are differences in cyclical behavior, inflation differentials, trade patterns and capital flows, and risk-return assessments. External diversification of private portfolios and of central banks’ reserve holdings will play a key role in determining the euro’s exchange rate. Overall, despite its rough start, we argue that the euro may emerge as a challenger to the U.S. dollar.     

人民币实际有效汇率的分解和马歇尔—勒纳条件的修正

马歇尔-勒纳条件是探讨货币贬值改善贸易收支的规律,本文根据人民币实际有效汇率的特点,把它分解为美元有效汇率和人民币对美元汇率之积形式,在此基础之上,本文重新考察货币贬值改善贸易收支的条件,对传统的马歇尔-勒纳条件进行修正。从我们研究中可以看出美元实际有效汇率变化对马歇尔-勒纳条件修正的重要作用,这包括美元有效汇率对人民币汇率弹性和人民币在美元有效汇率中的权重的两种影响。另一方面,即使人民币实际有效汇率贬值存在“J”曲线效应,人民币对美元实际汇率贬值,“J”曲线是否存在还要依赖一定的条件。本文实证研究结果显示出口（或进口）与人民币对美元实际汇率、美元实际有效汇率指数和外国收入（或国内收入）之间存在着显著的协整关系,美元实际有效汇率和人民币对美元实际汇率也存在显著的协整关系。从弹性的变化来看,修正的马歇尔-勒纳条件成立,同时人民币对美元实际汇率贬值有利于改善贸易收支,美元实际有效汇率贬值会恶化中国贸易收支。而对“J”曲线效应的实证研究显示无论是人民币实际有效汇率,还是人民币对美元实际汇率贬值和美元实际有效汇率贬值,我国“J”曲线效应均不显著。     

中、美、日实际均衡汇率模型的构建及实证研究

本文基于BEKK-MGARCH模型建立了中、美、日三国的实际均衡汇率方程和方差方程,对1994年以来中国、美国和日本的实际均衡汇率及其波动溢出效应进行了深入细致的分析。结果表明:三个国家的实际均衡汇率受其经济基本面因素的影响不同,人民币实际均衡汇率还受到了美元和日元实际汇率的影响;中美、中日、美日之间的联动关系存在显著的ARCH和GARCH效应。     

Dynamic interactions between Central European currencies and the euro

We argue that the non-euro EU currencies of Central European countries have moved increasingly together with the euro in foreign exchange markets. To prove this point, we examine the dynamics of cross-elasticity between selected Central European currencies (the Czech koruna, Polish zloty, and Hungarian forint) and the euro exchange rates in U.S. dollar terms using daily data for the January 4, 2000 to April 5, 2019 sample period. We adopt the cross-elasticity model originally proposed and tested for the EU currencies by Orlowski (2016). To test the currency co-movements over time, we employ the Bai-Perron multiple breakpoint regression and two-state Markov switching tests. We find evidence of increasing co-movements between the Central European currencies and the euro that become particularly pronounced in times of financial distress. Co-movements of local exchange rates with the euro are also more pronounced during the euro-periphery sovereign debt crisis.     

WORLD OUTLOOK

The world economic recovery, which began in the late summer of 1980, can now be seen as premature, in as much as 1980's short, sharp recession had achieved only a limited reduction in the rate of inflation. Economic policy, particularly in the United States, is once more geared to a reduction in the inflation rate even if this imposes costs in terms of lost output and higher unemployment. The consequent appreciation of the US dollar against the European currencies has - in spite of weakening oil and non-oil commodity prices in dollar terms - produced a further boost to European inflation and a subsequent tightening of policy in some countries, notably West Germany. In these circumstances we expect little or no growth in output in the world economy until the summer of 1982.     

Dynamic risk spillovers and portfolio risk management between precious metals and global foreign exchange markets

This study examines portfolio management and risk spillovers between four major precious metals (gold, silver, palladium and platinum) and 20 important U.S. exchange markets. To this end, we employ the multivariate DECO-GARCH model and the spillover index developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2014, 2016) to examine the spillovers between those metal prices and the exchange rates and design portfolios and hedging strategies using different risk measures. The results show evidence of weak average conditional equicorrelations among the considered markets over time, excluding the turbulent 2008–2010 period. Furthermore, the precious metals (excluding platinum) and the currencies (with the exception of the Australian, Brazilian, Denmark, Euro, Mexican, Norwegian, New Zealand and Swedish currencies) are net receivers of shocks. Finally, the four precious metals provide strong risk and downside risk reductions, underscoring the usefulness of including precious metals in a traditional foreign exchange-dominated portfolio.