THE CHOICE OF EXCHANGE RATE REGIME AND THE VOLATILITY OF EXCHANGE RATES BEFORE AND AFTER THE ASIAN CRISIS: A COUNTERFACTUAL ANALYSIS*

This paper carries out a counterfactual analysis of the impact of alternative exchange rate regimes on the volatility of the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) and the bilateral rate against the US dollar for nine East Asian countries, both before and after the Asian financial crisis. Our hypothetical regimes include a unilateral basket peg (UBP), a common basket peg (CBP) and a hard peg against the $US, but in contrast to previous counterfactual exercises which compute the weights for effective exchange rates on the basis of simple bloc aggregates, we apply a more disaggregated methodology using a larger number of trade partners and utilise ARCH/GARCH techniques to better capture the time‐varying characteristics of volatility. Our results suggest that a UBP would minimise effective exchange rate volatility for all countries both before and after the crisis and provides the highest regime gains compared to actual. Although the gains for a CBP are always less than those for a UBP the absolute differences between the two regimes appear to be small. In terms of bilateral exchange rates against the dollar the gains from a UBP or CBP could also be quite significant for the non‐dollar peggers, especially post‐crisis, since a fall in effective instability would be accompanied by a fall in bilateral instability.     

Choice of Exchange Rate Regime: Currency Board (Hong Kong) or Monitoring Band (Singapore)?

Following the East Asian crisis, a number of observers have advocated that small and open economies in Asia adopt an irrevocably fixed regime. Such a hard peg, it is argued, signals greater commitment to rule out arbitrary exchange rate adjustments as well as the authorities’ willingness to subordinate domestic policy objectives such as output and employment growth to the maintenance of the pegged exchange rate. But is this a reasonable position to adopt? In order to answer this question, we consider and contrast the experiences of Hong Kong and Singapore. While both of these economies share a number of broad similarities, the former operates a US dollar–linked currency board arrangement and the latter maintains an adjustable peg in the form of a monitoring band arrangement with the central parity based on an undisclosed trade–weighted currency basket.     

FEAR OF FLOATING IN EAST ASIA?

Abstract.  We examine the de facto exchange rate arrangements in eight East Asian countries during the post-Asian crisis period. The empirical results suggest that three countries adopted a hard peg or a peg with capital account restrictions, whereas five countries moved toward a more flexible exchange rate arrangement in the post-crisis period. Three of these five countries (Korea, Indonesia and Thailand) achieved a level of exchange rate flexibility close to the level accomplished in a free floater such as Australia. These results suggest that 'fear of floating' in East Asia is not prevalent in the post-crisis period, supporting the bipolar view of the optimal exchange rate regime.     

The mystery of the Chinese exchange rate regime: basket or no basket?

Economists have taken for granted the claim made by the Chinese government that the policy shift introduced in July 2005 constituted a change in the exchange rate regime from a fixed peg to a basket peg. We demonstrate that neither the stylized facts nor the empirical evidence support the proposition of a basket peg and suggest several reasons as to why China has not adopted this regime. The results could prove useful for identifying the Chinese exchange rate regime in the aftermath of the perceived policy shift following the August 2015 devaluation.     

On the Exchange Rate as a Nominal Anchor: The Rise and Fall of the Credibility Hypothesis

The credibility hypothesis, which was used to support the use of a pegged exchange rate arrangement as a nominal anchor mechanism, is based on restrictive analytical foundations that circumscribe its real world applicability. While all pegged exchange rate arrangements are subject to circumstances that can undermine the sustainability of the peg, exchange rate nominal anchor pegs are especially fragile because such arrangements introduce problems that are endogenous to that particular type of regime. The East Asian crisis is used to demonstrate the fragility of exchange rate nominal anchor pegs, while the case of Australia demonstrates how a floating currency escaped the contagion of the East Asian crisis.     

NEW ESTIMATION OF CHINA'S EXCHANGE RATE REGIME

Abstract. The present paper updates the question: what precisely is the exchange rate regime that China has put into place since 2005, when it announced a move away from the US dollar peg? Is it a basket anchor with the possibility of cumulatable daily appreciations, as was announced at the time? We apply to this question a new approach of estimating countries’ de facto exchange rate regimes, a synthesis of two techniques. One is a technique that has been used in the past to estimate implicit de facto currency weights when the hypothesis is a basket peg with little flexibility. The second is a technique used to estimate the de facto degree of exchange rate flexibility when the hypothesis is an anchor to the US dollar or some other single major currency. Because the RMB and many other currencies today purportedly follow variants of band‐basket‐crawl, it is important to have available a technique that can cover both dimensions, inferring weights and inferring flexibility. The synthesis adds a variable representing ‘exchange market pressure’ to the currency basket equation, whereby the degree of flexibility is estimated at the same time as the currency weights. This approach reveals that by mid‐2007, the RMB basket had switched a substantial part of the US dollar's weight onto the euro. The implication is that the appreciation of the RMB against the US dollar during this period was due to the appreciation of the euro against the dollar, not to any upward trend in the RMB relative to its basket.     

The Appreciation Pressure on RMB Yuan and the Adjustment of RMB Exchange Rate Policy

China has maintained RMB exchange rate nearly unchanged since 1998. However, with the relaxation of capital control, a crawling peg, a more flexible RMB exchange rate regime, is inevitable. Based on improving the current formation mechanism of RMB exchange rate, Chinese government could widen the floating band around the central parity; in the long run, switching the peg from USD alone to a basket of currencies may be a better choice.     

Are Flexible Exchange Rate Regimes more Volatile? Panel GARCH Evidence for the G7 and Latin America

This paper investigates empirically the relationship between exchange rate (ER) regimes and volatility of real exchange rate depreciation (RERD), comparing the G7 and 17 Latin American (LA17) countries, during 1970–2010. We estimate a panel autoregressive model with generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) errors and regime‐specific effects on both the conditional mean and conditional variance. For the G7, we find that, relative to the fixed ER regime, only the freely floating regime shows higher RERD volatility; under the managed floating regime the RERD is equally volatile and under the crawling peg it is actually less volatile. Instead, in the case of the LA17, more flexible ER regimes are associated with more volatile RERD rates, with higher volatility under the managed floating regime than under the crawling peg and with extremely high volatility under the “freely falling” ER regime.     

Identification of a basket peg: the model specification controversy

A controversy has been triggered by the Chinese exchange rate regime shift from a single currency peg to an alleged basket peg. The controversy is about the specification of the model used to represent the basket as three models have been used: levels, log levels and first log differences. It is suggested that one way to confirm the validity or otherwise of a model is to use data on the special drawing rights exchange rate since the currency weights are known. The results show that the estimated weights are almost identical no matter which model and which numeraire is used. However, nonnested model selection criteria show that the best model is that written in levels, simply because this is what is used in practice by central banks adopting basket pegs.     

The Polish exchange rate system: A unit root and cointegration analysis

In October 1991 Poland has established a crawling peg regime in which the zloty is tied to a currency basket and devalued with a monthly rate of crawl. If the monetary authorities are successful in defending the crawling peg the basket rate measured in Polish zloty is supposed to be stationary. Furthermore, a stable long-run relationship between the zloty-U.S. dollar rate and the basket's value expressed in U.S. dollar is expected to exist. The results of the unit root and cointegration analysis indicate that the monetary authorities have been able to defend the crawling peg for the sample periods under study, although it seems that not all requirements of the exchange rate regime have been met. The foreign exchange markets, however, have not supported the relationships derived from the crawling peg system after the introduction of the free floating system in April 2000.The final version of this paper has been prepared while I was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute. I would like to thank the EUI for the award of the Fellowship and its hospitality. Moreover, I am grateful to Helmut Lütkepohl, Anja Schulz, Ralf Brüggemann, and two anonymous referees for many helpful comments and suggestions. I also thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 373, for financial support.     

Bi‐currency versus Single‐currency Targeting: Lessons from the Russian Experience

This paper examines how the 2005 shift in Russian exchange rate policy from US dollar (USD) single‐currency to USD–EUR (euro) bi‐currency targeting has impacted domestic interest rates. The finding show that this policy shift has disconnected Russian interest rates from US dollar‐denominated interest rates, while instead linking them to a synthetic interest rate composed of USD and EUR rates at the same proportion as that of these two currencies in the currency basket against which the ruble's exchange rate is set. The Russian experience shows that while the adoption of bi‐currency targeting may help ensure that domestic interest rates are less dependent on the monetary cycle of a single country, these rates are instead likely to reflect financial developments in all countries whose currencies are included in the currency basket. This insight is likely to be relevant for other countries that pursue basket‐targeting policies.     

The structure of public debt and the choice of exchange rate regime

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between the denomination of public debt and the choice of exchange rate regime. Three types of debt (nominal, indexed, and foreign) and two regimes (fixed and flexible) are considered. Indexed debt is insulated against unexpected inflation. The real (domestic‐currency) value of foreign debt is subject to valuation effects from real exchange rate shocks. The ‘fear‐of‐floating’ result, that foreign debt makes pegging more attractive, is shown to hold unambiguously only if the peg is fully credible. If the peg lacks credibility, a critical factor is the perceived likelihood of using the ‘escape clause’ of a switch to a float, which raises the costs of pegging. Foreign debt increases the temptation to resort to the escape clause, so when a peg is not fully credible (as is almost always the case in reality), pegging tends to be less attractive than floating in the presence of foreign debt.     

Exchange Rate Arrangements Among Sticky and Flexible Price Countries: Implications for some Asia-Pacific Economies

The present paper examines a two-country model one with flexible wage and prices (which seems to characterize most high performance East Asian economies), and the other with sticky wage and prices. Wage and prices often "over-shoot" in the flexible wage economy. The impacts of fixed and floating exchange rage regime on the flexible wage economy is typically different. A fixed (floating) exchange rate regime is superior for financial (real or technological) shocks. [F31]     

On the Future of Inflation Targeting in East Asia

This article analyzes the problems associated with inflation targeting (IT) regimes in a number of East Asian countries. It scrutinizes the policy conflicts that can arise when a central bank that has adopted a formal inflation target to guide the conduct of monetary policy simultaneously manages the exchange rate and pursues financial stability objectives. To this end, it empirically investigates the importance of exchange rate and terms of trade movements as determinants of inflation rates across East Asian economies and discusses the role of central banks in guarding financial stability and the ways this may conflict with an IT regime. The article argues that IT never really has been a suitable monetary framework for East Asian countries and that it should hence be supplanted by transparent monetary frameworks that explicitly recognize the multiple goals that are being pursued by East Asian central banks.     

Optimal exchange rate policy for a small oil-exporting country: A dynamic general equilibrium perspective

This paper examines the choice of optimal exchange rate regime for an oil-exporting small open economy using a welfare-based model. The paper extends the standard New Keynesian Small Open Economy model to include three countries: a small oil-exporting country and two large foreign countries. The model also features three sectors: traded, non-traded, and primary-commodity (crude-oil). The sources of uncertainty are random monetary (demand), productivity (real), and real oil price (supply) shocks. Despite the absence of a non-oil traded sector in this primary-commodity economy, the welfare analysis suggests that flexible exchange rate regimes can reduce external shocks and consumption volatility given certain caveats about pricing-schemes. The analysis also suggests that a basket peg is more welfare-improving than a unilateral peg, as higher volatility of the anchor currency reduces consumer welfare.     

EXCHANGE RATE REGIME AND MONETARY POLICY INDEPENDENCE IN EAST ASIA

Abstract.  This paper investigates whether the choice of exchange rate regimes influences the sensitivity of domestic interest rates to international interest rates. We empirically analyse this issue in the context of East Asian economies by employing a regime switching model. We find that the sensitivity of local interest rates to international interest rates declined in Korea and Thailand after they adopted floating exchange rate regimes. We also find that Japan, with a floating exchange regime, has greater independence in monetary policy than a pegged economy such as Hong Kong. These empirical findings suggest that exchange rate flexibility provides greater monetary independence.     

The persistence in real exchange rate: Evidence from East Asian countries

In this article, we examine the degree of persistence in monthly real exchange rate of six East Asian countries in relation to their two major trading partners, the United States and Japan, to study the validity of PPP for the 1976:01–2009:03 period. To investigate the persistency in real exchange rate series, we use sum of the autoregressive (AR) coefficients and the confidence interval for it using grid-bootstrap procedure recently developed by Hansen (1999). We have two findings: first, we find evidence for high persistency in real exchange rate in terms of the Japanese yen for five countries and for four countries in terms of the US dollar the for the full and pre-crisis sample periods. Second, for the post-crisis period, the presence of low persistency in real exchange rate supports PPP for three countries in terms of the Japanese yen and five countries in terms of the US dollar. These findings indicate that real exchange rate series of five East Asian countries are mean-revert based on their exchange rate policies and East Asian countries can form a currency union.     

Can a comparative capitalism approach explain fiscal policy activism?

This study investigates the implications of models of capitalism for the responsiveness of countries’ fiscal policies during business cycles using new data for member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and China. We expand the literature by adding the category of East Asian nonliberal capitalism to the established distinction of liberal market economies and nonliberal coordinated market economies. These three differ substantially not just in their fiscal policies, but also in monetary policies, degree of financial market orientation, exchange rate regime, and labor market organization. As in previous studies, we find that governments of liberal economies adopt more countercyclical fiscal policies. Departing from existing studies, however, among the nonliberal models of capitalism, (East Asian) state-led models have more countercyclical fiscal policies than (European) coordinated market economies, perhaps as countercyclical as liberal economies, both historically and during the 2007–9 crisis. This is due to less independent central banks, managed float of exchange rates, and limited financial market orientation and financial openness in East Asia, which allow for more active fiscal policy. Among political factors, left-of-center governments, fractionalized party systems, and election years are associated weakly with countercyclical fiscal policy, as expected. Labor market coordination and welfare generosity have unclear roles in regard to fiscal policy, a topic for future research.     

The East Asian Dollar Standard, Fear of Floating, and Original Sin

Before the crisis of 1997/98, the East Asian economies—except for Japan but including China—pegged their currencies to the US dollar. To avoid further turmoil, the IMF argues that these currencies should float more freely. However, the authors’ econometric estimations show that the dollar's predominant weight in East Asian currency baskets has returned to its pre‐crisis levels. By 2002, the day‐to‐day volatility of each country's exchange rate against the dollar had again become negligible. Most governments were rapidly accumulating a “war chest” of official dollar reserves, which portends that this exchange rate stabilization will come to extend over months or quarters. From the doctrine of “original sin” applied to emerging‐market economies, the authors argue that this fear of floating is entirely rational from the perspective of each individual country. And their joint pegging to the dollar benefits the East Asian dollar bloc as a whole, although Japan remains an important outlier.     

Exchange Rate Policy and Sovereign Spreads in Emerging Market Economies

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between exchange rate policy and sovereign risk premia in emerging market economies, considering both officially declared regimes and actual exchange rate behavior. The results show that countries that announce a fixed exchange rate regime face lower spreads than countries that announce a floating regime or intermediate flexibility. When the actual exchange rate behavior is considered, this relationship persists between intermediate flexibility and pegs but countries that allow their exchange rates to freely float do not face higher spreads. The difference between the results is due to the fact that many countries deviate from their declared exchange rate policy. The countries that announce a floating regime do not face higher spreads than pegs when they actually allow a high degree of flexibility as they announced. However, intermediate flexibility leads to higher spreads independently of whether this is the announced policy or the actual behavior.