Is there an optimal crawl?

This paper shows that optimal exchange rate policy can be defined in terms of either a long-run secular policy or a short-run stabilization policy. The rate of crawl which maximizes real per capita consumption is shown to often differ from the exchange rate movements produced under fixed or floating exchange rates. And the optimal program for dealing with short-run speculative capital flows will involve both discrete and gradual exchange rate changes. It is also argued that domestic monetary policy and exchange rate policy are not independent instruments.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Interest Rates in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of the bank lending rate in Ghana using annual time series data from 1970 to 2013. We found evidence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the average lending rate charged by commercial banks and its determining factors. In the long run, bank lending rates in Ghana are positively influenced by nominal exchange rates and Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy rate but negatively with fiscal deficit, real GDP and inflation. We also find positive dependence of the bank lending rate on exchange rates, and the monetary policy rate both in the short and long run. Specifically, our findings reveal that the Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy rate and the exchange rate, by far, show strong contemporaneous effects on the average bank lending rate in Ghana.     

人民币升值对出口商品价格传递效应的测度及其政策涵义——以中美贸易为例

以单位值指数构造方法为基础,选取五种商品分别构建五个不同行业商品的出口价格指数,经过协整检验、自回归分布滞后检验以及脉冲响应函数检验,结果发现:五种行业出口产品的价格指数在短期内均存在不完全的汇率传递效应;相对于其他行业来说,劳动密集型行业的汇率的短期出口价格效应更加明显;汇率传递的长期出口价格效应要高于短期出口价格效应。其政策涵义是,为规避人民币升值的负面效应,中国应该积极推动全球化过程中贸易自由化进程,做好劳动密集型行业的升级和优化,稳步推进人民币汇率形成机制和管理体制改革,宏观政策做到微观审慎监管和宏观审慎监管相结合。     

Investigating exchange rate shocks on agricultural trade balance: The case of Tunisia

The paper studies the impact of changes in Tunisia's exchange rate on the net external position of the agricultural sector. It shows that substitutability on production and consumption among domestically produced goods leads to an ambiguous impact for reasons that go beyond the Marshall-Lerner condition. Using cointegration techniques to disentangle the long and short-run impact of changes in the exchange rate on the net agricultural trade balance, we find that the depreciation of the domestic currency leads to a deterioration of the net external position of Tunisia's agricultural sector in the long-run.     

Money,Inflation and Output in Nigeria and South Africa: Could Friedman and Schwartz Be Right?

ABSTRACT

This study examines the non-linear relationship between money, inflation and output with respect to the Friedman and Schwartz hypotheses that monetary policy affects prices in the long-run but not in the short-run, and influences output in the short-run but not in the long-run. The study examines the case of Nigeria and South Africa for the period 1970–2016 using the ARDL approach. The study proved that Friedman and Schwartz were right that money growth influences output in the short-run and not in the long-run. This suggests monetary policy is neutral in the long-run; however, the findings of this study cast some doubts on their popular view that money growth affect prices in the long-run but not in the short-run. This study shows that money growth actually affects prices both in the short and long-run. Thus, it is only the long-run dimension of the second hypothesis that is valid; the short-run view of the hypothesis is invalid for both Nigeria and South Africa. In fact, the significant estimates of money growth on inflation in both countries prove that inflation is everywhere a monetary phenomenon (both in the short and long run).     

Effect of exchange rate volatility on industry trade flows between Malaysia and China

This paper investigates the impact of ringgit/yuan volatility on Malaysian trade with her largest trading partner, China. The short- and long-run impacts are estimated using bounds testing approach to cointegration analysis and disaggregated bilateral trade data by industry over the period of 1985–2010. Specifically, we considered a total of 151 importing and 24 exporting industries in Malaysia that traded with China. Our finding indicates that cointegration existed in 94 Malaysian import industry models and 16 Malaysian export industry models. Among these cases, exchange rate volatility has short-run effects on majority of the models. However, the short-run effects shift into the long-run effects in 46 out of 69 industries in import models and 5 out of 10 industries in export models. Results indicate that the exchange rate uncertainty has positive effects on majority of these industries.     

China's exports,export tax rebates and exchange rate policy

This paper examines the relationship between China's exports, export tax rebates and exchange rate policy. It offers an explanation for why China's exports continued to rise under RMB real appreciations during the Asian financial crisis. Based on a traditional export demand model, we test our hypothesis that the counteracting effects of China's export tax rebate policy have diminished the effectiveness of real exchange rates in facilitating the resolution of trade imbalances under the current pegged exchange rate regime. We find evidence that RMB real appreciations during the crisis negatively affected China's exports, but the negative effects were mitigated by the positive effects of export tax rebates. We also find evidence of a long‐run relationship between China's exports and the other explanatory variables. The empirical evidence suggests that under the pegged exchange rate regime with limited adjustments, real exchange rate movements alone cannot resolve China's external imbalances. The policy implication of this study is that China needs to redirect its decades‐long export‐oriented development strategy to one that emphasises domestic demand‐oriented development and to replace the current pegged exchange rate regime with a market‐oriented more flexible exchange rate regime.     

基于有界检验方法的外商投资与我国就业效应的实证分析

采用自回归分布滞后模型(ARDL)和Pesaran等有界检验(boundtest)方法,对我国外商直接投资(FDI)与就业的长、短期关系进行了协整估计。结果表明,从长期来看,FDI对就业具有一定的负面作用,但在短期内,对就业具有比较明显的扩大作用。从就业的角度看,针对FDI要采取更加审慎的政策,充分考虑其动态影响,趋利避害。     

The Effects of Currency Depreciation on Industry Trade Flows between Malaysia and China

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the impact of real depreciation of ringgit/yuan on Malaysian bilateral trade with her largest trading partner, China, over the period of 1987 to 2013. Using disaggregated import and export data from 39 industries, the results from the bounds testing approach to co-integration and error-correction model reveal that the real bilateral exchange rate has short- and long-run effects in the majority of the industries. However, the short-run effects shift into the long run in nine out of 20 import industries and in 13 out of 20 export industries. Most of these are small industries producing intermediate goods.     

The impact of monetary and tax policy on income inequality in Japan

This paper assesses the effects of the most recent monetary policy behaviour of the Bank of Japan (in particular, zero interest rate policy and negative interest rate policy) and Japanese tax policy on income inequality in this country during the period of 2002Q1 to 2017Q3. The vector error correction model (VECM) that develops in this research shows that increase in money stock (m1) through Quantitative Easing (QE) and Quantitative and Qualitative Easing (QQE) policies of the BOJ significantly increases the income inequality. On the contrary, Japanese tax policy was effective in reducing the income inequality. Variance decomposition results show that increasing of income inequality by monetary policy is larger when comparing to decreasing effects of tax policy on income inequality. Cointegration and VECM results show that monetary policy has both short-run and long-run impacts but for tax policy paper could not find any significant short-run impact on income inequality. In addition, paper found that technological progress only in long-run can reduce the income inequality by increasing the marginal productivity of labour with positive impacts on employment and wages.     

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

The hypothesis that foreign direct investment into the United States responds to variations in exchange-rate levels and to exchange-rate uncertainty is tested for the period 1976-1998. We account for nonstationarity and cointegration in the data series and use conditional measures of exchange-rate uncertainty. While a long-run relationship exists among foreign direct investment in-flows as a share of GNP, the real exchange rate, and the GARCH measure of exchange-rate volatility, we find no discernible link between the real exchange rate and inward foreign direct investment in the short run. We also conclude that foreign direct investment decreases in response to increases in exchange-rate uncertainty in the short run when we use a conditional measure of exchange-rate uncertainty.     

Stock prices and exchange rate dynamics in Nigeria: An asymmetric perspective

This paper investigates the asymmetric effect of exchange rate changes on stock prices in Nigeria. Using the nonlinear ARDL framework and monthly data from 2000:1 to 2016:12, the nominal exchange rate is separated into currency depreciation and appreciation through a partial sum decomposition process. Asymmetry is examined both in the long-run relationship and short-run error correction mechanism. The results show that the effects of exchange rate changes on stock prices is asymmetric both in the short- and long-run. That is, stock prices react in different magnitude to depreciation and appreciation. However, currency depreciation has a strong pass-through effect on stock prices than appreciation in the long-run. In the absence of asymmetry, exchange rate has only short-run effect on stock prices. This implies that the symmetry assumption underestimates the impact of exchange rate changes on stock prices in Nigeria.     

Monetary Policy: The Implications of Capacity Constraints and J-Curve Effects

We present a stylized model to analyse the short- and long-run effects of monetary policy on international debt and competitiveness. The features of this non-linear model include both currency and asset substitution in a two-country framework, paying special attention to the dynamics of international debt. We find, in contrast to conventional wisdom, that, in addition to raising competitiveness and reducing debt, a monetary contraction can generate inflation in the presence of capacity constraints. Furthermore, if the inflation effect is sufficiently strong, there may be adverse short-run responses. The policy analysis explicitly considers the short-run dynamics of competitiveness, debt, prices and trade. We find there is a second J-curve effect which only occurs when the standard J-curve effect is present together with capacity constraints. The existence of cyclical short-run behaviour presents a warning to policy-makers when assessing the progress towards target equilibrium to bear in mind that adverse short-run movements may be consistent with the long-run desired aim (i.e. there may be initial movements in the “wrong” direction which are consistent with the “expected” long-run outcome).     

Do inpayments and outpayments respond to exchange rate changes asymmetrically: Evidence from Malaysia

Since the pass-through of exchange rate changes on import and export prices are asymmetric, we expect a country’s inpayments (export earnings) and outpayments (cost of imports) to also react to exchange rate changes asymmetrically. We demonstrate this hypothesis by considering trade between Malaysia and each of her 11 largest trading partners. We find that while the short-run effects of exchange rate changes on Malaysia’s inpayments and outpayments are asymmetric with all partners, the long-run asymmetric effects are present in less than half of the partners. The results are partner specific.     

Determinants of domestic credit levels in emerging markets: The role of external factors

This paper empirically examines the determinants of domestic credit expansion across a wide range of 24 emerging market economies. We use a dynamic panel data estimation technique to investigate the short-run and long-run effects of internal demand and external supply factors, external balance, different measures of trade openness and global uncertainty on domestic credit. We find that loose monetary policy in the domestic market, differences between domestic and global lending rates and real trade openness positively contribute to domestic credit levels. The findings also show that external balance and perceptions of global tail risk negatively affect domestic credit levels.     

The Real Exchange Rate,the Ghanaian Trade Balance,and the J-curve

Using linear and nonlinear specifications, we studied the effects of real exchange rate changes on the trade balance of Ghana during the period 1986Q1 to 2016Q3. We found no evidence in support of the short- and long-run impact of exchange rate changes on the trade balance in the linear specification. The J-curve is refuted in this case. In contrast, exchange rate changes affected the trade balance in the nonlinear specification. Depreciations improve the trade balance in the long run, but appreciations have no impact. Hence, exchange rate changes have nonlinear effects on the trade balance. This is consistent with the J-curve phenomenon.     

Is exchange rate stability beneficial for stabilizing consumer prices in China?

This study examines the relationship between real effective exchange rates (REERs) and the consumer price index (CPI) in China, utilizing a bootstrap Granger full-sample causality test and a sub-sample rolling-window estimation. Considering structural changes, we assess the stability of the parameters and find that both the short-run and long-run relationships between the two estimated variables are unstable. This result suggests that full-sample causality tests cannot be relied upon. We instead employ a time-varying (bootstrap) rolling-window approach to revisit the dynamic causal relationship, and we find that the CPI is affected by the REER for several sub-samples due to the role of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) under the managed floating exchange rate regime in China. These findings provide further proof of the impact of stable exchange rates on the maintenance of relatively steady price levels especially during the economic crisis and economic reform in China. The policy implication of these findings is that maintaining exchange rate stability is beneficial for controlling inflation during the economic crisis and economic reform.     

Exchange rate expectations and monetary policy

The adjustment process to a monetary disturbance is studied in a model of perfect capital mobility and flexible exchange rates. Exchange rate expectations are emphasized and used to establish an adjustment process. In the short run, a monetary expansion gives rise to a depreciation in the exchange rate and a reduction in saving due to the terms of trade deterioration. The exchange rate depreciation, in the short run, may be in excess of the long-run depreciation. The trade balance in the short run may worsen. The long-run equilibrium of the analysis conforms to the Mundell-Fleming results that establish the force of monetary policy under flexible rates.     

The income inequality,financial depth and economic growth nexus in China

Income inequality has increased in China despite rapid economic growth. Income inequality could impinge on future development, leading to social tension or political instability. Our study investigates the short-run and long-run relationship between three important macroeconomic indicators—income inequality, economic growth and financial depth. We utilise a two-step procedure of ARDL bounds and Granger causality for the analysis. The bounds test indicates the presence of a cointegrating relationship between income inequality, financial depth and economic growth in the long run. In the second step, we utilise the Granger causality approach. Results show a bidirectional causality between financial depth-growth and a unidirectional causality between inequality-growth in the short run. In the long run, results reveal that growth and financial depth determine Gini. Our findings provide support for the inequality-widening effect due to economic growth and higher credit provided to the private sector. We find no evidence of inequality-narrowing or income-equalising effect in the long run for the period of study. It is possible that the government's inclusive growth policies which started less than a decade ago have not taken effect for us to capture the inverted U-shape income equalising effect significantly.     

Musings on the Macroeconomic Effects of Oil Price Increases

In considering the macroeconomic effects of oil price increases, it is important to be mindful of whether changes come from the supply or demand side and whether they are accompanied by impacts on financial markets. Also, it is important to know whether a change is likely to be temporary or permanent and whether it can be offset by policy responses. Finally, the short-run effects of oil price changes are likely to be different from the long-run effects. This paper explores these questions and their ramifications for macroeconomic growth.