Exchange Rate Volatility and Macroeconomic Performance in Hong Kong

The paper presents evidence on whether Hong Kong’s currency board arrangement, in place since 1983, has affected the volatility of real macroeconomic variables. Simple evidence on the relative volatilities of relevant macroeconomic variables before and after 1983 is presented, before a more formal econometric framework is utilized to examine the linkages between the exchange rate and the real economy. It is found that the currency board period has been one of relative stability in Hong Kong, though it has also been a period where external factors have been relatively benign. Even after controlling for the external environment, it is found that the currency board period is one of low macroeconomic volatility.     

汇率制度与货币政策——发展中国家和小国经济的思考

本文中,我们将研究在资本市场对外开放及汇率固定条件下货币政策的管理机制问题。我们的目标是探讨货币政策能否在此种情况下继续独立而有效地稳定国内经济。为此,我们建议两种制度上的约束。给定这些约束,我们证明货币政策仍然有效。同时,本文讨论了此种制度选择对发展中国家和小国经济的意义。     

Macroeconomic Coordination of Exchange Rate and Wage Movements under Quasi-Sterilization: Singapore Experience

This paper analyzes Singapore's two-pronged macroeconomic strategy of low-inflation characterized by the quasi-sterilization mechanism and the coordination of exchange rate and wage movements. The monetary authority's inflation-averse attitude holds the key to the existence of a stable Nash equilibrium of the exchange rate and wages. During both economic upturns and downturns, the exchange rate moves one for one inversely with the growth of wages in the long run. The required steady monetary growth is underpinned by the quasi-sterilization mechanism whereby every dollar increase in net foreign reserves leads to a decrease of 0.84 dollars in net domestic credit.     

Exchange Rate Movements and Employment Growth: An OCA Assessment of the CEE Economies

According to the traditional optimum currency area approach, not much will be lost from a very hard peg to a currency union if there has been little reason for variations in the exchange rate in the past. This paper takes a different approach and highlights the fact that high exchange rate volatility may also signal high costs for labor markets. The impact of exchange rate volatility on labor markets in the CEECs is analyzed, revealing that volatility vis-à-vis the euro significantly lowers employment growth. Hence, eliminating exchange rate volatility could be considered a substitute for removing employment protection legislation.     

宏观经济波动与人民币汇率政策的影响因素分析

本文通过对当前新一轮宏观经济波动特征的分析,发现随着中国经济对外开放度的日益提高,汇率政策对宏观经济的运行已具有越来越重要的影响.目前中国国际收支顺差过大、外汇储备增长过快已成为加剧宏观经济过热的重要因素之一.通过调整名义汇率来解决顺差过大的思路受制于价格总水平调整幅度的局限,因为在影响我国商品和劳务的价格因素中,劳动力价格水平与发达国家相比悬殊过大既是影响商品价格水平的一个主导性因素又是一个长期性因素,在短期内不可能大幅度的缩小这一差距.由此,决定了目前不可能采取对人民币汇率水平大幅升值的办法来解决国际收支失衡和外汇储备过快增长的问题.解决人民币汇率的市场化形成机制和汇率水平向真实汇率回归问题是一项相对长期的政策选择,因而,短期的汇率政策只能以外汇储备的结构调整为主导.     

人民币汇率波动对宏观经济运行影响的实证分析

笔者采用SVAR方法实证1995年1月至2011年2月人民币汇率波动对宏观经济运行的影响,并论证了汇率冲击的动态传导机制,得出了如下结论:人民币升值总体上不利于净出口和实际产出的增长,并导致在近期和将来货币供应量的不断增长,人民币的升值总体上有利于控制通货膨胀。     

汇率制度转换理论及其在我国的适用性研究

20世纪90年代后，新兴市场频繁发生的货币危机使得许多国家的汇率制度面临微调、修正、变迁甚至重新选择的境地。相应地，关于汇率制度的变动研究也就成为这一时期许多经济学家们关注的焦点．世界各国汇率制度的变迁与汇率制度的选择相伴产生了另一个重要问题，即汇率制度转换问题。汇率制度转换理论的界定、汇率制度转换理论应包含的内容体系、汇率制度转换理论在我国的适用性等已成为当前重要的研究课题。     

从制度变迁看人民币汇率的走势及改革趋势

近期人民币是否升值成了热点问题。从新制度经济学角度来看，人民币汇率在某个特定的时期应当升值还是保持稳定抑或贬值并不重要，重大的在于实现人民币汇率制度及其汇率机制的合理化。     

计划经济国家转轨异同及其绩效

东欧、俄罗斯、中国等原计划经济国家的体制转轨,备受理论界的关注。转轨实践的共同性与区别,转轨的绩效等问题,是中外学者讨论的热点,问世的成果不少,但争议很大。这说明．对转轨经济的研究既重要,又复杂。本文首先在分析计划经济国家体制转轨起点的同步性和方向的一致性的同时,重点探讨政治选择尤其道路选择的重大差异,并着力透过外在的表现形式揭示差异的基本内涵及其主要的制约因素。在此基础上,本文运用制度生成和现实产出这软硬两类指标,既从静态又从动态的视角,努力对东欧、俄罗斯以及中国的转轨绩效作出符合实际的科学判断。     

The Real Exchange Rate in Small, Open, Developed Economies: Evidence from Cointegration Analysis

We examine the effects of the terms of trade and the expected real interest rate differential on the real exchange rate in small, open, developed economies. We employ cointegration analysis to search for long-term linkages. We find that while both the terms of trade and the expected real interest rate differentials affect the real exchange rate in the long run, the role of the terms of trade generally proves more consistent. The speed of adjustment for the expected real interest rate differential in the error-correction model, however, is quantitatively larger than it is for the terms of trade.     

Law and Finance in Transition Economies

This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of legal change in the protection of shareholder and creditor rights in transition economies and its impact on the propensity of firms to raise external finance. Following La Porta et al. (1998), the paper constructs an expanded set of legal indices to capture a range of potential conflicts between different stakeholders of the firm. It supplements the analysis of the law on the books with an analysis of the effectiveness of legal institutions. Our main finding is that the effectiveness of legal institutions has a much stronger impact on external finance than does the law on the books, despite legal change that has substantially improved shareholder and creditor rights. This finding supports the proposition that legal transplants and extensive legal reforms are not sufficient for the evolution of effective legal and market institutions.     

人民币汇率制度渐进性转换路径的Logistic回归分析

目前浮动汇率制度转换的相关理论和实证分析相对匮乏.通过构建二元Logistic回归模型对样本国家的汇率制度转换进行实证研究,分析人民币汇率制度从固定盯住汇率制度退出的渐进性转换路径问题,可得出人民币汇率制度退出固定盯住汇率制度应先转向中间汇率制度的研究结论,从而为我国人民币汇率制度转换政策提供重要的理论和实证支持.     

Measuring Exchange Market Pressure and Intervention in Interdependent Economies: A Two-Country Model

In this article, operational exchange market pressure and intervention indices are derived for a world composed of two interdependent economies. The model-consistent formulae, which can be calculated from observed data, are obtained by applying general definitions of exchange market pressure and intervention activity to a two-country rational-expectations model. It is demonstrated that the functional forms used to measure exchange market pressure and intervention activity depend on whether intervention is direct or indirect and also on whether foreign exchange reserves are held as currency or in the form of bonds.     

Hospitality versus Exchange: The Limits of Monetary Economies

This paper attempts to specify theoretically the origins of money. Rather than the exchange-based view of neoclassical economists where money is seen as a transaction cost-reducing instrument (and where exchange itself is asserted to be a universal phenomenon), we argue that money is a social relationship, specifically a debt relationship, that emerges with propertied, class society. "Primitive" (pre-class) society could not generate money, as the rule of hospitality, universally practiced among such organizations, precluded debt and the self-interested behavior that is consistent with debt. Adopting the Chartalist position on the matter, we show that money is symptomatic of privilege, of inequality, of economic and political power.     

Liquidity Constraints and Investment in Transition Economies

We use Bulgarian firm-level data to investigate the impact of liquidity constraints on investment performance. Internal funds are an important determinant of investment in most industrialized countries. We test whether internal funds are important for firm investment during the current transition process in Bulgaria. We use a simple accelerator model of investment to test whether liquidity constraints are relevant in the case of Bulgaria. Our estimations are based on data for the period 1993–95, prior to the Bulgarian financial crisis in 1996–97. It turns out that Bulgarian firms are liquidity constrained, and that firms' size and financial structure help to distinguish between firms that are more and less liquidity constrained. In our view, liquidity constraints can be given a different interpretation in the case of transition economies as compared to Western economies. A more in depth analysis of the data reveals that liquidity constraints, and consequently the access to external funds for Bulgarian firm investment, are to be seen against the background of soft-budget constraints and the failure of the financial system to enforce an efficient allocation of funds. In our view, the lack of liquidity constraints may actually be seen as a sign of financial weakness in the case of Bulgaria.     

发展方式、经济脆弱性与宏观政策

一、当前发展方式的基本特征 要从发展方式的视角来观察当前的经济形势,有必要简单地勾画一下当前我国发展方式的基本特征.我国经济发展方式是粗放的,广种薄收,靠高投入、高消耗来维持总产出的高增长,是一种低效的发展方式.     

Exchange Rate Instability: A Threshold Autoregressive Approach

We fit a two-regime threshold autoregressive model to a trade weighted index of the Australian real exchange rate. We find strong evidence of a threshold in the real exchange rate, with the data being classified into two regimes. The timing of the first regime is consistent with events that would be expected to have led to pressure on the Australian exchange rate. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the Asian economic crisis led to the real exchange rate entering this regime.     

汇率传递、宏观经济冲击对我国物价水平影响的实证分析

从实证的角度研究中国的汇率传递及宏观经济冲击和货币政策冲击相关因素对物价水平的影响.结合中国实际情况,在原有研究的基础上改进了一个包括所有这些相关变量的VAR模型.通过脉冲响应函数和方差分解的方法,我们发现,供给和需求冲击是物价水平波动的最主要原因,汇率和货币政策冲击在物价波动过程的作用并不明显,这与已有的研究结果有很大的不同,这表明仅仅依靠货币政策并不能降低当前的高物价水平.     

Inflation in the Transition Economies: the post-Keynesian view

The notion that hostile takeovers must play a key role in corporate governance, by bringing purportedly efficient financial market pressures to bear on poorly performing managers, often underlies proposals for financial sector reform. This paper tests the most influential explanation of takeovers, the free cash flow theory of debt-financed restructuring, against a comprehensive sample of large U.S. hostile takeovers from the years 1978‐89. The tests provide little support for the free cash flow hypothesis: that over-retention of corporate resources, relative to investment opportunities, would distinguish targets from other companies. Firms with less debt are more likely to have been taken over. But this and closely related evidence is more consistent with the idea that the takeover and credit markets underwent a period of speculative overheating. Thus the role played by hostile takeovers in the corporate restructuring of the 1980s does not suggest that facilitating such activity should be a goal of present day financial reforms, in Europe or elsewhere