Volatility of fundamental variables under different exchange rate system--a simple test for Hong Kong

This paper presents a comparison in the changes of Hong Kong macroeconomic fundamental variables before and after its currency was ‘pegged’ to the US dollar in October 1983. Using a simple method from Flood and Rose (1995) and Baxter and Stockman (1989), this paper compares the volatilities of all aggregate variables used by those investigators in so far as these data are available for Hong Kong. The results show, contrary to the dominating empirical literature for the G-7 countries, that the volatilities of more than half of the nominal and real variables under the float are significantly higher than those under the link.     

An Optimal Currency Basket to Minimize Output and Inflation Volatility: Theory and an Application to Hong Kong

In this paper we develop a theoretical model of an optimal currency basket for a small open economy. A currency basket for the home economy is defined as a chosen weighted average of a subset of foreign currencies, and an optimal currency basket is taken to be one that minimizes a given weighted average of the expected output volatility and expected inflation volatility. This theoretical model is then applied to Hong Kong, which has adopted a currency board system for close to 30 years. We estimate an optimal currency basket for Hong Kong and compare its performance with the existing currency board system as well as with currency baskets whose weights are given by export and import trade shares.     

MACROECONOMIC VOLATILITY AND COUNTERFACTUAL INFLATION‐TARGETING IN HONG KONG

The present paper evaluates macroeconomic adjustment in Hong Kong with an estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model under a fixed exchange rate regime. We find that exports and world inflation shocks are the dominant sources of GDP volatility, with the risk premium taking on importance during the Asian crisis after 1997. A counterfactual simulation, assuming a flexible exchange rate regime with inflation targeting, shows that inflation would have decreased slightly, but interest‐rate volatility would have increased significantly. The welfare gains from switching out of the currency board system appear to be marginal.     

The Working of the Currency Board: The Experience of Hong Kong 1935–1997

Hong Kong had twice adopted, in its modern monetary history, the currency board system: the first in November 1935, and the second in October 1983. This article provides an analysis of the modus operandi of Hong Kong's version of currency board, as well as an appraisal of its advantages and disadvantages.     

香港联系汇率制度的现实启示及未来挑战

本文针对香港联系汇率制度的形成历史以及原因,总结出香港的联系汇率制度形成的偶然性申的必然性,分析香港联系汇率割度的优势和弊端,以及此项制度对于香港金融市场的重大意义。针对日新月异的国际资本市场,香港也面临着挑战,香港也必须与时俱进,加强和人民币之间的联系,进而形成合理的汇率机制。本文最后勾画了香港汇率制度未来的发展前景。     

A Tale of Two Currencies: the Asian Crisis and the Exchange Rate Regimes of Hong Kong and Singapore

Hong Kong has maintained a pegged exchange rate since 1983, while Singapore has been on a floating regime since the early 1970s. This paper provides an interpretation of the different performance of the Hong Kong and Singapore economy that could be attributable to the differences in their exchange rate regime. We develop a model that can help to interpret the differences in both the longer run trends in inflation and real exchange rates in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as the short differences in macroeconomic and real exchange rate volatility. The difference in the response of the two economies to the Asian crisis is also consistent with our model.     

A NEW COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE FREE‐FLOATING AND CURRENCY BOARD REGIMES IN HONG KONG

This study aims to compare the performance of free‐floating and currency board regimes for Hong Kong by examining historical data of the two on the output growth and inflation rate. Structural vector autoregression has been applied in the empirical analysis. Without making a strong assumption of unit variance in the residual matrix, this study applies a more natural approach proposed by Cecchetti and Rich to recover the structural parameters. The study has further investigated the recovery of the economy under a demand shock under different exchange rate regimes, in order to provide some evidence to answer why Hong Kong's recovery process after the Asian financial crisis is relatively longer than that in other economies with a managed floating exchange rate regime. New evidence in this study indicates that output recovers much faster in a flexible exchange rate regime than in a fixed exchange rate regime after an aggregate demand shock. Furthermore, this study has applied a more robust method in the counterfactual analysis when comparing the two regimes. New evidence in this study suggests that a free‐floating regime may generate much smaller output variance in Hong Kong and deliver higher output and price levels to Hong Kong.     

The Case for Adopting the Convertible Reserves System in Hong Kong

The East Asian currency crisis spread to Hong Kong in October 1997, touching off worldwide repercussions. Weaknesses were revealed in the operational mechanism of Hong Kong's linked exchange rate system (the link). This paper casts the link as a peculiar currency board system in the proper historical and comparative contexts. After examining the conflict between the classical currency board (which relies on the two "automatic" stabilizers of specie-flow and cash arbitrage) and modern financial developments, it is pointed out that Hong Kong should move forward to the convertible reserves system of Argentina, Estonia and Lithuania (the AEL model), and adopt its cashless/electronic arbitrage arrangement to defend the link. Moreover, it is necessary to balance the need for short-term stability and the consideration of long-term flexibility. Any measure that increases the ultimate exit cost from the link must be assessed carefully.     

AN ANALYSIS OF HONG KONG EXPORT PERFORMANCE

Abstract.  The study models the Hong Kong domestic exports and re-exports, compares the performance of exports to the rest of the world, the USA and Japan, and uses destination-and-export-type specific unit value indexes to construct real exchange rates. In general, Hong Kong exports display mean-reverting dynamics, are positively influenced by foreign income and are adversely affected by high value of its currency. The lagged export variable, foreign income, and real exchange rate provide most of the explanatory power. Other variables explain marginally the variability of Hong Kong exports.     

Foreign currency debt, risk premia and macroeconomic volatility

This paper studies the relationships between foreign currency debt, macroeconomic volatility, and risk premia in a model of a small open emerging market economy. The external value of the local currency is counter-cyclical, so that foreign currency debt requires larger repayments than local currency debt in bad states of nature. The level of foreign currency-denominated debts, therefore, affects the volatility of aggregate demand and by extension of the exchange rate. Exchange rate volatility is in turn an important determinant of the risk premium on local currency debt. Finally, this risk premium is a major factor in the choice of local versus foreign currency for emerging market borrowers. The mutual endogeneity of foreign currency debt, risk premia, and macroeconomic volatility creates important feedback effects in the economy: small increases in international risk aversion may entail large amplification effects on macroeconomic volatility since domestic borrowers substitute towards cheaper but riskier foreign currency debt finance.     

Exchange‐rate volatility and US–Hong Kong industry trade: is there evidence of a ‘third country’ effect?

In an effort to better understand the determinants of trade flows worldwide, researchers have recently incorporated external volatility (in addition to that of the partners’ bilateral exchange rate) into their models. The so‐called ‘third country’ effect is present if adding this term changes the bilateral volatility estimates that are found when external volatility is omitted. This study examines US exports to Hong Kong for 143 industries, and imports from Hong Kong for 110 industries, and finds two key results. First, expected inflation due to Hong Kong's dollar peg leads to increased US exports in a large number of industries. Second, comparing our results with those of a previous study shows strong evidence of a ‘third country’ effect, especially for US imports. Nonparametric tests suggest that these effects differ by sector: for both exports and imports. Manufacturing industries that enjoy a large trade share are less likely to experience this effect once external volatility is incorporated into the analysis.     

Currency Substitution Between the Hong Kong Dollar and the Renminbi in South China

The present paper estimates the demand for the Hong Kong currency circulating in the Guangdong Province of China and Macau. The amount of Hong Kong dollars circulating in the Guangdong (Macau) region is reckoned to be 7.4 (3.2) percent of the total amount issued in Hong Kong. The estimated coeficients in the currency demand equation suggest that the Hong Kong currency in Guangdong is used mainly for transactions. Therefore, in spite of strong evidence of currency substitution of the Renminbi with the Hong Kong Dollar, its impact on the exchange rate and on the international reserves of Hong Kong during currency crisis should be minimal.     

Currency Boards in the Baltic Countries: What Have We Learned?

Straightforward exchange rate arrangements known as currency boards have gained popularity during the past decade. Among transition economies, Estonia first introduced a currency board in 1992, followed by Lithuania in 1994 and Bulgaria in 1997. Currency boards have been useful in achieving macroeconomic stabilisation, and they may have helped the Baltics become the first countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) to achieve economic growth after the slump in production of the early 1990s. Moreover, Baltic inflation performance has been substantially better than in other FSU countries. Both in Estonia and Lithuania the present exchange rate system has been accompanied by strong real appreciation of the currency, although it is widely accepted that the currencies were very much undervalued when they were initially pegged. However, if rapid real appreciation is accompanied by increases in labour productivity, the present pegs can be maintained. Banking crises in Estonia and Lithuania have not been particularly severe, so apparently rigid currency pegs have not been accompanied by excessive financial sector instability. The tight fiscal policies pursued in both countries, especially Estonia, have been instrumental to the success of these currency board arrangements.     

On the reduced macroeconomic volatility of the Australian economy: Good policy or good luck?

The Australian economy has experienced various changes in macroeconomic conditions over the past four decades. These changes have been associated with reduced volatility in key macroeconomic variables: CPI inflation, real GDP and the TWI measured real exchange rate. In light of this fact, my objective in this paper is to determine whether this reduction is associated with good policy or good luck. To this end, I estimate a time varying structural VAR model that is identified with theoretically consistent sign restrictions from a small open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. The primary result is that both non-systematic and systematic monetary policy have changed over the past four decades. In particular, non-systematic responses of inflation, real GDP and the exchange rate have increased since the adoption of a flexible exchange rate in 1983, while systematic responses of the cash rate to inflation have experienced various changes in intensities, exhibiting a trend towards a more passive behaviour since the 2007/08 financial crisis. Taken together, these results suggest that the reduction in macroeconomic volatility is associated with good policy.     

On dollarization and currency boards: Error and deception

A diagnosis of the laws and balance sheets of the monetary authorities in Argentina, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hong Kong and Lithuania is presented. With the exception of Bosnia, all employ active monetary policies and engage in sterilization. Accordingly, they are not currency boards. The methods used to dismantle the Argentine system in 2001, prior to its eventual abandonment, are presented. An evaluation of the Hong Kong system (1997-1998) suggests that its so-called currency board was not a party to counter-speculation in the stock market. Evidence is presented to show how deception was employed by the US and the IMF during the Indonesian currency board debate (1998) as a means to engineer a political regime change.     

The Role of Productivity and Financial Frictions in the Business Cycles of a Small Open Economy: Hong Kong 1984–2011

This paper analyzes the business cycle properties of the Hong Kong economy during the 1984–2011 period, which includes the financial crisis experienced in 1997/98 and the economic crisis of 2008–2010. We show that the volatility respectively, of output, of the growth rate of output and of real interest rates in Hong Kong are higher than the corresponding average volatility among developed economies. Furthermore, interest rates are countercyclical. We build a stochastic neoclassical small open‐economy model estimated with a Bayesian likelihood approach that seeks to replicate the main business cycle characteristics of Hong Kong, and through which we try to quantify the role played by exogenous total factor productivity (TFP) shocks (transitory and permanent), real interest rate shocks and financial frictions. The main finding is that financial frictions, jointly with the assumption that the country spread is endogenous, seem important in explaining the countercyclicality of the real interest rates.     

金融周期对宏观经济稳定的影响异质性分析*

宏观经济稳定长期以来作为中国宏观调控的重要目标，在“新常态”时期被更加广泛关注。金融稳定作为宏观经济稳定的必要条件，以洞悉金融周期为前提，要求细究金融周期变量对宏观经济运行的影响，为政策精准性提供支持。本文利用相关金融周期和宏观经济变量季度数据，使用滤波方法找出宏观经济的波动和平稳时期，运用机器学习算法验证所选输入变量与输出变量的匹配度，并测度各输入变量对输出变量的重要度。本文发现波动期和平稳时期宏观经济表现虽有不同，但资产价格指数和信贷水平对各宏观经济变量的重要度之和都达到50%以上，而其他金融周期变量如利差、杠杆率和金融机构风险暴露的重要度则有限。这表明相关政策需有的放矢，相较于无差别的大规模释放流动性，可将重心置于维护资产价格稳定和优化信贷政策配给，为宏观经济稳定保驾护航。     

金融周期对宏观经济稳定的影响异质性分析*

宏观经济稳定长期以来作为中国宏观调控的重要目标，在“新常态”时期被更加广泛关注。金融稳定作为宏观经济稳定的必要条件，以洞悉金融周期为前提，要求细究金融周期变量对宏观经济运行的影响，为政策精准性提供支持。本文利用相关金融周期和宏观经济变量季度数据，使用滤波方法找出宏观经济的波动和平稳时期，运用机器学习算法验证所选输入变量与输出变量的匹配度，并测度各输入变量对输出变量的重要度。本文发现波动期和平稳时期宏观经济表现虽有不同，但资产价格指数和信贷水平对各宏观经济变量的重要度之和都达到50%以上，而其他金融周期变量如利差、杠杆率和金融机构风险暴露的重要度则有限。这表明相关政策需有的放矢，相较于无差别的大规模释放流动性，可将重心置于维护资产价格稳定和优化信贷政策配给，为宏观经济稳定保驾护航。     

The Choice Between Flexible Exchange Rates, Capital Control and the Currency Board in Asian Countries: A Perspective from the "Impossible Trinity"

We attempt to compare adjustment costs under exchange rate regimes in East Asian economies during their recovery processes. The criteria are the degree of overshooting in exchange rates, the changes in country risks, and the severity and duration of the recovery processes. Linear ranking is difficult. Managed rates with capital control worked for macroeconomic performance despite the welfare loss due to blocking capital flows. The currency board system worked well for stability, but recent experiences of Argentina and Hong Kong were deflationary. Under flexible rates, many economies that received IMF grants suffered a drastic initial downturn but later recovered vigorously. JEL Classification Numbers: F31, F32, F33.     

An Intertemporal Currency Board

The paper shows that the traditional wisdom of raising interest rates to defend a currency enriches rather than punishes the speculators. Furthermore, using high interest rates as a currency defense tool often produces the opposite effect in times of crisis. A new approach is proposed of using Hong Kong dollar "put" options as an explicit commitment by the government. The put option itself acts like an intertemporal currency board in keeping the linked exchange rate over time. This costly signaling produces a separating equilibrium that distinguishes the strength of the Hong Kong dollar from the other Asian currencies that were under pressure in 1997.