Inflation,interest and exchange rates in the transition1

Central and Eastern European economies have made extraordinary progress in their trade and exchange regimes. Surprisingly, instant convertibility was established for a great variety of exchange rate regimes. In spite of diversity, all these countries have followed a common pattern: severe initial undervaluation - the cost of speed and unrestricted trade - followed by rapid real revaluation and incipient protectionism. Since 1994 in many cases an embarrass de richesse has appeared: high capital inflows which are either inflationary or costly to sterilize. A major cause of these flows - or at any rate of the high cost of sterilization - is the presence of significant interest rate differentials higher than required to cover the risk of devaluation. These are the necessary consequence of a policy of positive real interest rates and of real revaluation from excessively undervalued exchange rates. Lower interest rates are recommended, both to stem financial capital inflows and to reduce the cost of their sterilization.     

Efficient Markets Hypothesis and the Emerging Capital Market in Sri Lanka: Evidence from the Colombo Stock Exchange – A Note

The behaviour of stock prices on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is examined with a view to determine its consistency with the weak form of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH). Runs, Autocorrelation and Cointegration tests are applied to daily, weekly and monthly CSE index data for the period of January 1991–November 1996. Results of Runs, Correlation and Cointegration tests overwhelmingly reject the serial independence hypothesis, leading to the conclusion that the behaviour of stock prices in the Colombo Stock Exchange is not consistent with the weak form of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis. Tests of the-day-of-the-week-effect, however, show that there is no evidence of such a phenomenon on the Colombo Stock Exchange stock prices. Results of the tests of the-month-of-the-year-effect lead to the conclusion that CSE prices do not display any month-specific behaviour.     

Sources of Bank Interest Rate Risk

We investigate bank stocks'sensitivity to changes in interest rates and the factors affecting this sensitivity. We focus on whether the exposure of commercial banks to interest rate risk is conditioned on certain balance sheet and income statement ratios. We find a significantly negative relation between bank stock returns and changes in interest rates over the period 1991–1996. We also find that bank characteristics measured from basic financial statement information explain bank stocks'sensitivity to interest rate changes. These results suggest that bank managers, analysts, and regulators can use this information to assess the relative risk exposure of banks.     

利率规则与通货膨胀：一个模型分析

物价水平居高不下是我国政府和广大居民目前所面临的一个严峻问题。调控货币数量和名义利率水平是治理通货膨胀的两大举措。一部分投资者只能参与产品交易,而另一部分投资者既可以参与产品交易,也可参与债券交易,且存在速度冲击,交易者初始禀赋是同一的条件下,通过公开市场操作而购买债券会降低利率水平;在速度冲击是独立同分布的情况下,速度冲击对货币增长率的影响是暂时性的。     

Speculative attacks to currency target zones: A market microstructure approach

This paper develops a simple optimization model to characterize the behaviour of market participants during currency attacks and tests it empirically. Specifically, we test for the determinants of the timing, magnitude and chance of success of an attack. The empirical part is carried out using Mexican data, as this market provides us with an appropriate target zone framework and with a very rich dataset. We find empirical support for a set of microeconomic determinants which include: daily order flow, inventory management, intra-day price volatility, and the forward intervention-price differential. Finally, we test for the role of central bank reserves in speculative attack dynamics.     

“三元悖论”与中国汇率制度选择

＂三元悖论＂的基本原理是指在货币政策独立、资本自由流动和固定汇率这三个经济目标中最多只能同时实现两个,而该理论本身也存在理论假设过于绝对化,组合难以有效实现,政策组合难以执行的局限性。基于对中国资本流动现状和货币政策有效性分析和＂三元悖论＂的基本原理分析,得出我国的汇率制度选择终级目标是实现＂货币政策独立＋资本自由流动＋自由浮动汇率＂的政策组合。     

外汇储备增长的宏观经济影响及货币冲销政策的有效性研究

为研究中国外汇储备增加的宏观经济影响和货币冲销政策的有效性,本文利用2002年6月-2011年5月的数据,通过建立VAR模型,对外汇储备增加和货币冲销政策对物价水平以及社会产出水平的动态影响进行考察。研究结果表明,我国的外汇储备增加具有明显的通货膨胀效应,而央行的货币冲销政策对物价水平具有显著的平抑作用,同时对社会产出却没有不利影响。最后,本文从实证结果得到几点重要启示。     

美国、日本等国家和中国台湾地区利率自由化的经验与启示

美国、日本、印度、智利等国家以及中国台湾地区利率自由化的经验与教训对中国利率市场化有着重要的启示。通过对其利率自由化步骤和过程的分析可以看出,金融市场比较成熟是其改革的前提,逐步放宽管制是其改革步骤,即在金融市场比较成熟的条件下推进利率自由化。中国不能直接照搬这些操作,而应该先培育金融市场,待实现利率市场化之后,再参考这些经验,深化利率改革。     

我国投资率与消费率之间变动规律分析

投资率与消费率之间变动关系在工业化进程中会呈现出一般规律性。基于此,本文首先提出经济发展进程中投资率与消费率之间存在什么样的变化规律;接着以实际数据检验改革开发以来我国投资率和消费率之变动现象是否服从投资率与消费率变动的一般规律。结果发现二者基本吻合。但是我国投资率和消费率变化规律又具有自身特点：偏高的投资率和过低的消费率。事实证明,这种现象对我国经济长期健康发展不利,必须采取一定措施,完善投资和消费的比例关系。