scholarly journals Don't Put All Your Eggs in Foreign Baskets

Económica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 016
Author(s):  
Santiago Camara

I analyze the sluggish response of exports during and after financial crises using firm level data for two countries-episodes: Argentina 2001 and Peru 1998 crises. I find that both incumbent exporting firms do not expand and that there’s no significant entry of new exporting firms. Furthermore, I present evidence that suggests that the export elasticity to the real exchange rate is asymmetric, smaller for depreciations than for appreciations. I build and estimate a DSGE model for a small open economy where exporting entrepreneurs are subject to financial frictions and balance sheet effects in order to try and explain these stylized facts. Although these frictions decrease the response of exports to movements in the exchange rate, I use computational exercises to show that they are not enough to explain the empirical results.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Carrasco ◽  
David Florián Hoyle

This paper discusses the role of sterilized foreign exchange (FX) interventions as a monetary policy instrument for emerging market economies in response to external shocks. We develop a model for a commodity-exporting small open economy in which FX intervention is considered as a balance sheet policy induced by a financial friction in the form of an agency problem between banks and their creditors. The severity of banks agency problem depends directly on a bank-level measure of currency mismatch. Endogenous deviations from the standard UIP condition arise at equilibrium. In this context, FX interventions moderate the response of financial and macroeconomic variables to external shocks by leaning against the wind with respect to real exchange rate pressures. Our quantitative results indicate that, conditional on external shocks, the FX intervention policy successfully reduces credit, investment, and output volatility, along with substantial welfare gains when compared to a free-floating exchange rate regime. Finally, we explore distinct generalizations of the model that eliminate the presence of endogenous UIP deviations. In those cases, FX intervention operations are considerably less effective for the aggregate equilibrium.


Author(s):  
Jaromir Benes ◽  
Andrew Berg ◽  
Rafael Portillo ◽  
David Vavra

The authors study a wide range of hybrid inflation-targeting (IT) and managed exchange rate regimes, analysing their implications for inflation, output and the exchange rate in the presence of various domestic and external shocks. To this end, the chapter presents an open economy New Keynesian model featuring sterilized interventions in the foreign exchange (FX) market as an additional central bank instrument operating alongside the Taylor rule, and affecting the economy through portfolio balance sheet effects in the financial sector. The chapter shows that there can be advantages to combining IT with some degree of exchange rate management via FX interventions. Unlike ‘pure’ IT or exchange rate management via interest rates, FX interventions can help insulate the economy against certain shocks, especially shocks to international financial conditions. However, managing the exchange rate through FX interventions may also hinder necessary exchange rate adjustments, e.g., in the presence of terms of trade shocks.


2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Miguel Benavente ◽  
Christian A. Johnson ◽  
Felipe G. Morandé

2002 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
S. Çiftçioğlu

The paper analyses the long-run (steady-state) output and price stability of a small, open economy which adopts a “crawling-peg” type of exchange-rate regime in the presence of various kinds of random shocks. Analytical and simulation results suggest that with the exception of money demand shocks, an exchange rate policy which involves a relatively higher rate of indexation of the exchange rate to price level is likely to lead to the worsening of price stability for all types of shocks. On the other hand, the impact of adopting such a policy on output stability depends on the type of the shock; for policy shocks to the exchange rate and shocks to output demand, output stability is worsened whereas for the shocks to risk premium of domestic assets, supply price of domestic output and the wage rate, better output stability is achieved in the long run.


Author(s):  
Sebastián Fanelli ◽  
Ludwig Straub

Abstract We study a real small open economy with two key ingredients (1) partial segmentation of home and foreign bond markets and (2) a pecuniary externality that makes the real exchange rate excessively volatile in response to capital flows. Partial segmentation implies that, by intervening in the bond markets, the central bank can affect the exchange rate and the spread between home- and foreign-bond yields. Such interventions allow the central bank to address the pecuniary externality, but they are also costly, as foreigners make carry trade profits. We analytically characterize the optimal intervention policy that solves this trade-off: (1) the optimal policy leans against the wind, stabilizing the exchange rate; (2) it involves smooth spreads but allows exchange rates to jump; (3) it partly relies on “forward guidance,” with non-zero interventions even after the shock has subsided; (4) it requires credibility, in that central banks do not intervene without commitment. Finally, we shed light on the global consequences of widespread interventions, using a multi-country extension of our model. We find that, left to themselves, countries over-accumulate reserves, reducing welfare and leading to inefficiently low world interest rates.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document