Exchange Rate Policy For A Small Open Economy In A World Of Floating Rates

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1,3, University of Bonn (Wirtschaftspolitische Abteilung der Rechts- und Staatswissenschaftlichen Fakultät), course: Geldtheorie- und politik, language: English, abstract: Does inflation reduce welfare? What is worse, a volatile exchange rate or a high inflation rate? And is the central bank able to drive these variables? These questions are the topic of a paper by Jordi Gali and Tommaso Monacelli, published in 2005 and titled "Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Volatility in a Small Open Economy". As apparent by the title Gali and Monacelli (G+M) analyze the influence of monetary policy on the volatility of the exchange rate, more precisely the nominal exchange rate and the terms of trade. For this purpose they create a small open economy with sticky prices of Calvo-type. Due to its minor size this economy does not influence the world economy. However, depending on the degree of openness this economy is affected by the rest of the world. Having specified this framework, G+M introduce three different monetary regimes and evaluate the resulting exchange rate volatilities . Using a central bank loss function G+M rank these three rules according to the implied welfare which shows a positive correlation between welfare and exchange rate volatility. Thence G+M prefer Taylor rules over an exchange rate pegging. To get a general idea of Gali and Monacelli`s argumentation this expose will start in chapter 2 with an abbreviated overlook over G+M's model of a small open economy. In the following chapter there will be the introduction of the three central bank rules, necessary to close the model, as well as an analysis of the underlying welfare levels. Since the welfare evaluation is based on some special assumptions, chapter 4 will give an overview of recent literature which discusses possible extensions as well as their implications for G+M's ranking of implied welfare. Concluding cha

An important hurdle in analyzing interest rate targeting is that standard models usually lead to price level or inflation rate indeterminacy. This paper develops a simple framework in which such problems do not arise because the bonds whose interest rate is controlled provide liquidity services. This framework is used to examine interest rate targeting in a small open economy under predetermined exchange rates. A permanent increase in the interest rate has no real effects. In contrast, a temporary increase in the interest rate leads to higher consumption and to a current account deficit that worsens over time.

This paper studies dynamic-optimizing model of a semi-small open economy with sticky nominal prices and wages. The model exhibits exchange rate overshooting in response to money supply shocks. The predicted variability of nominal and real exchange rates is roughly consistent with that of G-7 effective exchange rates during the post-Bretton Woods era. The model predicts that a positive domestic money supply shock lowers the domestic nominal interest rate, that it raises output and that it leads to a nominal and real depreciation of the country’s currency. Increases in domestic labor productivity and in the world interest rate too are predicted to induce a nominal and real exchange rate depreciation.

We analyze coordination of monetary and exchange rate policy in a two-sector model of a small open economy featuring imperfect substitution between domestic and foreign financial assets. Our central finding is that management of the exchange rate greatly enhances the efficacy of inflation targeting. In a flexible exchange rate system, inflation targeting incurs a high risk of indeterminacy where macroeconomic fluctuations can be driven by self-fulfilling expectations. Moreover, small inflation shocks may escalate into much larger increases in inflation ex post. Both problems disappear when the central bank leans heavily against the wind in a managed float.

This paper revisits Canada's pioneering experience with floating exchange rate over the period 1950-1962. It examines whether the floating rate was the best option for Canada in the 1950s by developing and estimating a New Keynesian small open economy model of the Canadian economy. The model is then used to conduct a counterfactual analysis of the impact of different monetary policies and exchange rate regimes. The main finding indicates that the flexible exchange rate helped reduce the volatility of key macro-economic variables. The Canadian monetary authorities, however, clearly did not understand all of the implications of conducting monetary policy under a flexible exchange rate and a high degree of capital mobility. The paper confirms that monetary policy was more volatile in the post-1957 period and Canada's macroeconomic performance suffered as a result.

The themes of this study are the exchange rate regimes chosen by policy makers in the twentieth century, the means used to maintain these regimes, and the impact of these decisions on individual national economies and the world economy in general. The book draws heavily on new research showing the lessons and the legacy left for policy makers by the gold standard and the attempt at its resurrection in the 1920s. In examining issues such as the gold exchange standard, the gold bullion standard, the experience of floating exchange rates, the Bretton Woods arrangements, the EMS and the ERM, and the Currency Board approach, there is a conscious attempt to draw out the relevance of history for policy makers now.