How Do Exchange Rate Regimes Affect Firms' Incentives to Hedge Currency Risk? Micro Evidence for Latin America


Book Description

Using a unique dataset with information on the currency composition of firms' assets and liabilities in six Latin-American countries, I investigate how the choice of exchange rate regime affects firms' foreign currency borrowing decisions and the associated currency mismatches in their balance sheets. I find that after countries switch from pegged to floating exchange rate regimes, firms reduce their levels of foreign currency exposures, in two ways. First, they reduce the share of debt contracted in foreign currency. Second, firms match more systematically their foreign currency liabilities with assets denominated in foreign currency and export revenues--effectively reducing their vulnerability to exchange rate shocks. More broadly, the study provides novel evidence on the impact of exchange rate regimes on the level of un-hedged foreign currency debt in the corporate sector and thus on aggregate financial stability.




China’s Evolving Exchange Rate Regime


Book Description

China’s exchange rate regime has undergone gradual reform since the move away from a fixed exchange rate in 2005. The renminbi has become more flexible over time but is still carefully managed, and depth and liquidity in the onshore FX market is relatively low compared to other countries with de jure floating currencies. Allowing a greater role for market forces within the existing regime, and greater two-way flexibility of the exchange rate, are important steps to build on the progress already made. This should be complemented by further steps to develop the FX market, improve FX risk management, and modernize the monetary policy framework.







Dedollarization


Book Description

This paper provides a summary of the key policies that encourage dedollarization. It focuses on cases in which the authorities’ intention is to gain greater control of monetary policy and draws on the experiences of countries that have successfully dedollarized. Unlike previous work on the subject, this paper examines both macroeconomic stabilization policies and microeconomic measures, such as prudential regulation of the financial system. This study is also the first attempt to make extensive use of the foreign exchange regulation data reported in the IMF’s Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions. The main conclusion is that durable dedollarization depends on a credible disinflation plan and specific microeconomic measures.




Currency Mismatches and Vulnerability to Exchange Rate Shocks: Nonfinancial Firms in Colombia


Book Description

After building up foreign currency denominated (FC) liabilities over several years, Colombian firms might be vulnerable to a shift in external conditions. We undertake three empirical exercises to better understand these vulnerabilities. First, we identify the determinants of FC borrowing. Second, we investigate the implications for real activity, finding a balance sheet effect that transmits exchange rate fluctuations to investment and is asymmetric, much stronger for depreciations than for appreciations. Finally, we find that foreign exchange derivatives are not used solely for hedging, due in part to monetary authority intervention to smooth exchange rate volatility. However, a full explanation remains open for future research.




SHOCKS AND CAPITAL FLOWS


Book Description




Monetary Policy Strategies for Latin America


Book Description

Instead of focusing the debate about the conduct of monetary policy on whether the nominal exchange rate should be fixed or flexible, the focus should be on whether the monetary policy regime appropriately constrains discretion in monetary policymaking. Three frameworks deserve serious discussion as possible long-run strategies for monetary policy in Latin America. A hard exchange-rate peg, monetary targeting, and inflation targeting.




Exchange Rate Economics


Book Description

''In summary, the book is valuable as a textbook both at the advanced undergraduate level and at the graduate level. It is also very useful for the economist who wants to be brought up-to-date on theoretical and empirical research on exchange rate behaviour.'' ""Journal of International Economics""




International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics


Book Description

This rigorous textbook tames technicalities and makes even the most complex models accessible to students. Its unique two-tier structure makes the book attractive for undergraduates, graduates and researchers alike. In fact, the coverage is primarily directed to undergraduate students and is mainly confined to graphic analysis and to some elementary algebra. Further, each chapter has its own mathematical appendix, in which (i) the topics treated in the text are examined at a level suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduates and researchers, and (ii) generalizations and/or topics not treated in the text (including some at the cutting edge of research) are formally examined. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the latest research on international finance. This book deals with the financial side of international economics and covers all aspects of international finance. There are many books and articles by exponents of alternative points of view. I know of no other book that provides the scope, balance, objectivity and rigor of this book. the late Professor Jerome L. Stein, Brown University This book is a second edition of a volume on international finance first published in 2001. Like Giancarlo’s other books in International Economics, this book is organised as a two-books-in-one by distributing the material between text and appendices. The text provides coverage suitable for an undergraduate course while the mathematical appendices provide coverage of the topics at the frontier of the discipline and suitable for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in an international finance and international macroeconomics course. This edition updates the earlier volume and covers all the classic topics as well as the more recent advances in the theory and modelling of international finance. It includes some discussion of the empirical testing of these theories and where appropriate reference to the extensive empirical literature is also provided. This book is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any serious International Finance Scholar and provides a treasure chest of material for any quality international finance course. Professor Pasquale M Sgro, Deakin University Giancarlo Gandolfo is one of the profession's most gifted textbook authors on mathematical modeling and international economics. His revised International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics is remarkable for its scope and clarity. The book covers the older and intertemporal approaches, and topics that are usually left out of graduate treatments (the chapter on balance-of-payments accounting is a gem). Gandolfo's two-tier approach of first developing topics with graphs and basic algebra and then providing rigorous mathematics for each topic makes the book ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate classes. Professor Michael D. Goldberg, University of New Hampshire




Nonfinancial Firms in Latin America


Book Description

We examine corporate sector vulnerabilities in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. First, we identify stylized facts based on corporate financial indicators. Second, we assess vulnerability of individual firms to a sudden stop in financing through a probit model, using a panel of 18 countries in 2000-11. Results suggest that higher leverage and maturity exposures raise a firm’s probability to become exposed to a funding shock, while a larger firm size and buffers reduce it. Further, greater exchange rate flexibility can help mitigate corporate vulnerability. Identification of firms at risk through the model suggests that some vulnerabilities may be building in Latin America led by leverage, currency exposures and moderating buffers. These effects are partially offset, however, by a significant reduction in maturity exposures.