Working Papers
2003
July 1, 2003
Asymmetric Adjustment and Nonlinear Dynamics in Real Exchange Rates
Description: This paper examines whether deviations from PPP are stationary in the presence of nonlinearity, and whether the adjustment toward PPP is symmetric from above and below. Using alternative nonlinear models, our results support mean reversion and asymmetric adjustment dynamics. We find differences in magnitudes, frequencies, and durations of the deviations of exchange rates from fixed and time-varying thresholds, both between over-appreciations and over-depreciations and between developed and developing countries. In particular, the average cumulative sum of deviations during periods when exchange rates are below forecasts is twice that of the sum during periods of over-appreciation, and is larger for developing than for advanced countries.
July 1, 2003
Bank Consolidation, Internationalization, and Conglomeration: Trends and Implications for Financial Risk
Description: This paper documents global trends in bank activity, consolidation, internationalization, and financial firm conglomeration, and explores the extent to which financial firm risk and systemic risk potential in banking are related to consolidation and conglomeration. We find that while there is a substantial upward trend in conglomeration globally, consolidation and internationalization exhibit uneven patterns across world regions. Trends in consolidation and conglomeration indicate increased risk profiles for large, conglomerate financial firms, and higher levels of systemic risk potential for more concentrated banking systems. We outline research directions aimed at explaining why bank consolidation and conglomeration do not necessarily yield either safer financial firms or more resilient banking systems.
July 1, 2003
Hierarchy and Authority in a Dynamic Perspective: A Model Applied to Donor Financing of NGO Proposals
Description: This paper presents a dynamic game of strategic delegation between a principal and an agent. The principal can choose between two organizational designs: a traditional hierarchy where she retains authority over the choice of projects to be implemented or a delegation where she allows her agent to select the project. The key objectives of this model are to identify the long-run determinants of the principal’s choice and verify the impact of the authority allocation on the agent’s effort levels and on the principal’s payoffs. We apply the model to the relationships between institutional donors and nongovernmental organizations.
July 1, 2003
Does Productivity Growth Lead to Appreciation of the Real Exchange Rate?
Description: We revisit the time-honored link between productivity and the real exchange rate. Consistent with the traditional view, we find that higher labor productivity tends to lead to appreciation of the real exchange rate. Contrary to the traditional view, however, we find that the positive productivity effect is transmitted through the real exchange rate based on tradable prices, rather than through relative prices between tradables and nontradables. Moreover, higher total factor productivity is found, if anything, to lead to depreciation of the real exchange rate. These last two pieces of evidence provide support for the emerging view that limited tradability of goods and services provides scope for the strategic pricing decision, which has material consequences for the aggregate real exchange rate.
July 1, 2003
The Cost Channel of Monetary Policy: Further Evidence for the United States and the Euro Area
Description: This paper estimates the importance of the cost channel of monetary policy in a New Keynesian model of the business cycle. A model with nominal rigidities is extended by assuming that a fraction of firms need to borrow money to pay their wage bill. Hence, monetary policy tightenings increase effective unit labor costs of production, and might imply an increase in inflation. The model explains the joint dynamics of output, inflation, real wages, and interest rates, and is estimated using a Bayesian framework and data for the United States and the euro area. The main result is that cost channel effects are absent in both cases. Moreover, it is not possible to obtain a "price puzzle" type of behavior from estimated impulse responses to monetary policy shocks.
July 1, 2003
Dollarization of the Banking System: Good or Bad?
Description: This paper assesses the benefits and risks associated with dollarization of the banking system. We provide novel empirical evidence on the determinants of dollarization, its role in promoting financial development, and on whether dollarization is associated with financial instability. We find that: (a) the credibility of macroeconomic policy and the quality of institutions are both key determinants of cross-country variations in dollarization; (b) dollarization is likely to promote financial deepening only in a high inflation environment; and (c) financial instability is likely higher in dollarized economies. The implications of these findings for financial sector and monetary policies are discussed.
July 1, 2003
Assessing Fiscal Sustainability: A Cross-Country Comparison
Description: To monitor fiscal sustainability, this paper proposes a recursive algorithm derived from the law of motion of the debt-to-GDP ratio, subject to a government reaction function that links convergence to the targeted debt ratio with primary fiscal surpluses. Based on quarterly estimates of this algorithm in the 1990s, 12 developed and developing countries are ranked according to their degree of sustainability. For a number of countries, the paper finds evidence of causality between the fiscal policy stance and growth-adjusted real interest rates.
July 1, 2003
The Efficiency of the Japanese Equity Market
Description: Using the ARFIMA-FIGARCH model, this paper studies the efficiency of the Japanese equity market by examining the statistical properties of the return and volatility of the Nikkei 225. It shows that both follow a long range dependence, which stands against the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). The result is valid for all sample periods, suggesting that the recent equity market reform has not produced major efficiency gains.
July 1, 2003
Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Brazil
Description: In the last two years the real has undergone a large depreciation and the central bank has missed its inflation target in 2002 for the second year in a row. Inflation, however, has increased much less than the rate of currency depreciation and the pickup in inflation in the last quarter of 2002 raises the question of whether the exchange rate passthrough has finally risen. This paper argues that the passthrough in Brazil has fallen compared with estimates in other studies on earlier time periods, and remains low when compared with the passthrough in other Latin American countries. Indeed the passthrough is more comparable with that of G-7 countries—although in Brazil the effect on prices appears to be faster.
July 1, 2003
Trade Elasticities and Market Expectations in Brazil
Description: This paper provides econometric estimates of trade elasticities for Brazil obtained through cointegration and vector auto regression models and controlling for the effects of exchange rate volatility, capacity utilization, and changes in import tariffs. The results suggest that (i) recent market expectations may have been unduly pessimistic regarding the responsiveness of Brazil's trade flows to the real exchange rate, but (ii) the GDP growth rates targeted by the new government may put downward pressure on the exchange rate and thus render the achievement of official inflation targets considerably more difficult if structural reforms are not implemented.