• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.193-218
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• 2006

This paper examines the macroeconomic structural differences of the free floating exchange rate regime and the managed float exchange rate regime focusing on the Korean economy, and compares it to the two benchmark economies, Japan and Australia. Korea's shift to the free floating exchange rate regime from the managed float exchange rate regime came after the 1997 economic crisis. Korea's exchange rate policy provides a unique opportunity to study the different behaviors or roles, if any, of managed float and free floating exchange rate regimes. Based on a simple monetary model, we find that the exchange rates of Korea are more sensitive to the economic fundamentals under the free floating regime than under the managed float regime. Impulse response analysis shows that exchange rate pass-through into domestic variables, especially inflation rate, has a bigger short-term impact under the floating regime than under the managed regime. This finding is consistent with the view that the managed (or fixed) regime provides the domestic price stability necessary for the economic growth for the developing countries.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.63-73
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• 2021

This study investigates the key determinants of exchange rate (RER) misalignment for the period 1991 to 2020. The BEER technique has been used to estimate the degree of the equilibrium exchange rate. To explore the actual exchange rate misalignment and to assess the behavior of variables that are different in different regimes of undervaluation and overvaluation, the nonlinear technique of Markov regime-switching (MSM) was applied. The mean and variance of each regime are highly significant and show that undervaluation episodes have a low mean (116.139) and more volatility (1.229) while overvaluation episodes have a high mean (126.732) with less volatility (0.871). The findings show that MSM accurately identifies exchange rate misalignment in both regimes as separate incidents of overvaluation and undervaluation. Results further depict that misalignment of the RER is affected by terms of trade, net foreign assets, interest differential, government investment, and consumption decision. Results recommend that if policymakers want to use the exchange rate as a policy tool, they must first consider the drivers of the equilibrium exchange rate. As a result, any deliberate actions to address exchange rate misalignment must focus on the underlying fundamentals that drive the exchange rate.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.115-143
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• 2023

In this paper, we address how the monetary authority should react to financial market status and exchange rate movements in a small open economy New Keynesian model with financial frictions due to asymmetric information between savers and borrowers. We show that the small economy with financial frictions is more susceptible to the exogenous shocks under the fixed exchange rate regime than under the flexible exchange regime. The small economy experiences a more prolonged and deeper economic recession under the fixed exchange rate regime than under the flexible exchange rate regime. The monetary policy taking into account external finance premium is better than the interest rate rule without considering the financial market status.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.27-39
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• 2022

The exchange rate is an important macroeconomic variable that influences internal and external balances. Nepal follows a dual exchange rate such that the Nepali rupee (NPR) is pegged with the Indian rupee (INR) but floats with the United States dollar (USD) and all other currencies. There have been very few studies on the exchange rate of Nepal, of which the majority focus on the bivariate relationship between exchange rate and another variable. However, this paper analyses the multivariate relationship between the USD-NPR exchange rate and major macroeconomic variables. Determinants of Nepal's exchange rate have been derived with multiple regression using the ordinary least square (OLS) approach. Since the explanatory variables could not significantly capture the movement of the dependent variable, a long-run relationship between Nepal and India's exchange rate has been analyzed using Engle-Granger cointegration to establish a relationship as suggested by a graphical representation. This explains that Nepal's exchange rate long run is determined by India's exchange rate than its own fundamentals. In addition, the macro-linkages of Nepal's macroeconomic variables have been analyzed using Standard Vector Autoregressive models followed by impulse response analysis which is useful for policy decisions. Some policy implications indicating the sustainability of Nepal's pegged regime have been drawn based on the empirical analysis.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 1990

For the last several years, considerable criticism has been leveled against Korea's exchange rate management. While Korea was designated a currency manipulator by the U.S., domestically it is often complained that the won/dollar rate did not adequately reflect changes in Korea's export competitiveness and fluctuations in the exchange rates of major currencies. In view of this situation, Korea changed its exchange regime at the beginning of March this year from the dual currency basket system to a more flexible one, called a "market average rate regime". Under this new regime, the won rate is determined in the exchange market based upon the supply of and demand for foreign exchange and is allowed to freely fluctuate each day within a + 0.4 % range. This paper, first, seeks to evaluate Korea's exchange rate management under the dual basket regime of the 1980s, and then to construct an optimal currency basket for the won which could provide a proper indicator for exchange market intervention under the new market average rate regime. The analysis of fluctuations in the real effective exchange rate (REER) of the won indicates that the won rates in the 1980s failed not only to offset changes in relative prices between home and trading partner countries, but also to properly respond to variations in major exchange rates as further evidenced by sizable fluctuations in the nominal effective rates of the won. In other words, the currency basket regime which was adopted in 1980 for the stabilization of the REER of the won has not been operated properly, mainly because authorities often resorted to policy considerations in determining the won's rate. In the second part of the paper, an optimal currency basket for Korea is constructed, designed to minimize the fluctuations in the REER of the won without including policy considerations as a factor. It is recognized, however, that both domestic and foreign price data are not available immediately for the calculation of the REER. For this problem, the approach suggested by Lipschitz (1980) is followed, in which optimal weights for currencies in the basket are determined based upon the past correlation between price and exchange rates. When the optimal basket is applied to Korea since the mid-80s, it is found that the REER of the won could have been much more stable than it actually was. We also argue for the use of variable weights rather than fixed ones, which would be determined by the changing relationship between exchange rates and relative prices. The optimal basket, and the optimal basket exchange rate based on that basket, could provide an important medium- or long-term reference for proper exchange market intervention under the market average rate regime, together with other factors, such as developments in the current account balance and changes in productivity.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.833-840
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• 2021

This paper examines the effect of the interest rate set by Bank Indonesia on financial system stability as measured by the credit gap in Indonesia for quarterly data for the period 1976 Q1 to 2019 Q4. We suppose that the relationship between the Central Bank rate and the credit gap is non-linear. Hence, this study applies a smooth transition regression (STR) model to investigate the relationship between these variables. Our results are: first, by performing STR estimation we obtained a threshold level of Central Bank rate of 2.01. Second, a decrease in the Central Bank rate results in a reduction in the credit gap when the Central Bank rate is above or below the threshold level. The effect of the Central Bank rate is five times greater for the high regime than for the low regime. Third, we find evidence that the effect of the exchange rate, economic growth, inflation, and GDP per capita on the credit gap for the high regime is the opposite of the low regime. We suggest that policymakers need to keep the Central Bank interest rate low and stable so that the role of the bank as a financial intermediary remains stable and conducive to strengthening financial stability.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 1984

The aim of this study is to investigate efficiency of foreign exchange markets for 8 currencies for the floating rate regime 1974～1982 by comparison of various foreign exchange rate forecasting models’performances. The author presents evidences showing that efficient market hypothesis was not supported.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2010

This paper empirically examines whether Korean monetary policy is independent of U.S. monetary policy during the post-crisis period in which capital account is liberalized and floating exchange rate regime is adopted and during the pre-crisis period in which capital mobility is restricted and tightly managed exchange rate regime is adopted. Before capital account liberalization, monetary autonomy can be achieved in view of the trillema, even under tightly managed exchange rate regime, as capital mobility is restricted. On the other hand, for the period after capital account liberalization, monetary autonomy can be also achieved in view of the trillema, as exchange rate stability is given up. Securing monetary autonomy, however, may not be easy under liberalized capital account for a small open economy like Korea. Huge capital movements can generate excessive instability in foreign exchange and asset markets. Strengthened international economic linkages may also be another factor to prevent monetary policy from being independent. Using block-exogenous structural VAR model, the effects of U.S. monetary policy shocks on Korean economy are examined. Empirical results show that Korean monetary policy is not independent of U.S. monetary policy for both periods before and after capital account liberalization. For the period after capital account liberalization, Korea does not seem to have implemented floating exchange rate policy in practice, which may lead Korean monetary policy to be dependent on U.S. monetary policy. For the period after capital account liberalization, portfolio flows respond dramatically to the U.S. monetary policy, which may also keep Korean monetary policy from being independent.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.49-59
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• 2022

This paper examined the impact of real exchange rate volatility on trade balance in Malaysia by using quarterly data from year 2000 until 2019. Generalized Autoregressive Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model was used to extract the volatility component of real exchange rate before examining its impact on trade balance. Furthermore, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used to investigate the long-run relationship and short-run dynamic between trade balance, money supply, national income and volatility of exchange rate. Empirical results show the existence of co-movement between variables under study in the long-run. However, the results also suggest that volatility of real exchange rate does not significantly affect trade balance neither in the long-run nor short-run. The risk which is associated in the movement of exchange rate do not influence trader's behaviour toward Malaysia exports and imports. Thus, it should be note that any depreciation or appreciation in Malaysian Ringgit do not have an impact towards trade balance either it is being further improved or deteriorates. Hence, exchange rate volatility may not be too concern for policymakers. This may be partially due to manage floating exchange rate regime that has been adopted by Malaysia eventually eliminated the element of risk in the currency market.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2022

This study uses the panel probit model to investigate and evaluate the relationship between exchange rate regimes, political stability, and carbon dioxide during currency crises. To understand currency crisis times, we study a panel dataset of seven South Asian nations that contain annual observations from 1996 to 2020. Furthermore, we created the EMPI exchange market pressure indicator to detect crises. Our results strongly suggested that fixed exchange rate is negatively associated with currency crises, with good regulatory quality and better effective governments. Simultaneously, the floating exchange rate is positively related to the currency crises in those countries where the rule of law has less adequately flowed. However, CO₂, exports, and interest rates are buoyantly associated with crises. The floating exchange rate, the rule of law, exports, and interest rate are associated positively and contribute more prone to the crisis episodes. Negatively associated variables contributed less amid crises episodes: fixed exchange rate regime, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality. Meanwhile, CO₂ has a positive relationship with a currency crisis and contributes more likelihood to the probability of a currency crisis. Countries that adopted the fixed exchange rates with effective governments and regulatory quality faced more minor currency crises.