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Working Paper
Tariffs and the Macroeconomy: Evidence from the USA
This paper examines the macroeconomic impact of tariffs. The effects of unilateral tariff changes are reviewed in a variety of theoretical models. Three different sets of data are consistent with the hypothesis that tariff rates have no significant effect on a system consisting of the real exchange rate, the real trade balance, and real output (both foreign and domestic) .
Conference Paper
Exchange rate instability: determinants and predictability
Working Paper
Why has trade grown faster than income?
Trade of the OECD countries has grown faster than income during the postwar period. This paper tests a number of different hypotheses for the observed growth in the trade/income ratio. For small open economies, increases in real output and international reserves, as well as declines in tariff rates are associated with growth in the ratio. There are important differences in the behavior of the trade ratio across time and country size.
Working Paper
International financial remoteness and macroeconomic volatility
This paper shows that proximity to major international financial centers seems to reduce business cycle volatility. In particular, we show that countries that are further from major locations of international financial activity systematically experience more volatile growth rates in both output and consumption, even after accounting for domestic financial depth, political institutions, and other controls. Our results are relatively robust in the sense that more financially remote countries are more volatile, though the results are not always statistically significant. The comparative strength ...
Report
One reason countries pay their debts: renegotiation and international trade
This paper estimates the effect of sovereign debt renegotiation on international trade. Sovereign default may be associated with a subsequent decline in international trade either because creditors want to deter default by debtors, or because trade finance dries up after default. To estimate the effect, I use an empirical gravity model of bilateral trade and a large panel data set covering fifty years and more than 200 trading partners. The model controls for a host of factors that influence bilateral trade flows, including the incidence of International Monetary Fund programs. Using the ...
Working Paper
Bond vigilantes and inflation
We explore the relationship between inflation and the existence of a local domestic?currency bond market. Domestic bond markets allow governments to inflate away their debt obligations, but also create a potential anti-inflationary force of bond holders. We develop a simple model where bond issuance may lead to political pressure on the government to choose a lower inflation rate. We then check this prediction empirically, finding that inflation?targeting countries with bond markets experience inflation approximately three to four percentage points lower than those without. This effect is ...
Journal Article
Do local bond markets help fight inflation?
Domestic bond markets allow governments to inflate away their debt obligations. However, they also may create a group of bond holders with the influence and desire to demand lower stable inflation. These competing interests suggest the net impact of creating a local currency bond market on inflation is ambiguous. Recent research finds that the creation of such markets in countries with an inflation target does reduce inflation: Countries with bond markets experience inflation approximately 3 percentage points lower than those without.
Working Paper
Expected and predicted realignments: the FF/DM exchange rate during the EMS
An empirical model of time-varying realignment risk in an exchange rate target zone is developed. Expected rates of devaluation are estimated as the difference between interest rate differentials and estimated expected rates of depreciation within the exchange rate band, using French Franc/Deutsche Mark data during the European Monetary System. The behavior of estimated expected rates of depreciation accord well with the theoretical model of Bertola-Svensson (1990). We are also able to predict actual realignments with some success.
Working Paper
Speculative attacks on pegged exchange rates: an empirical exploration with special reference to the European Monetary System
This paper presents an empirical analysis of speculative attacks on pegged exchange rates in 22 countries between 1967 and 1992. We define speculative attacks or crises as large movements in exchange rates, interest rates, and international reserves. We develop stylized facts concerning the univariate behavior of a variety of macroeconomic variables, comparing crises with periods of tranquility. For ERM observations we cannot reject the null hypothesis that there are few significant differences in the behavior of key macroeconomic variables between crises and non-crisis periods. This null ...
Working Paper
Exchange rate instability: determinants and predictability
The paper is concerned with exchange rate instability, by which we mean large changes in exchange rates. The paper has two objectives. First, we search for plausible determinants of currency crashes. To do this we examine annual panel data for a large sample of developing countries. The work is non-structural, taking the form of probit regressions which link currency crashes to a variety of candidate causes. We examine a comprehensive set of both foreign and domestic explanatory variables. The list includes: foreign conditions; the vulnerability of the country to a crash; the level of ...