Price flexiblity and output volatility: the case for flexible exchange rates

Price flexibility and output volatility: the case for flexible exchange rates

This paper uses descriptive statistics and regression analyses to esamine the relationship between exchange rate variability and output volatility in developed countries based on 1961 to 1984 data. The results indicate that a flexible exchange rate system is associated with less, not more, dispersion in output growth across industrialized countries despite a more turbulent global environment. A...

The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates in a Great Recession

We analyze macroeconomic stabilization in a small open economy which faces a large recession in the rest of the world. We show that for the economy to remain isolated from the shock, the exchange rate must depreciate not only to offset the collapse in external demand, but also to decouple domestic prices from deflation in the rest of the world. If monetary policy becomes constrained by the zero...

Volatility in Foreign Exchange Rates

Four foreign exchange spot rate series, recorded on an hourly basis for a six-month period in 1986 are examined. A seasonal GARCH model is developed to describe the time-dependent volatility apparent in the percentage nominal return of each currency. Hourly patterns in volatility are found to be remarkably similar across currencies and appear to be related to the opening and closing of the worl...

Commodity Price Volatility across Exchange Rate Regimes

This paper documents a new " stylized fact " regarding commodity prices using alternative datasets covering the period from 1880 to 1996: The volatility of real commodity prices, defined as nominal commodity prices deflated by the manufacturing unit value index, is higher under flexible-exchange rate regimes than fixed-exchange rate regimes. Furthermore, changes in exchange regime are associate...

Welfare and excess volatility of exchange rates