Exchange Rate Regime, Real Misalignment and Currency Crises
Oliver Holtemöller, Sushanta Mallick
Economic Modelling,
No. 34,
2013
Abstract
Based on 69 sample countries, this paper examines the effect of macroeconomic fundamentals on real effective exchange rates (REER) in these sample countries. Using the misalignment of actual REER from its equilibrium level, we have estimated the factors explaining the extent of currency over- or under-valuation. Overall, we find that the higher the flexibility of the currency regime, the lower is the misalignment. The estimates are robust to different sub-samples of countries. We then explore the impact of such misalignment on the probability of a currency crisis in the next period, indicating the extent to which misalignment could be used as a leading indicator of a potential crisis. This paper thus makes a new contribution to the debate on the choice of exchange rate regime by bringing together real exchange rate misalignment and currency crisis literature.
Read article
Macroeconomic Factors and Micro-Level Bank Risk
Claudia M. Buch
Bundesbank Discussion Paper 20/2010,
2010
Abstract
The interplay between banks and the macroeconomy is of key importance for financial and economic stability. We analyze this link using a factor-augmented vector autoregressive model (FAVAR) which extends a standard VAR for the U.S. macroeconomy. The model includes GDP growth, inflation, the Federal Funds rate, house price inflation, and a set of factors summarizing conditions in the banking sector. We use data of more than 1,500 commercial banks from the U.S. call reports to address the following questions. How are macroeconomic shocks transmitted to bank risk and other banking variables? What are the sources of bank heterogeneity, and what explains differences in individual banks’ responses to macroeconomic shocks? Our paper has two main findings: (i) Average bank risk declines, and average bank lending increases following expansionary shocks. (ii) The heterogeneity of banks is characterized by idiosyncratic shocks and the asymmetric transmission of common shocks. Risk of about 1/3 of all banks rises in response to a monetary loosening. The lending response of small, illiquid, and domestic banks is relatively large, and risk of banks with a low degree of capitalization and a high exposure to real estate loans decreases relatively strongly after expansionary monetary policy shocks. Also, lending of larger banks increases less while risk of riskier and domestic banks reacts more in response to house price shocks.
Read article
IWH-Flash-Indikator: II. Quartal und III. Quartal 2013
Katja Drechsel
IWH-Flash-Indikator,
No. 2,
2013
Abstract
Nach einem schwachen konjunkturellen Start im ersten Quartal 2013 zeigt der IWH-Flash-Indikator für das zweite und dritte Quartal eine Zunahme des Bruttoinlandsproduktes um jeweils 0,3% an. Die im ersten Quartal 2013 witterungsbedingt aufgeschobene Produktion könnte auch zu etwas höheren Expansionsraten führen, insbesondere im zweiten Quartal.
Read article
Big Banks and Macroeconomic Outcomes: Theory and Cross-Country Evidence of Granularity
Franziska Bremus, Claudia M. Buch, K. Russ, Monika Schnitzer
NBER Working Paper No. 19093,
2013
Abstract
Does the mere presence of big banks affect macroeconomic outcomes? In this paper, we develop a theory of granularity (Gabaix, 2011) for the banking sector, introducing Bertrand competition and heterogeneous banks charging variable markups. Using this framework, we show conditions under which idiosyncratic shocks to bank lending can generate aggregate fluctuations in the credit supply when the banking sector is highly concentrated. We empirically assess the relevance of these granular effects in banking using a linked micro-macro dataset of more than 80 countries for the years 1995-2009. The banking sector for many countries is indeed granular, as the right tail of the bank size distribution follows a power law. We then demonstrate granular effects in the banking sector on macroeconomic outcomes. The presence of big banks measured by high market concentration is associated with a positive and significant relationship between bank-level credit growth and aggregate growth of credit or gross domestic product.
Read article
German Economy Recovering – Long-Term Approach Needed to Economic Policy: Joint Economic Forecast Spring 2013
Dienstleistungsauftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie,
2013
Abstract
Die Konjunktur in Deutschland ist im Frühjahr 2013 wieder aufwärts gerichtet. Die Lage an den Finanzmärkten hat sich entspannt, nachdem die Unsicherheit über die Zukunft der Europäischen Währungsunion gesunken ist. Auch der weltwirtschaftliche Gegenwind hat nachgelassen. Die Institute erwarten, dass in Deutschland das Bruttoinlandsprodukt in diesem Jahr um 0,8 % (68 %-Prognoseintervall: 0,1 % bis 1,5 %) und im kommenden Jahr um 1,9 % zunimmt. Die Zahl der Arbeitslosen dürfte weiter zurückgehen und im Jahresdurchschnitt bei 2,9 Mill. in diesem bzw. 2,7 Mill. Personen im nächsten Jahr liegen. Die Inflationsrate wird im laufenden Jahr auf 1,7 % zurückgehen, bevor sie bei zunehmender Kapazitätsauslastung im kommenden Jahr auf 2,0 % anzieht. Der Staatshaushalt wird im Jahr 2013 annähernd ausgeglichen sein und im Jahr 2014 dank der günstigeren Konjunktur einen Überschuss von 0,5 % in Relation zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt aufweisen. Die Wirtschaftspolitik sollte jetzt die lange Frist wieder stärker in den Blick nehmen. Zwar haben strukturelle Anpassungsprozesse in den Krisenländern inzwischen begonnen, institutionelle Probleme im Euroraum sind aber noch nicht gelöst. Der deutsche Staatshaushalt ist auch demografiebedingt langfristig erheblichen Belastungen ausgesetzt.
Read article
Financial Factors in Macroeconometric Models
Sebastian Giesen
Volkswirtschaft, Ökonomie, Shaker Verlag GmbH, Aachen,
2013
Abstract
The important role of credit has long been identified as a key factor for economic development (see e.g. Wicksell (1898), Keynes (1931), Fisher (1933) and Minsky (1957, 1964)). Even before the financial crisis most researchers and policy makers agreed that financial frictions play an important role for business cycles and that financial turmoils can result in severe economic downturns (see e.g. Mishkin (1978), Bernanke (1981, 1983), Diamond (1984), Calomiris (1993) and Bernanke and Gertler (1995)). However, in practice researchers and policy makers mostly used simplified models for forecasting and simulation purposes. They often neglected the impact of financial frictions and emphasized other non financial market frictions when analyzing business cycle fluctuations (prominent exceptions include Kiyotaki and Moore (1997), Bernanke, Gertler, and Gilchrist (1999) and Christiano, Motto, and Rostagno (2010)). This has been due to the fact that most economic downturns did not seem to be closely related to financial market failures (see Eichenbaum (2011)). The outbreak of the subprime crises ― which caused panic in financial markets and led to the default of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 ― then led to a reconsideration of such macroeconomic frameworks (see Caballero (2010) and Trichet (2011)). To address the economic debate from a new perspective, it is therefore necessary to integrate the relevant frictions which help to explain what we have experienced during recent years.
In this thesis, I analyze different ways to incorporate relevant frictions and financial variables in macroeconometric models. I discuss the potential consequences for standard statistical inference and macroeconomic policy. I cover three different aspects in this work. Each aspect presents an idea in a self-contained unit. The following paragraphs present more detail on the main topics covered.
Read article
The European Commission’s Scoreboard of Macroeconomic Imbalances – The impact of preferences on an early warning system
Tobias Knedlik
Externe Publikationen,
2013
Abstract
Read article
Rückkehr des Vertrauens beflügelt Konjunktur in Deutschland
Konjunktur aktuell,
No. 2,
2013
Abstract
Die konjunkturellen Perspektiven für Deutschland hellen sich nach dem Produktionseinbruch im Schlussquartal des Jahres 2012 wieder auf. Maßgeblich hierfür ist die Entspannung der Schulden- und Vertrauenskrise im Euroraum.
Hinzu kommt eine etwas höhere weltwirtschaftliche Dynamik. Das preisbereinigte Bruttoinlandsprodukt dürfte demnach im Jahr 2013 um 1,3% zulegen, die Arbeitslosenquote geringfügig auf 6,4% sinken und die Verbraucherpreisinflation bei 1,7% liegen.
Read article
