IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/asiaec/v21y2007i2p195-206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Caused the Korean Currency Crisis in 1997?: Weak Fundamentals or Self‐fulfilling Expectations

Author

Listed:
  • In‐Bong Ha
  • Bong‐Soo Lee
  • Chongcheul Cheong

Abstract

The present paper investigates which factor is primarily responsible for the sharp depreciation of the Korean won against the US dollar in 1997, using a bivariate vector autoregressive model of real and nominal exchange rates. In the present study, we directly identify the relative importance of fundamental and non‐fundamental factors from the raw data series on exchange rates. This approach is different from most previous studies on the Korean currency crisis, which use proxy variables to represent the two factors. The empirical results show that the collapse of the Korean currency in 1997 appears to be mostly a result of the weakened macroeconomic fundamentals of the economy with, to a limited extent, some non‐fundamental factors.

Suggested Citation

  • In‐Bong Ha & Bong‐Soo Lee & Chongcheul Cheong, 2007. "What Caused the Korean Currency Crisis in 1997?: Weak Fundamentals or Self‐fulfilling Expectations," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 195-206, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:21:y:2007:i:2:p:195-206
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8381.2007.00254.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8381.2007.00254.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8381.2007.00254.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Quah, Danny, 1989. "The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 655-673, September.
    2. Bartolini, Leonardo & Drazen, Allan, 1997. "Capital-Account Liberalization as a Signal," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 138-154, March.
    3. Grilli, Vittorio & Roubini, Nouriel, 1996. "Liquidity models in open economies: Theory and empirical evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 847-859, April.
    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Graciela L. Kaminsky, 1999. "The Twin Crises: The Causes of Banking and Balance-of-Payments Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 473-500, June.
    5. Michael P. Dooley & Inseok Shin, 1999. "Private inflows when crises are anticipated: a case study of Korea," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Sep.
    6. Marais, E. & Bates, S., 2006. "An empirical study to identify shift contagion during the Asian crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 468-479, December.
    7. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Pesenti, Paolo & Roubini, Nouriel, 1999. "What caused the Asian currency and financial crisis?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 305-373, October.
    8. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Aaron Tornell & Andrés Velasco, 1996. "Financial Crises in Emerging Markets: The Lessons from 1995," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 147-216.
    9. Sarno,Lucio & Taylor,Mark P., 2003. "The Economics of Exchange Rates," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521485845.
    10. Baldwin, Richard, 1988. "Hyteresis in Import Prices: The Beachhead Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 773-785, September.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/272 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    13. Lastrapes, William D, 1992. "Sources of Fluctuations in Real and Nominal Exchange Rates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 530-539, August.
    14. Alfred A. Haug, 2002. "Temporal Aggregation and the Power of Cointegration Tests: a Monte Carlo Study," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(4), pages 399-412, September.
    15. Sebastian Edwards, 1999. "Crisis Prevention: Lessons from Mexico and East Asia," NBER Working Papers 7233, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Lawrence H. Summers, 2000. "International Financial Crises: Causes, Prevention, and Cures," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 1-16, May.
    17. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    18. Ratti, Ronald A. & Seo, Jeonghee, 2003. "Multiple equilibria and currency crisis: evidence for Korea," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 681-696, October.
    19. Ping Wang & Paul Dunne, 2003. "Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations in East Asia: Generalized Impulse‐Response Analysis," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 185-203, June.
    20. Enders, Walter & Lee, Bong-Soo, 1997. "Accounting for real and nominal exchange rate movements in the post-Bretton Woods period," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 233-254, April.
    21. Soyoung Kim & Sunghyun H. Kim & Yunjong Wang, 2014. "Macroeconomic Effects of Capital Account Liberalization: The Case of Korea," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Kyuil Chung & Soyoung Kim & Hail Park & Changho Choi & Hyun Song Shin (ed.), Volatile Capital Flows in Korea, chapter 2, pages 27-49, Palgrave Macmillan.
    22. Qin, Duo, 2001. "How much does excess debt contribute to currency crises? the case of Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 87-104.
    23. Steven Radelet & Jeffrey Sachs, 1998. "The Onset of the East Asian Financial Crisis," NBER Working Papers 6680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen Van, Phuong, 2014. "Sources of exchange rate fluctuation in Vietnam: an application of the SVAR model," MPRA Paper 60565, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Kubo, Koji, 2013. "Sources of fluctuations in parallel exchange rates and policy reform in Myanmar," IDE Discussion Papers 388, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kevin X.D. Huang & Thaneepanichskul Suchada, 2003. "Sources of Exchange Rate Fluctuations: The Cases of Mexico and Thailand in the Aftermaths of their Recent Currency Crises," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 4(2), pages 375-400, November.
    2. Seiha Ok & Makoto Kakinaka & Hiroaki Miyamoto, 2010. "Real Shock Or Nominal Shock? Exchange Rate Movements In Cambodia And Lao Pdr," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 55(04), pages 685-703.
    3. Chowdhry, Bhagwan & Goyal, Amit, 2000. "Understanding the financial crisis in Asia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 135-152, May.
    4. Frankel, Jeffrey, 2010. "Monetary Policy in Emerging Markets," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 25, pages 1439-1520, Elsevier.
    5. Narayan, Paresh Kumar, 2008. "Estimating exchange rate responsiveness to shocks," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 338-351, December.
    6. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Shang-Jin Wei, 2004. "Managing Macroeconomic Crises," NBER Working Papers 10907, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Kubo, Koji, 2013. "Sources of fluctuations in parallel exchange rates and policy reform in Myanmar," IDE Discussion Papers 388, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    8. Ito, Hiro, 2004. "Is Financial Openness a Bad Thing? An Analysis on the Correlation Between Financial Liberalization and the Output Performance of Crisis-Hit Economies," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt5zb2v4c5, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    9. Bordo, Michael D. & Schwartz, Anna J., 2000. "Measuring real economic effects of bailouts: historical perspectives on how countries in financial distress have fared with and without bailouts," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 81-167, December.
    10. Komulainen, Tuomas, 2004. "Essays on financial crises in emerging markets," Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, number 2004_029.
    11. Sfia, Mohamed Daly, 2006. "Tunisia: Sources Of Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations," MPRA Paper 3129, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2008. "Estimating exchange rate responsiveness to shocks," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 338-351, December.
    13. Leonardo Hernández & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, 2002. "Banking, Financial Integration, and International Crises: An Overview," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Leonardo Hernández & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Se (ed.),Banking, Financial Integration, and International Crises, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 1, pages 001-030, Central Bank of Chile.
    14. repec:zbw:bofism:2004_029 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Komulainen, Tuomas & Lukkarila, Johanna, 2003. "What drives financial crises in emerging markets?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 248-272, September.
    16. Delphine Lahet, 2001. "L'occurrence d'une crise financière dans un modèle de troisième génération," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 16(2), pages 179-206.
    17. Komulainen, Tuomas, 2004. "Essays on financial crises in emerging markets," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number sm2004_029.
    18. Haluk Erlat & Guzin Erlat, 1998. "Permanent and transitory shocks on real and nominal exchange rates in Turkey during the post-1980 period," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(4), pages 379-396, December.
    19. Reuven Glick & Michael Hutchison, "undated". "Stopping "Hot Money" or Signaling Bad Policy? Capital Controls and the Onset of Currency Crises," EPRU Working Paper Series 00-14, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    20. Rakesh Padhan & K. P. Prabheesh, 2019. "Effectiveness Of Early Warning Models: A Critical Review And New Agenda For Future Direction," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 22(4), pages 457-484, December.
    21. Chinn, Menzie David & Dooley, Michael P., 1999. "International monetary arrangements in the Asia-Pacific before and after," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 361-384.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:21:y:2007:i:2:p:195-206. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.