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Blowing against the Wind? A Narrative Approach to Central Bank Foreign Exchange Intervention

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  • Alain Naef

    (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract

Few studies on foreign exchange intervention convincingly address the causal effect of intervention on exchange rates. By using a narrative approach, I address a major issue in the literature: the endogeneity of intraday news which influence the exchange rate alongside central bank operations. Some studies find that interventions work in up to 80% of cases. Yet, by accounting for intraday market moving news, I find that in adverse conditions, the Bank of England managed to influence the exchange rate only in 8% of cases. I use both machine learning and human assessment to confirm the validity of the narrative approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Naef, 2020. "Blowing against the Wind? A Narrative Approach to Central Bank Foreign Exchange Intervention," Working Papers 0188, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0188
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Eichengreen, Barry & Naef, Alain, 2022. "Imported or home grown? The 1992–3 EMS crisis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Alain Naef & Jacob P. Weber, 2021. "Regional How Powerful is Unannounced, Sterilized Foreign Exchange Intervention?," Working papers 834, Banque de France.
    3. Alain Naef, 2021. "Dirty float or clean intervention? The Bank of England in the foreign exchange market," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(1), pages 180-201.
    4. Alain Naef & Jacob P. Weber, 2023. "How Powerful Is Unannounced, Sterilized Foreign Exchange Intervention?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(5), pages 1307-1319, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    intervention; foreign exchange; natural language processing; central bank; Bank of England.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N24 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: 1913-

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