A major focus of the recent literature on the determination of optimal portfolios in open-economy macroeconomic models has been on the role of currency movements in determining portfolio returns that may hedge various macroeconomic shocks. However, there is little empirical evidence on the foreign currency exposures that are embedded in international balance sheets. Using a new database, we provide stylized facts concerning the cross-country and time-series variation in aggregate foreign currency exposure and its various subcomponents. In panel estimation, we find that richer, more open economies take longer foreign-currency positions. In addition, we find that an increase in the propensity for a currency to depreciate during bad times is associated with a longer position in foreign currencies, providing a hedge against domestic output fluctuations. We view these new stylized facts as informative in their own right and also potentially useful to the burgeoning theoretical literature on the macroeconomics of international portfolios.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14909.
Length: Date of creation: Apr 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14909
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Philip R Lane & Jay C Shambaugh, 2007.
"Financial exchange rates and international currency exposures,"
CGFS Papers chapters,
in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Research on global financial stability: the use of BIS international financial statistics, volume 29, pages 90-127
Bank for International Settlements.
[Downloadable!]
Kathryn M.E. Dominguez & Linda L. Tesar, 2001.
"Exchange Rate Exposure,"
NBER Working Papers
8453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Philip R Lane & Jay C Shambaugh, 2007.
"Financial exchange rates and international currency exposures,"
CGFS Papers chapters,
in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Research on global financial stability: the use of BIS international financial statistics, volume 29, pages 90-127
Bank for International Settlements.
[Downloadable!]
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