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Hong Kong's Currency Board and Changing Monetary Regimes

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  • Yum K. Kwan
  • Francis T. Lui

Abstract

The paper discusses the historical background and institutional details of Hong Kong's currency board. We argue that its experience provides a good opportunity to test the macroeconomic implications of the currency board regime. Using the method of Blanchard and Quah (1989), we show that the parameters of the structural equations and the characteristics of supply and demand shocks have significantly changed since adopting the regime. Variance decomposition and impulse response analyses indicate Hong Kong's currency board is less susceptible to supply shocks, but demand shocks can cause greater short-term volatility under the system. The decent performance of Hong Kong's currency board is due mainly to the stable fiscal policy of its government. Counter-factual exercises also show that three-fourths of the reduction in observed output volatility and two-thirds of that in observed inflation volatility are explained by the adoption of the currency board, while the remainder is explained by changes in the external environment. The improvement in stability does not rule out the possibility of monetary collapse, however.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5723.

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Date of creation: Aug 1996
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Publication status: published as Yum K. Kwan, Francis Lui. "15. Hong Kong's Currency Board and Changing Monetary Regimes ," in Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger, editors, "Changes in Exchange Rates in Rapidly Developing Countries: Theory, Practice, and Policy Issues (NBER-EASE volume 7)" University of Chicago Press (1999)
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5723

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References

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  1. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Danny Quah, 1990. "The Dynamic Effects of Aggregate Demand and Supply Disturbances," NBER Working Papers 2737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Christopher A. Sims, 1986. "Are forecasting models usable for policy analysis?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Win, pages 2-16.
  3. John Williamson, 1995. "What Role of Currency Boards?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number pa40, 1st quart.
  4. Barry Eichengreen., 1993. "International Monetary Arrangements for the 21st Century," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C93-021, University of California at Berkeley.
  5. Tamim Bayoumi and Barry Eichengreen., 1992. "Shocking Aspects of European Monetary Unification," Economics Working Papers 92-187, University of California at Berkeley.
  6. Ben S. Bernanke, 1986. "Alternative Explanations of the Money-Income Correlation," NBER Working Papers 1842, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Cited by:
  1. Richard W. Kopcke, 1999. "Currency boards: once and future monetary regimes?," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue May, pages 21-37.
  2. Malgorzata Jakubiak, 1999. "Design and Operation of Existing Currency Board Arrangements," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0203, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
  3. Sophie Chauvin, 2001. "Exit Options for Argentina with a Special Focus on Their Impact on External Trade," Working Papers 2001-07, CEPII research center.
  4. Sarkis Joseph Khoury & Clas Wihlborg, 2006. "Outsourcing Central Banking: Lessons from Estonia," Journal of Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 125-144.
  5. Yuen Chi-Wa, 2002. "Openness And The Output-Inflation Tradeoff: Floating Vs. Fixed Exchange Rates," International Economic Journal, Korean International Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1-26.
  6. Urmas Sepp & Raoul Lättemäe & Martti Randveer, 2002. "The History and Sustainability of the CBA in Estonia," Macroeconomics 0212002, EconWPA.
  7. Iikka Korhonen, 2000. "Currency Boards in the Baltic Countries: What Have We Learned?," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 25-46.
  8. Schmukler, Sergio L. & Serven, Luis, 2002. "Pricing currency risk under currency boards," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 367-391, December.
  9. Y. K. Tse & S. L. Yip, 2005. "Exchange-Rate Systems and Interest-Rate Behaviour: The Experience of Hong Kong and Singapore," Economic Growth centre Working Paper Series 0503, Nanyang Technolgical University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Economic Growth centre.
  10. Sergio L. Schmukler & Luis Serven, 2002. "Pricing Currency Risk: Facts and Puzzles from Currency Boards," NBER Working Papers 9047, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Bronka Rzepkowski, 2000. "The Expectations of Hong Kong Dollar Devaluation and Their Determinants," Working Papers 2000-04, CEPII research center.

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