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Twin Fallacies About Exchange Rate Policy in Emerging Markets

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  • Carmen M. Reinhart
  • Vincent R. Reinhart

Abstract

Two assertions about exchange rate regimes circulate with some frequency in policy circles. The first, the hypothesis of the excluded middle, holds that authorities must either choose perfectly floating exchange rates (preferably anchored by an inflation target for the central bank) or a hard (preferably irrevocable) peg. The second, seemingly unrelated, argues that the inability of emerging market economies to exercise monetary independence owes to the severe mistrust that they are perceived with by global investors because of the economic failures of prior governments. This paper argues that the theories of the excluded middle and original sin are twin and related fallacies that are contrary to theory and evidence. This paper will provide a model in which the government can choose policies consistent with either a pure float anchored by a constant money stock or a pure peg but, under certain circumstances, fail to find exchange rate stability at either corner. The problem is that the potential for regime change implies that the current government's successors may behave less admirably, which will weigh on investors' current behavior. The difficulties imparted by this expectation channel in an otherwise standard model of optimizing agents endowed with rational expectations shows both why looking back to explain credibility problems is looking the wrong way and why the excluded middle is, in fact, so crowded.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 9670.

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Date of creation: May 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9670

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  1. Stanley Fischer, 2001. "Exchange Rate Regimes: Is the Bipolar View Correct?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 3-24, Spring.
  2. Obstfeld, Maurice & Rogoff, Kenneth, 1995. "Exchange Rate Dynamics Redux," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 624-60, June.
  3. Mussa, Michael, 1982. "A Model of Exchange Rate Dynamics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(1), pages 74-104, February.
  4. Jeffrey Frankel & Sergio Schmukler & Luis Serven, 2000. "Verifiability and the Vanishing Intermediate Exchange Rate Regime," NBER Working Papers 7901, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Lawrence H. Summers, 2000. "International Financial Crises: Causes, Prevention, and Cures," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 1-16, May.
  6. Carmen M. Reinhart, 2000. "Mirage of Floating Exchange Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 65-70, May.
  7. Barry Eichengreen & Ricardo Hausmann, 1999. "Exchange Rates and Financial Fragility," NBER Working Papers 7418, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  8. Krugman, Paul, 1979. "A Model of Balance-of-Payments Crises," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(3), pages 311-25, August.
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Cited by:
  1. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Shang-Jin Wei, 2004. "Managing Macroeconomic Crises," NBER Working Papers 10907, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Carsten Detken & Vitor Gaspar, 2003. "Maintaining price stability under free-floating: a fearless way out of the corner?," Working Paper Series 241, European Central Bank.
  3. Moritz Schularick, 2005. "A Tale Of Two “Globalizations”: Capital Flows From Rich To Poor In Two Eras Of Global Finance," Economic History 0509001, EconWPA.
  4. Tony Cavoli & Ramkishen S. Rajan, 2005. "Have Exchange Rate Regimes in Asia become More Flexible Post crisis? Re-VISITING the EVIDENCE," Finance Working Papers 22563, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
  5. Reinhart, Carmen & Reinhart, Vincent, 2003. "Twin fallacies about exchange rate policy: A note," MPRA Paper 13763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Vilela Vieira, Flávio & Brito, Marcio Holland de, 2010. "Exchange rate dynamics in Brazil," Textos para discussão 210, Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
  7. Ledesma Rodríguez, Francisco J. & Ibáñez, Manuel Navarro & Pérez Rodríguez, Jorge V. & Rivero, Simón Sosvilla, 2005. "Regímenes cambiarios de iure y de facto. El caso de la peseta/dólar, 1965–1998," Revista de Historia Económica, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(03), pages 541-561, December.
  8. Francisco Ledesma-Rodriguez & Manuel Navarro-Ibanez & Jorge Perez-Rodriguez & Simon Sosvilla-Rivero, 2011. "Implicit bands in the yen/dollar exchange rate," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 43(10), pages 1241-1255.
  9. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff & Miguel A. Savastano, 2003. "Debt Intolerance," NBER Working Papers 9908, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Reinhart, Carmen & Rogoff, Kenneth & Savastano, Miguel, 2003. "Debt intolerance," MPRA Paper 13932, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  10. Francisco Ledesma-Rodríguez & Manuel Navarro-Ibáñez & Jorge Pérez-Rodríguez & Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, . "Regímenes cambiarios de facto y de iure. Una aplicación al tipo de cambio yen/dólar," Working Papers 2004-10, FEDEA.

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