IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ime/imemes/v25y2007is1p13-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Monetary Policy in East Asia: The Case of Singapore

Author

Listed:
  • Bennett T. McCallum

    (Carnegie Mellon University (E-mail: bmccallum@cmu.edu))

Abstract

The Monetary Authority of Singapore conducts policy by adjusting the Singapore dollar's effective exchange rate so as to achieve macroeconomic goals for the economy's inflation rate and output gap. Estimates of a policy rule of the Taylor type, except with exchange rate appreciation serving as the instrument/indicator variable, substantiate this interpretation. That this rule reflects policy that is much like inflation targeting is evidenced by the absence of any significant role for the real exchange rate as a distinct target variable in addition to inflation and the output gap. Simulations with a dynamic model of a small open economy illustrate that this type of rule can be relatively more advantageous in economies that (like Singapore) are extremely open to international trade. The analysis illustrates that monetary policy and exchange rate policy are two sides of the same coin, which suggests that assignment of exchange rate management to a nation's fiscal authority is an anachronism.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett T. McCallum, 2007. "Monetary Policy in East Asia: The Case of Singapore," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 25(S1), pages 13-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ime:imemes:v:25:y:2007:i:s1:p:13-28
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.imes.boj.or.jp/research/papers/english/me25-s1-3.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Takatoshi Ito & Andrew K. Rose, 2006. "Introduction to EASE-15: Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim, pages 1-5, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Michael B. Devereux, 2003. "A Tale of Two Currencies: the Asian Crisis and the Exchange Rate Regimes of Hong Kong and Singapore," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 38-54, February.
    3. John Williamson, 1998. "Crawling Bands or Monitoring Bands: How to Manage Exchange Rates in a World of Capital Mobility," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 59-79, October.
    4. Takatoshi Ito & Andrew K. Rose, 2006. "Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ito_06-1, March.
    5. Svensson, Lars-E-O, 2001. "The Zero Bound in an Open Economy: A Foolproof Way of Escaping from a Liquidity Trap," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 19(S1), pages 277-312, February.
    6. Bennett T. McCallum, 2000. "Theoretical analysis regarding a zero lower bound on nominal interest rates," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, pages 870-935.
    7. Stefan Gerlach & Petra Gerlach-Kristen, 2006. "Monetary policy regimes and macroeconomic outcomes: Hong Kong and Singapore," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Monetary policy in Asia: approaches and implementation, volume 31, pages 40-64, Bank for International Settlements.
    8. Bennett T. McCallum, 2006. "A Monetary Policy Rule for Automatic Prevention of a Liquidity Trap," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim, pages 9-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Milton Friedman, 2001. "Friedman on Friedman," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 127-132.
    10. Ito, Takatoshi & Rose, Andrew K. (ed.), 2006. "Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226378978, December.
    11. Robert N McCauley, 2002. "Setting Monetary Policy in East Asia: Goals, Developments and Institutions," Occasional Papers, South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre, number occ33.
    12. Ramkishen S. Rajan & Reza Siregar, 2002. "Choice of Exchange Rate Regime: Currency Board (Hong Kong) or Monitoring Band (Singapore)?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 538-556, December.
    13. Taylor, John B., 1993. "Discretion versus policy rules in practice," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 195-214, December.
    14. Mr. Eric Parrado, 2004. "Singapore's Unique Monetary Policy: How Does it Work?," IMF Working Papers 2004/010, International Monetary Fund.
    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. William A. Barnett & Van H. Nguyen, 2021. "Constructing Divisia Monetary Aggregates for Singapore," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, August.
    2. International Monetary Fund, 2015. "Singapore: Staff Report for 2015 Article IV Consultation," IMF Staff Country Reports 2015/199, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Naoyuki Yoshino & Sahoko Kaji & Tamon Asonuma, 2012. "Choices Of Optimal Monetary Policy Instruments Under The Floating And The Basket-Peg Regimes," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 57(04), pages 1-31.
    4. Shinji Takagi & Vitalie Ciubotaru, 2013. "Putting the Pieces Together: The Moldovan Exchange Rate Policy Puzzle," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 5(1).
    5. Yang, Sheng-Ping, 2017. "Exchange rate dynamics and stock prices in small open economies: Evidence from Asia-Pacific countries," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB), pages 337-354.
    6. Kazumasa Iwata, 2007. "Housing and monetary policy in Japan," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 445-461.
    7. Ana Santacreu & Ilian Mihov, 2013. "Exchange rates as an instrument of monetary policy," 2013 Meeting Papers 773, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Bennett T. McCallum, 2014. "Monetary Policy in a Very Open Economy: Some Major Analytical Issues," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 27-60, February.
    9. Yoshino, Naoyuki & Kaji, Sahoko & Asonuma, Tamon, 2014. "Dynamic Analysis of Exchange Rate Regimes: Policy Implications for Emerging Countries in Asia," ADBI Working Papers 502, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    10. Teo, Wing Leong, 2009. "Can exchange rate rules be better than interest rate rules?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 301-311, August.
    11. Heipertz, Jonas & Mihov, Ilian & Santacreu, Ana Maria, 2022. "Managing macroeconomic fluctuations with flexible exchange rate targeting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    12. Ouyang, Alice Y. & Rajan, Ramkishen S., 2019. "The impact of financial development on the effectiveness of inflation targeting in developing economies," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 25-35.
    13. Buffie, Edward F. & Airaudo, M. & Zanna, Felipe, 2018. "Inflation targeting and exchange rate management in less developed countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 159-184.

    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. Akhand Akhtar Hossain, 2015. "The Evolution of Central Banking and Monetary Policy in the Asia-Pacific," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14611.
    2. Bennett T. McCallum, 2014. "Monetary Policy in a Very Open Economy: Some Major Analytical Issues," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 27-60, February.
    3. Stefan Gerlach & Petra Gerlach-Kristen, 2006. "Monetary policy regimes and macroeconomic outcomes: Hong Kong and Singapore," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Monetary policy in Asia: approaches and implementation, volume 31, pages 40-64, Bank for International Settlements.
    4. Daniel Leigh, 2010. "Monetary Policy and the Lost Decade: Lessons from Japan," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(5), pages 833-857, August.
    5. Takatoshi Ito, 2013. "Great Inflation and Central Bank Independence in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: The Great Inflation: The Rebirth of Modern Central Banking, pages 357-387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2018. "The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence From Japan's Deflation Experience," CARF F-Series CARF-F-442, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    7. Gerlach-Kristen, Petra, 2006. "Internal and external shocks in Hong Kong: Empirical evidence and policy options," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 56-75, January.
    8. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2019. "The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence From Japan's Deflation Experience," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 19-E-13, Bank of Japan.
    9. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2018. "The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence From Japan's Deflation Experience," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 001, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    10. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2016. "The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence From Japan's Deflation Experience," CARF F-Series CARF-F-388, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    11. W. R. Garside, 2012. "Japan’s Great Stagnation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14624.
    12. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2016. "The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations:Evidence From Japan's Deflation Experience," UTokyo Price Project Working Paper Series 067, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    13. Coenen, Gunter & Wieland, Volker, 2003. "The zero-interest-rate bound and the role of the exchange rate for monetary policy in Japan," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 1071-1101, July.
    14. Günter Coenen & Volker W. Wieland, 2004. "Exchange-Rate Policy and the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 80-84, May.
    15. Batini, Nicoletta & Yates, Anthony, 2003. "Hybrid Inflation and Price-Level Targeting," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(3), pages 283-300, June.
    16. Kato, Ryo & Nishiyama, Shin-Ichi, 2005. "Optimal monetary policy when interest rates are bounded at zero," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(1-2), pages 97-133, January.
    17. Richard Dennis, 2016. "Durations at the Zero Lower Bound," IMES Discussion Paper Series 16-E-11, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    18. Stefan Angrick, 2015. "Global Liquidity and Monetary Policy Autonomy," IMK Working Paper 159-2015, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    19. Seidman, Laurence & Lewis, Kenneth, 2015. "Stimulus without debt in a severe recession," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 945-960.
    20. John W. Keating & Logan J. Kelly & A. Lee Smith & Victor J. Valcarcel, 2019. "A Model of Monetary Policy Shocks for Financial Crises and Normal Conditions," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(1), pages 227-259, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exchange rate; Inflation targeting; Instrument variable; Target variable; Open economy; Monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

    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:ime:imemes:v:25:y:2007:i:s1:p:13-28. 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: Kinken (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imegvjp.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.