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Sources of exchange rate fluctuations: are they real or nominal?

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  • Luciana Juvenal

Abstract

I analyze the role of real and monetary shocks on the exchange rate behavior using a structural vector autoregressive model of the US vis--vis the rest of the world. The shocks are identified using sign restrictions on the responses of the variables to orthogonal disturbances. These restrictions are derived from the predictions of a two-country DSGE model. I find that monetary shocks are unimportant in explaining exchange rate fluctuations. By contrast, demand shocks explain between 23% and 38% of exchange rate variance at 4-quarter and 20-quarter horizons, respectively. The contribution of demand shocks plays an important role but not of the order of magnitude sometimes found in earlier studies. My results, however, support the recent focus of the literature on real shocks to match the empirical properties of real exchange rates.

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  • Luciana Juvenal, 2009. "Sources of exchange rate fluctuations: are they real or nominal?," Working Papers 2009-040, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2009-040
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    Cited by:

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    2. Volha Audzei & Frantisek Brazdik, 2015. "Exchange Rate Dynamics and its Effect on Macroeconomic Volatility in Selected CEE Countries," Working Papers 2015/07, Czech National Bank.
    3. Britta Gehrke & Fang Yao, 2016. "Persistence and volatility of real exchange rates: the role of supply shocks revisited," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2016/02, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    4. Engel, Charles, 2014. "Exchange Rates and Interest Parity," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 453-522, Elsevier.
    5. Rodrigo Caputo & Gustavo Leyva & Michael Pedersen, 2014. "The Changing Nature of Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations. New Evidence for Inflation-Targeting Countries," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 730, Central Bank of Chile.
    6. Dimitrios Malliaropulos & Ekaterini Panopoulou & Theologos Pantelidis & Nikitas Pittis, 2013. "Decomposing the persistence of real exchange rates," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 1217-1242, June.
    7. Nam, Deokwoo & Wang, Jian, 2015. "The effects of surprise and anticipated technology changes on international relative prices and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 162-177.
    8. Gehrke, Britta & Yao, Fang, 2014. "Phillips curve shocks and real exchange rate fluctuations: SVAR evidence," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 11/2014, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    9. Binet, Marie-Estelle & Pentecôte, Jean-Sébastien, 2015. "Macroeconomic idiosyncrasies and European monetary unification: A sceptical long run view," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 412-423.
    10. da Silva Marcelo Eduardo Alves & Baerlocher Diogo & de Paiva Fonseca Henrique Veras, 2015. "Fiscal shocks, the real exchange rate and the trade balance: some evidence for emerging economies," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 727-768, July.
    11. Baumeister, Christiane & Hamilton, James D., 2020. "Drawing conclusions from structural vector autoregressions identified on the basis of sign restrictions," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    12. Trust R. Mpofu, 2021. "The determinants of real exchange rate volatility in South Africa," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1380-1401, May.
    13. Wataru Miyamoto & Thuy Lan Nguyen & Hyunseung Oh, 2022. "In Search of Dominant Drivers of the Real Exchange Rate," Working Paper Series 2022-09, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    14. Gehrke, Britta & Yao, Fang, 2013. "Sources of Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations: The Role of Supply Shocks Revisited," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79821, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Yang‐Chao Wang & Jui‐Jung Tsai & Shushu Li & Yiying Huang, 2023. "The impacts of RMB internationalization on onshore and offshore RMB markets," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 502-523, September.
    16. Gehrke, Britta & Yao, Fang, 2017. "Are supply shocks important for real exchange rates? A fresh view from the frequency-domain," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 99-114.
    17. Marek A. Dąbrowski & Łukasz Kwiatkowski & Justyna Wróblewska, 2020. "Sources of Real Exchange Rate Variability in Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Structural Bayesian MSH-VAR Models," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 12(4), pages 369-412, December.
    18. Audzei, Volha & Brázdik, František, 2018. "Exchange rate dynamics and their effect on macroeconomic volatility in selected CEE countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 584-596.
    19. Jian Wang, 2014. "Understanding Trade, Exchange Rates and International Capital Flows," Annual Report, Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, pages 10-15.
    20. Caputo, Rodrigo & Pedersen, Michael, 2020. "The changing nature of the real exchange rate: The role of central bank preferences," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 445-464.
    21. Baumeister, Christiane & Hamilton, James D., 2021. "Reprint: Drawing conclusions from structural vector autoregressions identified on the basis of sign restrictions," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    22. Cheolbeom Park & Seungyoo Shin, 2021. "Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Response: Evidence from Shock-based SVAR with Uncertainty Measures," Discussion Paper Series 2102, Institute of Economic Research, Korea University.

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