IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2014-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Friedman Redux: External Adjustment and Exchange Rate Flexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Atish R. Ghosh
  • Mahvash S Qureshi
  • Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides

Abstract

Milton Friedman argued that flexible exchange rates would facilitate external adjustment. Recent studies find surprisingly little robust evidence that they do. We argue that this is because they use composite (or aggregate) exchange rate regime classifications, which often mask very heterogeneous bilateral relationships between countries. Constructing a novel dataset of bilateral exchange rate regimes that differentiates by the degree of exchange rate flexibility, as well as by direct and indirect exchange rate relationships, for 181 countries over 1980–2011, we find a significant and empirically robust relationship between exchange rate flexibility and the speed of external adjustment. Our results are supported by several “natural experiments” of exogenous changes in bilateral exchange rate regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Atish R. Ghosh & Mahvash S Qureshi & Mr. Charalambos G Tsangarides, 2014. "Friedman Redux: External Adjustment and Exchange Rate Flexibility," IMF Working Papers 2014/146, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2014/146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=41836
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yongsung Chang & Sun-Bin Kim & Jaewoo Lee, 2013. "Accounting for Global Dispersion of Current Accounts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(3), pages 477-496, July.
    2. Dong, Wei, 2012. "The role of expenditure switching in the global imbalance adjustment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 237-251.
    3. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2004. "The Modern History of Exchange Rate Arrangements: A Reinterpretation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 1-48.
    4. Eduardo Levy-Yeyati & Federico Sturzenegger, 2003. "To Float or to Fix: Evidence on the Impact of Exchange Rate Regimes on Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1173-1193, September.
    5. Mr. Peter B. Clark & Shang-Jin Wei & Ms. Natalia T. Tamirisa & Mr. Azim M Sadikov & Mr. Li Zeng, 2004. "A New Look at Exchange Rate Volatility and Trade Flows," IMF Occasional Papers 2004/009, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Erica Clower & Hiro Ito, 2012. "The Persistence of Current Account Balances and its Determinants : The Implications for Global Rebalancing," Macroeconomics Working Papers 23381, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    7. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 2008. "The Estimated Effects of the Euro on Trade: Why Are They Below Historical Effects of Monetary Unions Among Smaller Countries?," NBER Working Papers 14542, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Menzie D. Chinn & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "A Faith-Based Initiative Meets the Evidence: Does a Flexible Exchange Rate Regime Really Facilitate Current Account Adjustment?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 168-184, March.
    9. Ghosh, Atish R. & Qureshi, Mahvash S. & Tsangarides, Charalambos G., 2013. "Is the exchange rate regime really irrelevant for external adjustment?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 104-109.
    10. Sabine Herrmann, 2009. "Do We Really Know That Flexible Exchange Rates Facilitate Current Account Adjustment? Some New Empirical Evidence for CEE Countries," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 55(4), pages 295-312.
    11. Hamid Faruqee & Jaewoo Lee, 2009. "Global Dispersion of Current Accounts: Is the Universe Expanding?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 56(3), pages 574-595, August.
    12. Berger, Helge & Nitsch, Volker, 2014. "Wearing corset, losing shape: The euro's effect on trade imbalances," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 136-155.
    13. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    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. Eguren Martin, Fernando, 2016. "Exchange rate regimes and current account adjustment: An empirical investigation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 69-93.
    2. Alberto Fuertes, 2019. "External adjustment with a common currency: the case of the euro area," Working Papers 1936, Banco de España.
    3. Alberto Fuertes, 2022. "External adjustment with a common currency: the case of the euro area," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 2205-2238, May.
    4. Cécile Couharde & Carl Grekou, 2021. "Better Two Eyes than One: A Synthesis Classification of Exchange Rate Regimes," Working Papers 2021-07, CEPII research center.
    5. Alberto Fuertes, 2019. "Exchange rate regime and external adjustment: An empirical investigation for the US," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 1373-1399, May.
    6. Cécile Couharde & Carl Grekou, 2016. "Currency Misalignments in emerging and developing countries: reassessing the role of Exchange Rate Regimes," Post-Print hal-01549902, HAL.
    7. Aizenman, Joshua, 2019. "A modern reincarnation of Mundell-Fleming's trilemma," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 444-454.
    8. Paredes, Gonzalo J., 2017. "Ecuador: why exit dollarization?," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    9. Mr. Manuk Ghazanchyan & Ms. Janet Gale Stotsky & Qianqian Zhang, 2015. "A New Look at the Determinants of Growth in Asian Countries," IMF Working Papers 2015/195, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Yan Carrière‐Swallow & Nicolás E. Magud & Juan F. Yépez, 2021. "Exchange rate flexibility, the real exchange rate, and adjustment to terms‐of‐trade shocks," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 439-483, May.
    11. Yang, Haizhen & Zhang, Mengting & Xiang, Yue & Yang, Yang, 2023. "The balance of payments stages hypothesis: Improvements and new discoveries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 635-656.
    12. Carl Grekou, 2016. "Does the exchange rate regime shape currency misalignments in emerging and developing countries?," Working Papers hal-04141583, HAL.
    13. Carl Grekou, 2016. "Does the exchange rate regime shape currency misalignments in emerging and developing countries?," EconomiX Working Papers 2016-26, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    14. Dausà, Neus & Stracca, Livio, 2023. "The asymmetric adjustment of global imbalances: myth or fact?," Working Paper Series 2777, European Central Bank.
    15. Albagli, Elias & Calani, Mauricio & Hadzi-Vaskov, Metodij & Marcel, Mario & Ricci, Luca Antonio, 2020. "Comfort in Floating: Taking Stock of Twenty Years of Freely-Floating Exchange Rate in Chile," CEPR Discussion Papers 14967, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Balvers, Ronald J. & McDonald, Bill, 2021. "Designing a global digital currency," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    17. Pablo Duarte & Gunther Schnabl, 2015. "Macroeconomic Policy Making, Exchange Rate Adjustment and Current Account Imbalances in Emerging Markets," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 531-544, August.

    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. Issiaka Coulibaly & Blaise Gnimassoun, 2013. "Current account sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does the exchange rate regime matter?," Working Papers hal-04141160, HAL.
    2. Eguren Martin, Fernando, 2016. "Exchange rate regimes and current account adjustment: An empirical investigation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 69-93.
    3. Olivier Habimana, 2017. "Do flexible exchange rates facilitate external adjustment? A dynamic approach with time-varying and asymmetric volatility," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 625-642, October.
    4. Gnimassoun, Blaise & Coulibaly, Issiaka, 2014. "Current account sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does the exchange rate regime matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 208-226.
    5. Ethan Ilzetzki & Carmen M Reinhart & Kenneth S Rogoff, 2019. "Exchange Arrangements Entering the Twenty-First Century: Which Anchor will Hold?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 599-646.
    6. Blaise Gnimassoun, 2014. "The importance of the exchange rate regime in limiting current account imbalances in sub-Saharan African countries," Working Papers hal-04141342, HAL.
    7. Harkmann, Kersti & Staehr, Karsten, 2021. "Current account drivers and exchange rate regimes in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    8. An, Jiyoun & Park, Bokyeong, 2016. "External adjustment and trading partners’ exchange rate regimes," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 47-54.
    9. Atish R Ghosh & Jonathan D Ostry & Mahvash S Qureshi, 2015. "Exchange Rate Management and Crisis Susceptibility: A Reassessment," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 63(1), pages 238-276, May.
    10. Gnimassoun, Blaise, 2015. "The importance of the exchange rate regime in limiting current account imbalances in sub-Saharan African countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 36-74.
    11. Kersti Harkmann & Karsten Staehr, 2019. "Current account dynamics and exchange rate regimes in Central and Eastern Europe," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2018-08, Bank of Estonia, revised 23 Jan 2019.
    12. Nadav Ben Zeev, 2017. "Exchange Rate Regimes And Sudden Stops," Working Papers 1712, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    13. Ben Zeev, Nadav, 2019. "Global credit supply shocks and exchange rate regimes," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-32.
    14. Carl Grekou, 2016. "Does the exchange rate regime shape currency misalignments in emerging and developing countries?," Working Papers hal-04141583, HAL.
    15. Adnan Velic, 2024. "Current Account Imbalances, Real Exchange Rates, and Nominal Exchange Rate Variability," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 497-545, July.
    16. Rui Mao & Yang Yao, 2016. "Fixed Exchange Rate Regimes, Real Undervaluation, and Economic Growth," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-35, June.
    17. Cécile Couharde & Carl Grekou, 2016. "Currency Misalignments in emerging and developing countries: reassessing the role of Exchange Rate Regimes," Post-Print hal-01549902, HAL.
    18. José Antonio Ocampo, 2016. "Global macroeconomic cooperation and the exchange rate system," WIDER Working Paper Series 049, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Mao, Rui & Yao, Yang & Zou, Jingxian, 2019. "Productivity growth, fixed exchange rates, and export-led growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-1.
    20. William Miles, 2006. "To Float Or Not To Float? Currency Regimes And Growth," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 91-105, December.

    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:imf:imfwpa:2014/146. 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: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.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.