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Capital Controls or Exchange Rate Policy? A Pecuniary Externality Perspective

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In the aftermath of the global nancial crisis, a new policy paradigm has emerged in which old-fashioned policies such as capital controls and other government distortions have become part of the standard policy toolkit (the so-called macro-prudential policies). On the wave of this seemingly unanimous policy consensus, a new strand of theoretical literature contends that capital controls are welfare enhancing and can be justified rigorously because of second-best considerations. Within the same theoretical framework adopted in this fast-growing literature, we show that a credible commitment to support the exchange rate in crisis times always welfare- dominates prudential capital controls as it can achieve the first best unconstrained allocation. In this benchmark economy, prudential capital controls are optimal only when the set of policy tools is restricted so that they are the only policy instrument available.

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  • Christopher Otrok & Gianluca Benigno & Huigang Chen & Alessandro Rebucci & Eric R. Young, 2012. "Capital Controls or Exchange Rate Policy? A Pecuniary Externality Perspective," Working Papers 1209, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
  • Handle: RePEc:umc:wpaper:1209
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    Cited by:

    1. Gianluca Benigno & Huigang Chen & Christopher Otrok & Alessandro Rebucci & Eric R. Young, 2023. "Optimal Policy for Macrofinancial Stability," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 401-428, October.
    2. Andrés Fernández & Michael W Klein & Alessandro Rebucci & Martin Schindler & Martín Uribe, 2016. "Capital Control Measures: A New Dataset," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 548-574, August.
    3. Benigno, Gianluca & Chen, Huigang & Otrok, Christopher & Rebucci, Alessandro & Young, Eric R., 2013. "Financial crises and macro-prudential policies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 453-470.
    4. Timothy J. Kehoe & Kim J. Ruhl & Joe Steinberg, 2013. "What will happen when foreigners stop lending to the United States?," Economic Policy Paper 13-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    5. Choi, Jae Hoon, 2020. "Capital controls and foreign exchange market intervention," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Tack Yun, 2013. "Recent Issues in Emerging-economies Macroeconomics," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 285-302, June.
    7. Gianluca Benigno & Luca Fornaro, 2014. "The Financial Resource Curse," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(1), pages 58-86, January.
    8. Andrés Fernández & Alessandro Rebucci & Martín Uribe, 2013. "Are Capital Controls Prudential? An Empirical Investigation," NBER Working Papers 19671, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Juan M. Hernandez & Enrique G. Mendoza, 2017. "Optimal v. simple financial policy rules in a production economy with “liability dollarization”," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 35(82), pages 25-39, April.
    10. Choi, Woo Jin & Taylor, Alan M., 2022. "Precaution versus mercantilism: Reserve accumulation, capital controls, and the real exchange rate," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Javier Bianchi & Chenxin Liu & Enrique G. Mendoza, 2016. "Fundamentals News, Global Liquidity, and Macroprudential Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2015, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Stephanie Guichard, 2017. "10 Years after the Global Financial Crisis: What Have We Learnt About International Capital Flows?," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(03), pages 1-30, October.
    13. Anton Korinek, 2017. "Currency wars or efficient spillovers?," BIS Working Papers 615, Bank for International Settlements.
    14. Tack Yun, 2012. "Recent Issues in Emerging-Economies Macroeconomics," CAEPR Working Papers 2013-001, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    15. Anton Korinek, 2016. "Currency Wars or Efficient Spillovers? A General Theory of International Policy Cooperation," NBER Working Papers 23004, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Seoane, Hernán D. & Yurdagul, Emircan, 2019. "Trend shocks and sudden stops," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    17. Mitsuru Katagiri & Ryo Kato & Takayuki Tsuruga, 2013. "Prudential Capital Controls: The Impact of Different Collateral Constraint Assumptions," Discussion papers e-12-014, Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University.
    18. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Brendon, Charles, 2016. "COEURE Survey: Fiscal and Monetary Policies after the Crises," CEPR Discussion Papers 11088, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Arana, Rumile & Ramirez, Francisco A. & Wright, Allan, 2017. "Credit Risks and Monetary Policy within Caribbean Economies," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8268, Inter-American Development Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital Controls; Exchange Rate Policy; Financial Frictions; Financial Crises; Financial Stability; Optimal Taxation; Prudential Policies; Planning Problem.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • F37 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Finance Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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