Volatility reversal from interest rates to the real exchange rate : financial liberalization in Chile, 1975-82

The authors analyze the dynamic adjustment of the real exchange rate, the domestic interest rate, and foreign borrowing under conditions of perfect and imperfect capital mobility during financial liberalization. Making use of a two-sector model with current and capital accounts interacting, they show that the domestic interest rate is more volatile under imperfect mobility and the real exchange rate more volatile under perfect mobility. So liberalizing the capital accounts does not eliminate variations in the domestic interest rate but shifts them to the real exchange rate. Studying data for Chile during the period of financial liberalization from 1975 to 1982, they found that the domestic interest rate became less volatile and less responsive to domestic variables - and more dependent on the covered international interest rate, while the real exchange rate became more responsive to domestic wealth. Foreign reserve holdings and net exports followed a similar pattern: the covered international rate had stronger effects on reserve changes while real wealth became more important for determining net exports.