Publications by Date

Working Paper
Frankel J, Hou Y, Xie D. Estimation of Nonlinear Exchange Rate Dynamics in Evolving Regimes, in ; Working Paper.Abstract

This paper develops a new econometric framework to classify and estimate exchange rate regimes. They are classified into four distinct categories: fixed exchange rates, BBC (band, basket and crawl), managed floating, and freely floating. The procedure captures the patterns of exchange rate dynamics and the interventions by authorities under each of the regimes. We pay particular attention to the BBC and offer a new approach to parameter estimation by utilizing a three-regime Threshold Auto Regressive (TAR) model to reveal the nonlinear nature of exchange rate dynamics. We further extend our benchmark framework to allow the evolution of exchange rate regimes over time by adopting the minimum description length (MDL) principle, to overcome the challenge of simultaneous two-dimensional inference of nonlinearity in the state dimension and structural breaks in the time dimension. We apply our framework to 26 countries. The results suggest that exchange rate dynamics under different regimes are well captured by our new framework.

EstRegimeTAR-FHaoXie2022dec.pdf
Frankel J, Kotti R. The Virus, Vaccination, and Voting: An Econometric Analysis. Working Paper. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Across US counties, vaccination rates have a statistically significant downward effect on the Covid-19 death rate, as of August 7. Controlling for poverty rates, age, and temperature lowers the magnitude of the estimate a little. Using the Biden-Trump vote in the 2020 election as an instrument for vaccination rates raises the magnitude of the estimate a bit. Presumably it corrects for a positive effect of observed covid deaths on the decision to get vaccinated. Overall, the beneficial effect holds up. 

vvv_july25.pdf vvv_aug12updated.pdf
Frankel J, Ma X, Xie D. The Impact of Exchange Rate Regimes on Economic Growth with Continuous Classification of de facto Regimes. Working Paper.Abstract
We construct a new database characterizingthe de facto Exchange Rate Regime (ERR) for 145 countries during the full post-Bretton Woods period. With this new database, we firstly investigate the global changes of de facto ERRs over time, and then study the relationship between ERR and economic growth. Our findings contradict both “corner hypothesis” and “fear of floating”. It is shown that intermediate ERR are positively related to economic growth at the greatest significance level. We also find this relationship varies among countries at different income levels, and the choice of ERRappearsto be more important for low-income countries rather than high-income ones.
fmaxie_errgr_2019apr26.pdf
Chinn M, Frankel J. A Third of a Century of Currency Expectations Data:The Carry Trade and the Risk Premium. Working Paper.Abstract

For four decades economists have been finding that the forward discount is a very biased forecast of future changes in the exchange rate. The carry trade makes money, on average. For just as long, they have been debating the appropriate interpretation of the bias. Is it evidence of an exchange risk premium? Under that interpretation, a currency that sells at a forward discount does so not because it is expected to depreciate in the future but because it is perceived as risky. Using data on survey-based expectations over 32 years across 17 currencies, we reject that interpretation of the forward bias. We find that when investors sell a currency at a forward discount, it is indeed because they expect it to depreciate. But we also find concrete evidence of a risk premium, in that expected return differentials are correlated with the VIX measure of risk -- even though the risk premium can’t explain forward bias.

cf_quartercentexpectns_2019jan2.pdf
Frankel J, Saiki A. Does it Matter if Statistical Agencies Frame the CPI Report on a 1-Month or 12-Month Basis?. Working Paper. Publisher's VersionAbstract

When the US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases new numbers, in theory it should make no difference whether the press release emphasizes the most recent 1-month number, which is what it does, or the 12-month number, as many other countries’ statistical agencies do. This paper offers the hypothesis that it does matter: Markets react to CPI inflation news via whichever framing the agency chooses.

framing_nberwp23754.pdf rwp16-011_framing_frankelsaiki.pdf
Frankel J, Schreger J. Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts Help?. NBER Working Papers. Working Paper;(22309). Publisher's VersionAbstract

Government forecasts of GDP growth and budget balances are generally more over-optimistic than private sector forecasts. When official forecasts are especially optimistic relative to private forecasts ex ante, they are more likely also to be over-optimistic relative to realizations ex post. For example, euro area governments during the period 1999-2007 assiduously and inaccurately avoided forecasting deficit levels that would exceed the 3% Stability and Growth Pact threshold; meanwhile private sector forecasters were not subject to this crude bias. As a result, the budget-making process could probably be improved by using private-sector forecasts. 

Forthcoming
Chinn M, Frankel J, Ito H. "The Dollar versus the Euro as International Reserve Currencies". Forthcoming. Publisher's VersionAbstract

We begin by examining determinants of aggregate foreign exchange reserve holdings by central banks (size of issuing countrys economy and financial markets, ability of the currency to hold value, and inertia).  But understanding the determination of reserve holdings probably requires going beyond the aggregate numbers, instead observing individual central bank behavior, including characteristics of the holding country (bilateral trade with the issuing country, bilateral currency peg, and proxies for bilateral exposure to sanctions), in addition to the characteristics of the reserve currency issuer. On a currency-by-currency basis, US dollar holdings are somewhat well explained by several issuer characteristics; but the other currencies are less successfully explained. It may be that the results from currency-by-currency estimation are impaired by insufficient sample size.  This consideration offers a motivation for pooling the data across the major currencies and imposing the constraints that reserve holdings are determined in the same way for each currency. In this setting, most economic determinants enter with significance: economic size as measured by GDP, size of financial markets as measured by foreign exchange turnover, bilateral currency peg, and bilateral trade share.  However, geopolitical variables (bilateral alliance, bilateral sanctions) usually do not enter with significance.

ChinnF&Ito_2024feb14.docx
2024
Frankel J. Dollar Rivals. In: Fifty Years of Floating. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics ; 2024.Abstract

Written for a PIIE conference on the 50th anniversary of floating exchange rates, this paper deals with possible alternatives to a unipolar dollar-based system.  It considers (1) measures of international currency use; (2) potential challengers to the dollar; (3) network externalities; and (4) the plausibility of gold and digital currencies, as alternatives to regular currencies.  On the one hand, network externalities operate in favor of the status quo: the dollar as the single leading international currency.  On the other hand, abuse of exorbitant privilege – which now includes not just debasing the currency but also excessive use of sanctions – operates in favor of challengers.  A good guess is that the dollar will continue to lose market share slowly to others, but will remain in the lead.

dollarrivals2023junessrn-id4474912.pdf piierivals2023novpub2024-.docx
2023
Frankel J. "Is the language of rights useful for reducing poverty?". In: Making a Movement: The History and Future of Human Rights. Cambridge, MA: Carr Center for Human Rights ; 2023. pp. 55-56. Publisher's VersionAbstract
An economst's view on international poverty and human rights, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the valuable Universal Declaration of Human Rights:  The language of "rights" is useful for many things, but not for fighting poverty.
humanrightspoverty2023.docx
2021
Frankel J. How to Set Greenhouse Gas Emission Targets for All Countries. In: di Mauro BW Combatting Climate Change. London: CEPR Press, Centre for Economic Policy Research ; 2021. pp. 43-48. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Is a credible multilateral climate change agreement feasible? This column says that such global cooperation is necessary and attempts to address the political hurdles. The proposed emissions reduction plan develops formulas to cap atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide at 500 ppm while obeying political constraints regarding cost, fairness, and timing.  (Subsequent research showed how to attain the target of 460 ppm.)
Frankel J. Errors of omission vs. commission in environmental policy. In: Levy D Maxims for Thinking Analytically: The wisdom of legendary Harvard Professor Richard Zeckhauser . ; 2021. zeckhausermaxims_errorsofomissn.pdf
Frankel J. Systematic Managed Floating. In: Yeung B, Davis S, Robinson E The Asian Monetary Policy Forum -- Insights for Central Banking. Singapore: World Scientific Publ. Co. Pte. Ltd, ; 2021. pp. 160-223. Publisher's VersionAbstract

A majority of countries neither freely float their currencies nor firmly peg.  But most of the remainder in practice also don’t obey such well-defined intermediate exchange rate regimes as target zones.  This paper proposes to define an intermediate regime, to be called “systematic managed floating,” as an arrangement where the central bank regularly responds to changes in total exchange market pressure by allowing some fraction to be reflected as a change in the exchange rate and the remaining fraction to be absorbed as a change in foreign exchange reserves.  An operational criterion for judging systematic managed floaters is a high correlation between exchange rate changes and reserve changes.  The paper rejects the view that exchange rate regimes make no difference.  In regressions to test effects on real exchange rates, we find that positive external shocks tend to cause real appreciation for most systematic managed-floaters; more strongly so for pure floaters; and not at all for most firm peggers.  Two measures of exogenous external shocks are used:  (i) for commodity-exporters, a country-specific index of global prices of the export commodities and (ii) for other Asian emerging market economies, the VIX. 

systematicmngdfloat_2019.docx
2019
Frankel J. Should the Fed Be Constrained?. Cato Journal. 2019;39 (2). Publisher's VersionAbstract

Two distinct questions concern the desirability of constraints on the monetary authorities. (1) To what extent should the central bank be constrained, versus being allowed full discretion? (2) To whatever extent it is to be constrained, should it be by a rule and if so what rule? With respect to the second question, a good argument for Nominal GDP targeting is that it is robust with respect to supply shocks, whereas CPI targets, for example, are vulnerable to them. But with respect to the first question, I am increasingly convinced that the constraint – whether a NGDP target or something else – must be very loose. Even the most sincere of central bankers will often fail to hit their targets, due to unforeseen shocks. I therefore propose only a mild innovation: the FOMC could include nominal GDP in its Summary of Economic Projections. A final thought concerns a different kind of constraint: if Fed independence from political influence is compromised, monetary policy will likely become more pro-cyclical.

cato_fedconstr_frankel2018dec30.pdf fedconstrained_catoj_frankel_proofs.pdf
Frankel J. Systematic Managed Floating. Open Economies Review. 2019;30 (2) :255-295. Publisher's VersionAbstract

A majority of countries neither freely float their currencies nor firmly peg. But most of the remainder in practice also don’t obey such well-defined intermediate exchange rate regimes as target zones. This paper proposes to define an intermediate regime, to be called “systematic managed floating,” as an arrangement where the central bank regularly responds to changes in total exchange market pressure by allowing some fraction to be reflected as a change in the exchange rate and the remaining fraction to be absorbed as a change in foreign exchange reserves. An operational criterion for judging systematic managed floaters is a high correlation between exchange rate changes and reserve changes. The paper rejects the view that exchange rate regimes make no difference. In regressions to test effects on real exchange rates, we find that positive external shocks tend to cause real appreciation for most systematic managed-floaters; more strongly so for pure floaters; and not at all for most firm peggers. Two measures of exogenous external shocks are used: (i) for commodity-exporters, a country-specific index of global prices of the export commodities and (ii) for other Asian emerging market economies, the VIX.

SystematicMngdFloat2019.pdf
Frankel J. The Currency-Plus-Commodity Basket: A Proposal for Exchange Rates in Oil-Exporting Countries to Accommodate Trade Shocks Automatically​. In: Selim H, Mohaddes K, Nugent J Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies in Resource-Rich Arab Economies . Oxford: Oxford University Press ; 2019. pp. 149-182.Abstract

 

The paper proposes an exchange rate regime for oil-exporting countries.  The goal is to achieve the best of both flexible and fixed exchange rates.  The arrangement is designed to deliver monetary policy that counteracts rather than exacerbates the effects of swings in the oil market, while yet offering the day-to-day transparency and predictability of a currency peg.  The proposal is to peg the national currency to a basket, but a basket that includes not only the currencies of major trading partners (in particular, the dollar and the euro), but also the export commodity (oil).  The plan is called Currency-plus-Commodity Basket (CCB).  The paper begins by fleshing out the need for an innovative arrangement that allows accommodation to trade shocks.  The analysis provides evidence from six Gulf countries that periods when their currencies were “undervalued”, in the sense that the actual foreign exchange value lay below what it would have been under the CCB proposal, were periods of overheating as reflected in high inflation and of external imbalance as reflected in high balance of payments surpluses.  Conversely, periods when the currencies were “overvalued,” in the sense that their foreign exchange value lay above what it would have been under CCB, featured unusually low inflation and low balance of payments.  The implication is that the economy would have been more stable under CCB.  The last section of the paper offers a practical blueprint for detailed implementation of the proposal.

 

ERF.org.eg_CCB2017-06-PolicyBrief.pdf CCB_ERF2017_OUP.docx ccb_imfarticle4_2016-12-26fullappdx.xlsx ccb_oup_jf_2018jan29final.pdf
2018
Frankel J. Monetary Regimes to Cope with Volatile Commodity Export Prices: Two Proposals. In: Arezki R, Boucekkine R Rethinking the Macroeconomics of Resource-Rich Countries . London: CEPR ; 2018. Publisher's VersionAbstract

What monetary regime should commodity-exporting developing countries adopt?  On the one hand, it is desirable to let the currency appreciate (depreciate) in response to positive (negative) terms of trade shocks.  Such accommodation is precluded if the exchange rate is fixed or if the CPI is targeted literally.  On the other hand, countries need some sort of nominal anchor.   Monetary policy can be made automatically more counter-cyclical, judged by the criterion of currency appreciation in reaction to positive terms-of-trade shocks, under either of two regimes.   Peggers can add the export commodity to a currency basket (CCB, for “Currency-plus-Commodity Basket”).  Others can target Nominal Income instead of the CPI.

Frankel J. How to Cope with Volatile Commodity Export Prices: Three Proposals. In: Arezki R, Boucekkine. R Rethinking the Macroeconomics of Resource-Rich Countries. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research ; 2018. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Countries that specialize in commodities have in recent years been hit by high volatility in world prices for their exports. This paper suggests three ways that commodity-exporters can make themselves less vulnerable. (1) They can use option contracts to hedge against short-term declines in the commodity price without giving up the upside, as Mexico has shown. (2) Commodity-linked bonds can hedge longer-term risk, and often have a natural ultimate counter-party in multinational corporations that depend on the commodity as an input. (3) The well-documented pro-cyclicality of fiscal policy among commodity exporters can be reduced by insulating official forecasters against optimism bias, as Chile has shown.

Keynote address, Bank of Algeria, Algiers, May 28-29, 2016.

2017
Frankel J. German Ordoliberals Vs. American Pragmatists: What Did They Get Right or Wrong in the Euro Crisis?. In: Beck T, Kotz H-H Ordoliberalism: A German Oddity? London: Centre for Economic Policy Research ; 2017. pp. 135-143. Publisher's VersionAbstract

The editors of this volume explore the philosophical conflict between German Ordoliberalism and Anglo-Saxon or American pragmatism.  This chapter asks which of these two approaches got which questions right with respect to the euro.  In advance, the ordos correctly identified the problem of moral hazard in national fiscal policy, while the pragmatists correctly identified the problem that asymmetric shocks would create when national monetary policy was no longer available to respond to them.  When the euro crisis hit in 2010, the ordos pointed out the importance of structural conditionality while the pragmatists were right to emphasize that fiscal austerity was highly contractionary and even worsened debt/GDP ratios.

euro_ebookordo_2017nov.pdf
Frankel J. Globalization and Chinese Growth: Ends of Trends?. In: Onofri P Il Grande Sconvolgimento. Bologna: il Mulino ; 2017.Abstract

Two big questions look somewhat different than they did 10 or 20 years ago.  First: would the long-term trend of globalization continue?   Contrary to all predictions, trade growth has slowed markedly since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09.  But the feared increase in protectionism did not materialize, so one must look elsewhere for explanations.  Two likely factors behind the slowdown in trade are a maturing of global supply chains and a slowdown in trade-intensive physical investment.  

Second, would the rapid growth of emerging market economies (EMEs) continue, and which ones?   Most EMEs recovered strongly in 2010-11, but now seem to be slowing down in a more long-lasting way. 

For both these issues the role of China is crucial, since it now carries so much weight in the global economy.   Breathless reports in 2014 that the Chinese economy had overtaken the US economy as the world’s largest (measured by Purchasing Power Parity) were followed rapidly in 2015 by breathless reports that its economy was failing.  That China has slowed down from past growth rates of 10% to a more moderate rate of 7% or lower should not have come as a surprise.   It is part of a natural process of long-term convergence and involves a “rebalancing” of the economy from manufacturing into services that is desirable, even if it means a loss of export markets for some others.  The open question is whether the Chinese transition to a more moderate and sustainable growth path will take the form of a hard landing or a soft landing.

Globztn & China Trends.docx

HKS RWP 16-029, July 2016.  Delivered at a conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of Prometeia, in Bologna, 26 November, 2015.

Frankel J, Bhandari P. Nominal GDP Targeting for Developing Countries. Research in Economics. 2017;71 (3). Publisher's VersionAbstract

The revival of interest in nominal GDP (NGDP) targeting has come in the context of large advanced economies. We consider the case for NGDP targeting for mid-sized developing countries, in light of their susceptibility to supply shocks and terms of trade shocks. For India, in particular, one major exogenous supply shock is the monsoon rains. NGDP targeting splits the impact of supply shocks automatically between inflation and real GDP growth. In the case of annual inflation targeting (IT), by contrast, the full impact of an adverse supply shock or terms of trade shock is felt as a loss in real GDP alone. NGDP targeting automatically accommodates supply shocks as most central banks with discretion would do anyway, while retaining the advantage of anchoring expectations as rules are designed to do. We outline a simple theoretical model and derive the condition under which an NGDP targeting regime would dominate other regimes such as annual IT for achieving objectives of output and price stability. We go on to estimate for the case of India the parameters needed to ascertain whether the condition holds, particularly the slope of the aggregate supply curve. Estimates suggest that the condition may indeed hold.

NGDP DCs_uncorrctdproof_yreec2017.pdf

NBER WP 20898, Jan. 2015.

Pages