Japan’s Foreign Assets and Liabilities

The composition of Japan’s current account balance has changed over time, with an increasing income balance primarily reflecting a growing net foreign asset position and higher corporate saving. A comparison of Japan’s income balance with peer countries highlights: (i) relatively high yields on FDI assets, and (ii) very low FDI liabilities in Japan. Panel estimation is used to derive separate exchange rate elasticities for income credit and debit, with novel accounting that disentangles the mechanical from the economic response to exchange rate fluctuations. Despite the changing composition of Japan’s current account balance, its response to exchange rate movements still operates mostly through the traditional trade channel, with a small but reinforcing contribution from the income balance.

Does currency misalignment matter for economic growth? – Evidence from Turkey

PurposeThe study mainly aims to examine the currency misalignment of Turkish lira and evaluate if it has an impact on economic growth of Turkey.Design/methodology/approachIt relies on Johansen cointegration technique for measuring currency misalignment relying on single-equation approach and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to evaluate how misalignment affects economic growth. The sample period covers from 1980 to 2016.FindingsThe study identifies that terms of trade, relative productivity differences, net foreign asset, investment and trade openness determine the equilibrium REER of Turkey, and the degree of currency misalignment is observed at a substantial level. The outcome of the ARDL approach suggests that higher currency misalignment reduces economic growth. Turning to the separate impacts of undervaluation and overvaluation, while the former falters economic growth, the later promotes it, a finding contrary to the conventional expectation. Therefore, the use of exchange rate as a policy variable is a critical concern to avoid misalignment for sustained economic growth.Practical implicationsThe anti-growth effect of undervaluation and misalignment is an indication of redistribution of income which could be verified by examining the aggregate consumption behavior of the economy in response to RER movements.Originality/valueThe impacts of currency undervaluation and overvaluation on economic growth of Turkey have been studied in a number of time-series studies. But there is no documented study on the role of currency misalignment on Turkish economic growth. This study is the first that examines how the economic growth of Turkey is influenced by currency misalignment together with the impact of undervaluation and overvaluation.

Short and Long Term Determinants of the Net International Investment Position Resulting from the Balance of Payments of the European Monetary Union Countries

The paper aims at analysing the level, composition and factors determining changes of the net international investment position (NIIP) of the euro area countries. Although the improvement in the euro area’s NIIP during the period from 2Q2012 to 2Q2016 was largely driven by current account surpluses in 13 out of 19 countries, there is a visible difference between the NIIP changes and their components in the surplus and deficit countries. The group of net foreign assets countries increased its position primarily by running current account surpluses reflecting mainly a positive balance on goods and, on a minor scale, a positive primary income balance. The NIIP in the group of net foreign liabilities countries deteriorated although the cumulative current accounts were in surplus for this period. Here, the current account improvement was largely driven by services which, in contrast to the net foreign asset countries, were in surplus. In turn, the cumulative primary income in the group of net foreign liabilities countries was in minus. Statistical analysis aimed at estimation of determinants of the changes in the NIIPs over the subsequent quarters shows that their short term behaviour was on a large scale positively driven by the changes of valuation effect resulting, for example, from exchange rates and prices movements. It should not be surprising that the signs which indicate the direction of valuation effect on the NIIP pattern are different in the short and long term. It should be stressed that the valuation effect influence decreases over time since valuation gains and losses overlap and largely neutralise each other. Nevertheless, combined losses were higher than total gains and therefore its impact on the NIIP was negative in the analysed period. On the other hand, the EMU current account surpluses were repetitive and persistent, being the main factor behind the improvement of the cumulative euro area NIIP changes.

THE NONLINEAR NATURE OF COUNTRY RISK AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR DSGE MODELS

Country risk premia can substantially affect macroeconomic dynamics. We concentrate on one of their most important determinants—a country’s net foreign asset (NFA) position and—in contrast to the existing research—investigate its nonlinear link to risk premia. The importance of this particular nonlinearity is two-fold. First, it allows to identify the NFA level above which the elasticity becomes much (possibly dangerously) higher. Second, such a nonlinear relationship is a standard ingredient of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models, but its proper calibration/estimation is missing. Our estimation shows that indeed the link is highly nonlinear and helps to identify the NFA position where the nonlinearity kicks in at approximately −70% to −75% of GDP. We also provide a proper calibration of the risk premium—NFA relationship which can be used in DSGE models and demonstrate that its slope matters significantly for economic dynamics in such a model.

Money Supply Determinants in Nepal: A Macro Analysis

<p>This paper analyzes the major money supply determinants in Nepal in the past 10 years from FY 2004/05 - FY 20014/15. In this study monetary base is determined by two explanatory variables (i.e. NFA and NDC) and are called the 'proximate' determinants of the base money. Among the explanatory variables, the net foreign asset (NFA) is found as better determinant than net domestic assets (NDA) in Nepalese economy. For the analysis of determinants of money multiplier (MM), the three explanatory variables i.e., reserve to total deposits ratio (r), time deposits to demand deposits ratio (t) and currency to demand deposits ratio (c) have been used. The model applied in this study shows that explanatory variable of time deposits to demand deposits ratio is the best determinant of money multiplier. The reserve money (RM) is analyzed as the best determinant of money supply, net foreign assets (NFA) is the major determinant of reserve money and time deposits to demand deposits ratio is the significant determinant of money multiplier.</p><p> <strong><em>Economic Literature</em></strong><em>, </em>Vol. XIII August 2016, page 55-60</p>

Money Supply and Inflation: Disaggregated Time Series Evidence from Nigeria

This paper examined money supply and inflation in Nigeria. The objective was to examine the extent to which components of money supply affect Nigerian inflation rate. Time series data was sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and Stock Exchange Factbook. Nigerian Real Inflation Rate was proxy for dependent (INFR) variables while Currency in Circulation (CR), Demand Deposit (DD), Time Deposit (TD), Savings Deposit (SD) and Net Foreign Asset (NFA) were used as independent variables. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method of cointegration, Augmented Dickey Fuller Unit Root, Granger Causality was used as data analysis techniques. Regression result in the study shows that Currency in Circulation, Demand Deposit and Savings Deposit has negative relationship while Net Foreign Asset and Time Deposit have positive relationship with inflation. The Augmented Dickey Fuller Test proved non stationarity of the variables at level except Net Foreign Asset but stationary at first difference. The Granger Causality Test reveals no casual relationship running through the variables. The cointegration proved no long run relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study conclude that Money Supply have significant relationship with Nigerian Inflation Rate. It therefore recommends effective management of money supply by the monetary authorities to achieve the monetary policy objectives of price stability.