The revaluation of the yuan in July 2005 was described by the Chinese central bank as a change in the currency regime, rather than merely a changed level of the exchange rate. The reform was said to involve a shift away from the fixed exchange rate, a gradual movement towards greater flexibility, and a peg to a basket of currencies. This paper closely examines the post-July Chinese currency regime utilising contemporary ideas in the econometrics of structural change. We find that the yuan has remained pegged to the US dollar, rather than to a basket, and has extremely limited currency flexibility. We find no evidence of structural change in the post-July period, which suggests that there has been no evolution towards greater flexibility. We show a monitoring procedure which will detect future evolution of the currency regime. / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

Resumé The Currency Reform in Czechoslovakia in 1953 The currency reform in Czechoslovakia in 1953 was significant because of many reasons. People lost their long-term savings, they understood the reform as theft of their honestly earned money. Communist propaganda could not change the people's feelings. The confidence in bank savings and life insurance was undermined. The result of the currency reform was cancellation of rationing but in fact the standard of living of Czechs and Slovaks dropped. In centrally controlled economy it was impossible to overcome the supply problems, which played into the hands of the shadow economy. Old-age and disability pensioners were also in difficult financial situation because they lost their income from their bound deposits and life insurance. The biggest group affected by the currency reform was labour class. That was the reason why the planned increase in industrial production failed. The monetary reform was a necessary condition for the continuation of extensive development of heavy industry, in the coming years to allow increased investments in this sector. Further, there have been general assumptions, that the corporate debts would be removed, however in contrary the debts substantially increased. Bankruptcy was unthinkable for many political reasons, and loans were...

The Eurozone has been the object of much controversy recently. Both on the member-state and on the EU level, policies are being made to cope with the many problems of the Eurozone. In this paper we state that academic economics is often unable to give the right advice for policymakers in the case of the Eurozone crisis, because this is a new situation where academics are disagreeing fundamentally about the best remedy for the problem. We come to this conclusion by first showing how one of the most prominent theories about monetary unions (the Optimum Currency Area theory) is unable to give any good advice to policymakers. After that we make a country-comparitive study between the ten new EU members in Central and Eastern Europe that joined in 2004 and 2007, which shows us that these countries respond fundamentally different on the Eurocrisis and that these reactions are more based on political and public support and national economic performance than on formal academic economics.

Economic intuition suggests that real currency depreciation should lead to long run improvement in a country's trade balance. The short run implications of real depreciation are relatively unknown. The current literature suggests that the short run relationship between trade and real exchange rates is country-specific. This literature has not explored if product and trading partner characteristics play a role in this relationship. This dissertation explores how heterogeneity in trade influences the responsiveness of trade to real exchange rate fluctuations. To my knowledge, this is the first set of papers exploring this heterogeneity. The first paper of this dissertation explores heterogeneity with U.S. commodity-level trade data. Trade responsiveness to real fluctuations varies across product and trading partner characteristics. I find no evidence of long run gains in trade following real depreciation, suggesting that currency manipulation policies meant to improve a country’s trade balance may have no effect on trade in the long run. Prices in international trade contracts with U.S. firms are largely invoiced in U.S. dollars. However, the current literature suggests that the currency in which these prices are set should affect the relationship between trade and real exchange rates in the short run. The second paper of this dissertation explores the implications of currency invoicing patterns using Japanese commodity-level trade data. I find that the response of trade to real fluctuations may differ in the short and long run across product and trading partner characteristics. I also find that the response of trade in the long run may be correlated with comparative advantage. The third paper of this dissertation explores the implications of foreign exchange market liberalization in Japan following the Asian Financial Crisis. I find that liberalization, coupled with financial market reforms, resulted in trade being less responsive to real fluctuations. I also find no evidence of long run trade balance improvement before or after liberalization and that the reform may have eliminated temporary short run gains, suggesting that currency manipulation policies may have no effect on short or long run trade.

Thesis. 1977. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography : leaves 134-136. / M.C.P.

The paper explores the theory of optimum currency areas, outlines its implications for current international monetary order, and applies its conclusions to the European Economic and Monetary Union

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Recent years’ globalization and expanding currency markets have increased the importance of financial managers.  A multinational company handles different currencies through export and imports, and is thus exposed to currency fluctuations. Awareness and assessment of risk management are issues more important not to ignore.</p><p><strong>Research question:</strong> <em>How does the multinational company SCA indentify currency risk exposure, and how does the financial management relate to it?</em></p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The aim of this study is to get a deeper understanding of the currency risk management at a Swedish multinational company and how the individual manager identifies exposure. Furthermore, what means that exist for assessing the exposure and how the management choose to reduce the risk will be investigated.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> This case study has a qualitative approach, and is mainly based on two unstructured interviews that have been conducted with the financial mangers of SCA.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> The authors found that SCA identifies different kinds of exposures related to currency risk. SCA is equipped with organizational strategies as well as practical methods for reducing the risk exposure and positioning themselves in line with company framework and policies.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>:                   Currency risk management is a subject of great complexity since exposures interrelate and alternates with time and as global economy changes. A company could hold a framework of policies, strategies and instruments that will provide their financial managers with means for risk assessment and management. Ultimately the responsibility is still in the hand of the managers.</p>

<p>Title: Corporate Strategies for Currency Risk Management</p><p>ackground:Currency fluctuations are a global phenomenon, and can affect multinational</p><p>companies directly through their cash flow, financial result and company</p><p>valuation. The exposure to currency risks might however be covered against or</p><p>‘hedged’, as it is called, by different external and internal corporate strategies.</p><p>However, some of these strategies might include a risk themselves as they can</p><p>be expensive and uncertain. It is therefore an interesting question whether if</p><p>these strategies are actually applied in practice, and if so which strategies are</p><p>favored and why.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to present and explain the different external and</p><p>internal hedging techniques and to see which, or if any, strategies are favored by</p><p>large, medium-sized and small companies and for what reasons.</p><p>Method: Regarding primary data, interviews with a mostly qualitative profile have been</p><p>used to discuss the subject with respondents from six companies, diversified in</p><p>size using the classification from the European Commission. Secondary data has</p><p>been collected through literature from the university library and internet sources.</p><p>Conclusion: Large companies primarily use the strategy of forwards, since they carry high</p><p>elements of risk aversion, predictability and simplicity. For internal strategies,</p><p>large companies prefer netting. Small companies extensively use matching</p><p>because the routine is easy to establish and handle. Medium-sized companies</p><p>can use either one so much depends on the risk-aversion and cash-flow</p><p>management of the company.</p><p>Large companies continuously regard currency risk a big factor, whereas small</p><p>companies have just recently started due to the dollar depreciation. Translation</p><p>exposure should be considered a big risk regardless of the company size, if the</p><p>company is the main one in a corporate group. Finally, the subject of</p><p>currency risk management is very theoretically broad, but its appliance in</p><p>practice is very slim as only a few strategies are actually favored and frequently</p><p>used.</p>

This study examined fairness in the online society of World of Warcraft(WoW), a society under constraint by game developers but dynamically affected by users. Because the society is voluntary, people have the ability to both effect major change on, and leave, that society at any time. Thus, fairness in this virtual world is an important area for anthropological research. In-game fairness pointed to the organization, distribution, and acquisition of wealth. In particular, I examined player perceptions of real-money trading (RMT) in the context of individual and collective motivations in the endgame. In addition, I considered loot distribution systems as a mode of promoting player-initiated definitions of fairness. I discovered an overall economy of fun in which players act to maximize fun for the majority. Real-money trading was justified by casual players because players require progression as individuals in order to better serve the fun of the collective.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse if there are any changes in the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments before, during and after a currency crisis. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework and has an empirical part, which use a regression equation. The theoretical framework presents a foundation of the incentives to mak FDI investments and the implications for a host country. Together with the possible link to the level of the real exchange rate in the host country, this thesis, based partly on previous paper written on the subject, presents a regression equation for an empirical analysis. The regression equation is based on a hypothesis about the changes in FDI inflow before, during and after the occurrence of a currency crisis in the host country. The empirical analysis presents different results concerning the link between FDI and a currency crisis. The hypothesis stated in the thesis is that a currency crisis influences FDI inflows. This hypothesis is rejected. Moreover, a currency crisis can have both positive and negative effects on the inflow of FDI for the selected countries. Results find further no similarities in regions or year of occurrence of the currency crises. The depth, length and structure of each currency crisis together with using the right definition of a currency crisis are two important factors relating to the outcomes in this study.