China has been in a state that the currency appreciation is needed to restore the external balance. However, it appears that Chinese government worries about that the Renminbi appreciation may decrease the output. This purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether the contractionary hypothesis prevailing in developing countries holds for China with quarterly data over the period from 1995Q1 to 2006Q2. We apply VAR models by means of impulse response functions and variance decompositions. The empirical evidences indicate that even taking the spurious correlation into account, the real appreciation of Renminbi leads to a fall in China’s output. Thus, our findings do not support the contractionary devaluation hypothesis. Moreover, the impact of the exchange rate on output is not through the inflation rate. In the short run, real exchange rate shocks have much power in explaining the output’s variation while the U.S interest rate and government spending shocks are determinants to the variation in output in the long run. Particularly, the monetary policy has relatively weak effect on the output and the real exchange rate.

本論文討論的問題是，國際政治因素對於匯率體制與政策有沒有影響？如果有影響，則國際政治因素如何影響匯率體制與匯率政策變化？國際政治因素影響匯率體制與匯率政策變化的程度有多大？我們希望透過以上問題的探討確認國際政治因素與匯率體制和匯率變化有無關係，然後分析國際政治因素透過怎樣的方式與機制來影響匯率體制與匯率政策，進而瞭解匯率變動與國際政治因素之間的因果關係為何？ 在上述問題下，我們有以下的研究假說： （一）匯率體制與名目匯率的變動除了受國內政治因素與經濟因素的影響外，國際政治因素對於匯率的變動亦是有影響。 （二）政府對於匯率政策的思考除了考量國內政治與經濟因素外，也考慮國際政治壓力因素。 （三）市場交易者對於匯率的預期與作為，除了受到總體經濟指標與國內政治局勢發展的影響外，也受到國際政治情勢變化的影響。 （四）國際貿易失衡下，貿易順差國對貿易逆差國依賴度上升，假如貿易逆差國為一強權國家，則強權國家會對貿易順差國有影響力。例如，兩國（A與B兩國）貿易失衡，A國在貿易順差累積大量外匯存底情況下，勢必會使得該國對於B國貿易依賴程度加深。在貿易失衡情況下，如果B國為強權國家，龐大貿易逆差的B國對於A國將會產生影響力。 在這些研究問題與假說下，本文將以人民幣匯率作為研究個案，藉由個案探討去回答上述問題。所以，我們探討人民幣匯率與匯率體制是否受到國際政治壓力？其次是國際社會如何對人民幣施壓？第三是中國政府與決策者如何反應？第四是市場如何反應與考量國際壓力對匯率的影響？最後是提出初步研究結果與結論。 根據本文研究，針對本文研究問題，我們認為： 首先，國際政治因素對匯率體制與名目匯率有沒有影響？而根據研究結果，我們的答案是肯定的。不過這個肯定的答案必須建構在下面的假設上，第一是兩國必須處於貿易失衡的關係，同時貿易逆差國為一強權國家。其次是在假設一之下，政府對匯率政策的思維不只是考量國內經濟與國內政治，也考量國際政治壓力。 其次第二個問題是國際政治因素如何影響匯率體制與匯率水平的變化。根據研究顯示，國際政治影響匯率體制與匯率水平的方式包括：公開施壓、雙邊高層官員會談、國際會議聯合施壓、甚至貿易制裁手段。通常首先透過公開發言的方式對貿易順差國施壓，要求貿易順差國對於經貿失衡現象做出相應措施，其中以調整匯率為主要要求，其次進一步透過雙邊高層官員直接面對面討論相關議題，藉由談判過程直接施加壓力，第三，則是在國際會議場合中和其他國家聯手施壓，對於匯率議題表達一致的立場形成聯合壓力，去迫使貿易順差國調整匯率制度與水平。第四則是威脅貿易制裁，透過提案以及口頭威脅貿易制裁方式，加重施壓的力道，對貿易順差國進一步施壓，最後則是實施貿易制裁。 第三個研究問題是國際政治因素影響匯率體制與名目匯率變化的程度有多大？從中國人民幣的案例中，我們可以發現，中國一開始面對來自國際壓力時就強硬表示不會改變現行匯率體制與水平。其強調由於中國本身經濟發展狀況與國內金融體制不健全，在加上美國貿易赤字並非完全中國所造成的，所以目前並沒有改變的需要。 但隨著不斷增加的雙邊貿易逆差與國際壓力，中國雖然仍沒有改變中國匯率體制與水平，但也開始改變表示願意思考人民幣改革的可能性並將人民幣完全自由浮動，完全由市場供需來決定作為最後終極目標。甚至到最後出其不意的改變人民幣匯率體制並升值2.1％。這顯示在中國改革人民幣過程中，國際政治因素扮演重要的角色，發揮重要影響力。因為在堅持不變的理由中，中國始終以國內經濟因素與中國內部穩定的政治性理由來拒絕國際社會的要求，但在最後改革的說帖中，中國也承認國際壓力是其推動匯率改革的重要因素，可見除了國內經濟與政治面向的考量外，國際政治因素也是具有重大影響力。 / This paper discusses whether exchange rate regimes and exchange rate policies are affected by international politics, as well as how international politics affect exchange rate regimes and exchange rates. By examining these questions, I would like to analyze the mechanism by which international politics affect exchange rates and figure out the relationship among exchange rate regime, policies and international politics. This paper puts forth four hypotheses. First of all, exchange rate regimes and exchange rates are not only affected by domestic politics and economic factors, but they are also affected by international politics. Second, decisions regarding exchange rate policies made by governments are based on international politics, domestic politics and economic factors. Third, the behavior and expectations of market traders are also affected by macro economic index, domestic political situation and international political situation. Forth, under bilateral trade imbalance, state B which is a great power and has large trade deficit with state A has influence on state A. State A and State B have an imbalance trade relationship. State A which has a large trade surplus will increase dependence on state B. Under these hypotheses, the author would like to answer the above questions by discussing the case of the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (RMB). Hence, the case study will ask the following questions. First of all, was the Chinese currency reform made on July 21, 2005 by the Chinese government affected by international politics? Second, how did the international community press the Chinese government to reform exchange rate regime? Third, how did the Chinese government respond to pressures from the international community and market? Fourth, how did market traders respond to and interpret interactions between the Chinese government and the international community. The research achieved the following results. First of all, under hypotheses two and four, exchange rate regimes and policies are affected by international politics. Second, ways which international politics affect exchange rates and regimes are through public pressure, bilateral official talks, trade sanctions, and oral threats. Public pressure is when a state with trade deficit asks a state which has trade surplus to adjust the exchange rate to reduce trade surplus. Bilateral official talks are when decision makers on both sides negotiate with each other for imbalance trade relationship. Exchange rate is an important dimension to negotiation. Trade sanctions are the last step to make the state which has trade surplus adjust exchange rate. Oral threats can be uses with the above mentioned measures. Third, in the case of RMB, the Chinese government rejected the international community’s request to adjust exchange and regime. Because of the weakness of China’s economic development and its unhealthy financial systems, the Chinese government rejected adjustments of exchange rate and regime under pressure from international communities. The Chinese government does not think that the undervalue of Chinese currency is the main reason of U.S. trade deficit and emphasized that there is no need to change RMB exchange rate and regime. With increasing trade surplus and pressure from international community, the Chinese government started to change its attitude towards the issue of RMB exchange rate. The Chinese government expressed that it was willing to consider the possibility of exchange rate reform, and movement of RMB exchange rate was fully determined by market forces. On July 21, 2005, the Chinese government adjusted regime and level of Chinese currency unexpectedly. The reform on July 21, 2005 implied that international politics played an important role in the exchange rate reform. Although the Chinese government denied that exchange rate reform was made under international pressure, international pressure is one of the main reasons behind the Chinese government changing the exchange rate policy according to the U.S. official’s testimony before the committee of Congress. The Chinese government reiterated that reform on July 21, 2005 was carried out according to the development of domestic economic development. But because of that, U.S. officials expressed that Chinese officials made a commitment of reform to them in bilateral talks, so we can understand that the international community has influence on the policy of exchange rate reform in addition to factors of domestic economy and politics.

This thesis consists of four essays that study the effect of demand and supply shocks (namely exchange rate shocks, policy shocks and oil price shocks) on the German automobile industry using time series analysis techniques; i.a. intervention analysis, (time-varying) VAR models, state space modeling and Kalman filtering. Chapter 2 investigates the degree of (EUR/USD) exchange rate susceptibility of the German automobile industry (and mechanical engineering industry). It is shown that – in contrast to well-known warnings by business representatives and politicians alike – an appreciation of the Euro does not necessarily cause German vehicle producing companies “pain” in the sense of an aggravated business climate (although the (quantity) effects on exports are as predicted by theory). Chapter 3 first of all deals with the effect of the global economic crisis on the German manufacturing sector in general and the German automobile industry in particular. Even more important, the influence of the scrapping scheme, that was introduced as part of the “Konjunkturpaket II” in 2009, is researched. Chapter 4 focusses on the role of (systematic) monetary policy as well as the automobile industry in the transmission of oil price shocks to the economy. Chapter 5 extends the results of chapter 4 by examining carefully the role of fuel-efficiency in explaining the different degrees of sensitivity of the vehicle industries in Germany, Japan and the US with regard to oil price shocks.

This dissertation comprises three essays on macroeconomic impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI). The first essay analyses the impact of FDI on the growth rate of total factor productivity of host countries. The essay focuses on 77 low- and middle-income countries and is based on balanced panel data for the period 1980-2008. The system GMM and common correlated effects (CCE) panel data methods are applied to estimate the models. Estimated coefficients show that FDI does not have any significant impact on the growth rate and the levels of TFP. The second essay investigates the relationship between FDI and domestic investment focusing on low- and middle-income countries, and using panel data for the period 1980-2012. It applies common parameter and heterogeneous parameter, static and dynamic, single equation and simultaneous equation panel data econometric techniques to study the relationship. Empirical findings suggest that FDI crowds our domestic investment. Our estimated coefficients also suggest that countries that have weak institutions, less developed financial systems, less human capital, less developed infrastructure, or economies that are more open, are more exposed to foreign competition and experience stronger crowding out from inward FDI. In the third essay, the influence of capital flows on the real exchange rate of recipient countries is analysed. The influence of three important capital flows, viz. foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign aid, and remittances, are assessed on the real exchange rate, using data for 45 middle- and low-income countries for the period 1980–2013. Both heterogeneous and homogeneous panel data methods are applied to estimate the real exchange rate models. The estimated coefficients of these models imply that foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances do not influence the real exchange rate. Aid tends to depreciate the real exchange rate. Findings also suggest that financial development does not influence the exchange rate impact of aid in our sample countries. The study further finds that while aid tends to increase real exchange rate volatility, FDI and remittances do not have any robust influence on volatility. / February 2017

The first chapter of this dissertation estimates the relative contributions of two major exchanges on crude oil futures to the price discovery process-- Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), using trade-by-trade data in 2008. The study also empirically analyzes the effects of trading characteristics on the information share of these two markets. Trading characteristics examined in the study include trading volume, trade size, and trading costs. On average, CME is characterized by greater volume and trade size but also slightly greater bid-ask spread. CME leads the process of price discovery and this leadership is caused by relative trade size and volatility before the financial crisis of 2008; however post-crisis period this leadership is caused by trading volume. Moreover, this study presents evidence that, in times of large uncertainty in the market, the market maker charges a greater bid-ask spread for the more informative market. The second chapter examines the influence of expected oil price volatility, the behavior of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the US Dollar exchange rate volatility on the backwardation of crude oil futures during the period from January 1986 to December 2008. The results indicate that oil futures are strongly and weakly backwardated 57% and 69% of the time, respectively. The regression analysis of weak backwardation shows that oil volatility, OPEC overproduction (difference between quota and the actual production), and the volatility of the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen have a positive significant effect on oil backwardation, while OPEC production quota imposed on its members has a negative significant effect on oil backwardation. However the volatility of US Dollar against the British Pound has no significant effect on oil backwardation. The regression analysis of strong backwardation produces qualitatively the same results except that volatility has no effect. In a sub-period analysis, evidence also indicates that trading volume of oil funds and backwardation are negatively related, suggesting that oil funds increase the demand of futures relative to that of spot.

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays in International Trade, Exchange Rates and Prices. Although independent, these essays share some common themes. The first two papers can be related to the vast literature on exchange rate pass-through to prices. While the first paper uses firm-product level data from Sweden to study firms’ export price response to movements in exchange rate, the second paper employs aggregate level data from Ethiopia and looks at the issue from the importers’ perspective. The third paper, like the first paper, uses Swedish firm-level data and investigates firms’ exporting behavior. The third paper, however, specifically focuses on export margins of multi-product firms and studies their response when exporting to destinations of different size and distance from the home country. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

A phantom is haunting the EU enlargement process. Some fear that the Balassa-Samuelson (B-S) effect might be a major obstacle for the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) to become members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). A review of the relevant literature reveals that most estimations of the B-S effect in the EU acceding countries are flawed by one kind or the other. Either they do not estimate correctly the B-S propositions, or if they measure it they use a variety of measures for the variables needed. Additionally, the B-S effect is only a special case of a broader approach towards equilibrium real exchange rates. Lastly the B-S effect is studied in a CGE multi-country world in order to detect possible spillover effects. After describing the "official" road map towards the EMU, it is concluded that the uncertainties in measuring the B-S are much too high in order to see in it (alone) a major hindrance for the CEEC to become early members of the EMU. Moreover, real exchange rate appreciations that reflect productivity gains in the tradable sector are an equilibrium phenomenon and do not require a policy response. They are a natural phenomena in catching-up countries like the CEEC. Furthermore, the official doctrine for entering the EMU by the EU/ECB only interdicts depreciations but not appreciations for potential EMU members. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

La présente étude offre un panorama sur les interactions et les liens qui existent entre la volatilité des taux de change et les échanges internationaux. L’objectif de ce travail est donc de présenter théoriquement cette relation, puis d’examiner empiriquement l’existence de cette relation de causalité entre le commerce international et la variabilité des taux de change. La littérature portant sur la question se considère dans l'ensemble comme contradictoire et supporte plusieurs controverses qui ne nous permettent pas de conclure clairement quant à la relation en question. Nous essayerons de pousser ces recherches un peu plus loin en réexaminant cette évidence pour le canada et en offrant une investigation empirique sur l’existence éventuelle d'un impact significatif de la volatilité sur les flux désagrégées des exportations sectoriels du canada vers son partenaire, les États-Unis. Nous y examinons la réponse empirique de 5 secteurs d’exportations canadiennes aux variations du taux de change réel effectif entre le canada et les États- Unis. Toutefois, nos résultats obtenus ne nous permettent pas de conclure quant à la significativité relative d’un impact de volatilité de taux de change sur les exportations sectoriels désagrégées destinées aux États-Unis. Dans l’ensemble, même si on admet que les signe des coefficients estimés de la variable de risque dans chaque secteur est négatif, nous arrivons à la conclusion que la volatilité ne semble pas avoir un impact statistiquement significatif sur le volume réelle des exportations du Canada vers les États-Unis. / This study provides an overview on the interactions and linkages between the volatility of exchange rates and international trade. The objective of this work is to present this relationship theoretically and examine, empirically the existence of this causal relationship between international trade and exchange rate variability. The literature on the subject considers himself across as contradictory and supports several controversies that do not allow the clear conclusion about the relationship in question. We try to push this research a step further by reviewing the evidence for Canada and providing an empirical investigation on the possible existence of a significant impact of volatility on sectoral disaggregated flows of Canadian exports to its trading partner, the United States. We empirically examine the response of five sectors of Canadian exports to changes in real effective exchange rate between Canada and the United States. However, our results do not allow us to conclude about the significance of an impact on volatility of exchange rates on disaggregated sectoral exports to United States. Overall, even if we admit that the sign of the estimated coefficients of the exchange risk variable in each sector is negative, we reach the conclusion that the volatility does not seem to have a statistically significant impact on the real volume of exports from Canada to the United States.

本研究欲探討國家商品貿易特性在匯率報酬評價中扮演的角色，決定匯率報酬的因素非常多，包含利率、市場波動、國際貿易及國家政治等非常廣泛的因素，而國家商品貿易特性也會是影響匯率報酬評價的可能因素之一。本研究以「進口比率」(Import Ratios) 衡量國家的商品貿易特性，也以該數值建構投資組合。研究結果發現，去除商品貿易特性特殊之國家後，進口比例(Import Ratio)越高之投資組合，其遠期外匯貼水也偏高，且外匯超額報酬也隨之遞增。 在Ready, Roussanov, and Ward(2013)論文中認為，國家的商品貿易特性是造成不同國家利率高低差異的原因，所以該作者認為國家商品貿易特性極有可能是利差交易背後的原因。然而，本研究的Fama-Macbeth 兩步驟橫斷面迴歸實證結果發現，國家的商品貿易特性確實是造成國家利率差異的因素之一，但利差交易背後的風險背後的因素，雖然包含國家商品貿易因素，但仍包含其他因素，且商品貿易因子(IMX)無法取代利差交易因子(HML)在外匯超額報酬評價模型中的角色。 此外，本研究亦嘗試在Lustig所提出之市場因子(RX)和利差交易因子(HML)的兩因子模型中，再額外加入商品貿易因子(IMX)，構成匯率評價的三因子模型，但研究結果發現不論是在遠期外匯貼水投資組合或商品貿易投資組合中，三因子模型都沒有優於兩因子模型。 / There are many factors in determinant of exchange rate returns, such as interest rates, market volatility, international trade and politics. The purpose of this research is considering commodity trade in the pricing model of excess return of currency market. This research use “Import Ratios” to measure the characteristic of different countries’ commodity trade. We use import ratios to construct “Import Ratio Sort Portfolio”. After removing the countries which commodity trade characteristics are special, we could see when import ratios is higher, the forward discount and exchange rate return are also higher in import ratio sort portfolio. Ready, Roussanov, and Ward(2013) thought the commodity trade is the reason that cause interest rate differences between countries. In this research, the result of Fama-Macbeth two-step regression show that commodity trade is one of the reasons that cause interest rate differences. It means that there are other risks behind carry trade. In the pricing model of excess return of currency market, HML factor can’t be replaced by IMX factor. We also try to construct three-factor model, which consider excess return, carry trade, and commodity trade simultaneously. But the result shows that three-factor model can not have better explanatory power than Lustig, Roussanov, and Verdelhan(2011)’s two-factor model.

This thesis examines the exchange rate pass-through into consumer prices in Central and Eastern Europe. The study is based on quarterly data of 12 countries from 2003 to 2013. Estimations are conducted using heterogeneous panel cointegration methods, namely the mean group and the pooled mean group estimators. Fixed effects are used as a reference. The thesis provides short- run and long-run estimates of the exchange rate pass-through for the individual countries and for the region as a whole. Based on the results, we conclude that the exchange rate pass-through is highly variable across Central and Eastern Europe. We find that there is no clear distinction between the pass-through rates in euro area countries, EU countries not using the euro and non- EU countries. Further, we find that the generally accepted concept of higher exchange rate pass- though in developing countries does not hold in this region. JEL Classification C23, E31, E52, F31 Keywords exchange rate pass-through, pooled mean group, mean group, heterogeneous panel cointegration Author's e-mail bara.mirkova@centrum.cz Supervisor's e-mail roman.horvath@gmail.com