Interest Rates and the Exchange Rate: A Non-Monotonic Tale

Viktoria Hnatkovska (), Amartya Lahiri and Carlos Vegh

No 13925, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: What is the relationship between interest rates and the exchange rate? The empirical literature in this area has been inconclusive. We use an optimizing model of a small open economy to rationalize the mixed empirical findings. The model has three key margins. First, higher domestic interest rates raise the demand for deposits, and, hence, the money base. Second, firms need bank loans to finance the wage bill, which reduces output when domestic interest rates increase. Lastly, higher interest rates raise the government's fiscal burden, and, therefore, can lead to higher expected inflation. While the first effect tends to appreciate the currency, the remaining two effects tend to depreciate it. We then conduct policy experiments using a calibrated version of the model and show the central result of the paper: the relationship between interest rates and the exchange rate is non-monotonic. In particular, the exchange rate response depends on the size of the interest rate increase and on the initial level of the interest rate. Moreover, we also show that the model can replicate the heterogeneous responses of the exchange rate to interest rate innovations in several developing economies.

JEL-codes: E52 F41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-ifn, nep-mac, nep-mon and nep-opm
Note: IFM
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published as European Economic Review Volume 63, October 2013, Pages 68–93

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Journal Article: Interest rate and the exchange rate: A non-monotonic tale (2013)
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