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ECON1102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Australian Dollar, Foreign Exchange Market, European Emission Standards

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beigecod130
17 May 2018
School
ANU
Department
Economics
Course
ECON1102
Professor
Cameron

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Chapter 15: The International Financial System
Exchange Rate Systems:
Floating Currency: A currency whose exchange rate is determined by the demand for
and supply of the currency in the foreign exchange market
Exchange Rate System: An agreement between countries on how exchange rates
should be determined
Managed Float Exchange Rate System: An exchange rate system under which the
value of the currency is determined by demand and supply, with occasional central
bank or government intervention
Fixed Exchange Rate System: A system under which countries agree to keep the
exchange rates between their currencies fixed
The Current Exchange Rate System:
Three Important Aspects:
1. Australia allows its currency to float against other major currencies
2. Most countries in western Europe have adopted a single currency, the euro
3. Some developing countries have attempted to keep their currencies’
exchange rates fixed against the US dollar or another major currency
The Floating Dollar:
• Trade weighted index → attempts to measure the value of the Australian
dollar against a basket of currencies of its major trading partners
• 1983: decided to float the Australian dollar
- Dollar depreciated substantially over the next 5 years and fluctuated
around a steady level during the 1990s
- Started the appreciate in the 2000s
What determines exchange rates?
In Short Run:
- Changes in interest rates (investors change their views on which
country will bring the highest returns)
- Changes in investors’ expectations about future values of currencies
In Long Run:
- Other factors are also important in explaining movements
Four Determinants of Exchange Rates in the LR:
1. Relative Price Levels
• If prices of goods and services rise faster in Australian than in the US,
the value of the Australia dollar has to decline to maintain demand for
Australian products
2. Relative Rates of Productivity Growth
• More productive → produce more goods → prices go down → value of
currency goes up in comparison to other currencies
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Document Summary

Floating currency: a currency whose exchange rate is determined by the demand for and supply of the currency in the foreign exchange market. Exchange rate system: an agreement between countries on how exchange rates should be determined. Managed float exchange rate system: an exchange rate system under which the value of the currency is determined by demand and supply, with occasional central bank or government intervention. Fixed exchange rate system: a system under which countries agree to keep the exchange rates between their currencies fixed. The floating dollar: trade weighted index attempts to measure the value of the australian dollar against a basket of currencies of its major trading partners, 1983: decided to float the australian dollar. Dollar depreciated substantially over the next 5 years and fluctuated around a steady level during the 1990s. Changes in interest rates (investors change their views on which country will bring the highest returns) Changes in investors" expectations about future values of currencies.

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Related Questions

1) Under the gold standard exchange rate system

A) the value of all currencies was determined by market forces.
B) the value of all currencies was fixed in terms of gold.
C) all nations must stand ready and willing to provide gold in exchange for their home country currency.
(A) and (C

(B) and (C)

2) When have we NOT observed fixed exchange? rates:

a. In developing countries today.
b. Between? 1945-73.
c. In the decades prior to WWI.
d. Between the US and Japan in the 1980s.

Question 32

  1. Tim, a citizen of the United States living in Virginia, buys a computer that was made in South Korea by a Japanese firm. This transaction would affect the GDP of the United States in which way?

    Net exports would decrease and GDP would decrease.

    Net exports would decrease and GDP would be unaffected.

    Net exports would increase and GDP would increase.

    Net exports would increase and consumption would increase.

1 points

Question 33

  1. An increase in U.S. government spending tends to

    increase U.S. interest rates and increase the U.S. capital account surplus.

    increase U.S. interest rates and decrease the U.S. capital account surplus.

    decrease U.S. interest rates and increase the U.S. capital account surplus.

    decrease U.S. interest rates and decrease the U.S. capital account surplus.

1 points

Question 34

  1. A _______ is a system in which the government intervenes extensively in the foreign exchange market to keep the exchange rate within certain bounds.

    dirty float

    floating exchange rate

    fixed exchange rate

    dollarization

1 points

Question 35

  1. Suppose the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar is E0.5 to $1. If a Big Mac costs $3 in the United States and E1.5 in Germany, then the real exchange rate is

    1:1.

    2:1.

    1:2.

    It cannot be determined from this information.

1 points

Question 36

  1. Which of the following prevent the purchasing power parity theorem from holding perfectly?

    transportation costs

    goods that cannot be shipped

    tariffs and quotas

    Each of these answers is correct.

1 points

Question 37

  1. Fiscal policy is more effective in affecting economic activity if

    many resources are unemployed.

    there is a real shock instead of an aggregate demand shock.

    the economy returns to the long-run condition almost immediately.

    there is a long implementation lag.

1 points

Question 38

  1. In a typical year, changes in government spending compared to overall spending are relatively

    small.

    large.

    unpredictable.

    well-timed.

1 points

Question 39

  1. Which statement is TRUE about the difference between monetary and fiscal policy?

    Fiscal policy can quickly adjust to changes in aggregate demand.

    Fiscal policy can have a more direct impact.

    Monetary policy is subject to many long lags.

    Monetary policy can affect the economy regardless of the actions banks take.

1 points

Question 40

  1. Fiscal policies that help an economy in a recession without additional actions by policy makers are called

    consumption smoothers.

    Ricardian equalizers.

    automatic stabilizers.

    Each of these answers is correct.

1 points

Question 41

  1. The U.S. individual income tax system can best be described as a

    regressive tax system.

    flat tax system.

    zero tax system.

    progressive tax system.

1 points

Question 42

  1. What demographic change in the United States will cause government spending to increase in the next 50 years?

    The population over 65 will grow.

    The population will be younger.

    Women will have fewer children.

    Immigration will increase.

1 points

Question 43

  1. What kind of rising costs will mostly cause U.S. government spending to skyrocket in the future?

    defense

    environmental protection

    education

    health care

1 points

Question 47

  1. The Fed could have popped the bubble of the housing boom in the 2000s by

    lending directly to homeowners.

    regulating the stock markets more.

    reducing the growth rate of the money supply.

    doing nothing.

1 points

Question 48

  1. Which of the following would be an example of running monetary policy by rules?

    A 5 percent increase in money supply automatically leads to a 2 percent increase in real GDP.

    An increase in money supply automatically leads to an increase in inflation.

    The Fed will increase money growth to different levels, depending on the severity of the recession.

    A 1 percent drop in real GDP will automatically elicit a 2 percent increase in money supply.

    Question 50

    Moral hazard occurs when

    the failure of one financial institution can bring down other institutions as well.

    financial institutions take on too much risk because they are insured.

    financial institutions become insolvent because they issued too many loans.

    there are more short-term liabilities than short-term assets.

    Which of the following is NOT a transmission mechanism?

    reductions in the money supply

    intertemporal substitution

    uncertainty

    sticky wages and prices

    Question 56

    For a given increase in government spending growth, intertemporal substitution is more widespread when

    the impact of AD growth on both inflation and real GDP growth is stronger.

    the impact of AD growth on both inflation and real GDP growth is weaker.

    the impact of AD growth on inflation is stronger and the impact of the AD growth on real GDP growth is weaker.

    the impact of AD growth on inflation is weaker and the impact of AD growth on real GDP growth is stronger.

    Stalin:

    instituted democratic reforms, leading to widespread prosperity.

    took government control of the farms in Ukraine, leading to the starvation of millions of people.

    increased the provision of public goods, which had a positive effect on lowering the unemployment rate.

    tried unsuccessfully to expand voting rights in 1924 Russia.

    1 points

    Question 60

    1 points

    Question 59

    If voters care about two issues such as taxes and war, then politicians:

    will form a stable policy on these issues.

    can pose a policy that will never lose against another policy.

    must assume that there is no median voter.

    may never converge on a stable outcome.

    1 points

    Question 58

    Policy A adversely affects 50 million people at a cost of $1 per person. But Policy A also benefits 1,000 people at $30,000 per person. Which of the following statements is true?

    Policy A will not become law because it hurts more people than it helps.

    Policy A concentrates all the costs among a small group of people and all the benefits among a large group of people.

    Policy A is likely to be supported by politicians even though it makes society worse off.

    Since Policy A negatively affects many people, and so rational ignorance will not be a problem.

    1 points

    Question 57

    Data for the United States show that the incumbent party tends to win the election if:
    I. personal disposable income is growing.
    II. the inflation rate is low.
    III. the political party has not been in power for too many continuous terms.

    I only

    I and II only

    I and III only

    I, II, and III

    1 points

    Question 53

    1 points

    Question 52

    What is the purpose of the Fed's structure?

    to give the President of the United States as many tools as possible to regulate the economy

    to make sure all states are given equal access to monetary policy decisions

    to keep the private sector out of the monetary policy making arena

    to keep the power of the Fed dispersed

    1 points

    Question 51

    An increase in money growth will cause inflation to increase in

    the short run only.

    the long run only.

    both the short run and the long run.

    neither the short run nor the long run.

Please read the passage and answer the questions below.

During the first half of the 2000s, the Japanese yen was relatively weak against the U.S. dollar. This was a boon for Japan’s export-led economy. On January 1, 2008, it took 122 yen to buy one U.S. dollar. For the next four years, the yen strengthened relentlessly against the dollar, hitting a record high of ¥75.31 to the dollar on October 31, 2011. The reasons for the rise of the yen were complex and had little to do with the strength of the Japanese economy because there has been very little of that in evidence. The weakness of the yen during the early to mid-2000s was due to the so-called carry trade. This financial strategy involved borrowing in Japanese yen, where interest rates were close to zero, and investing the loans in higher-yielding assets, typically U.S. Treasury bills, which carried interest rates 3 to 4 percentage points greater. Investors made profits from the interest rate differential. At its peak, financial institutions had more than a trillion dollars invested in the carry trade. Because the strategy involved selling borrowed yen to purchase dollar-denominated assets, it drove the value of the yen lower. The interest rate differential existed because the Japanese economy was weak, prices were falling, and the Bank of Japan had been lowering interest rates in an attempt to boost growth and get Japan out of a dangerous deflationary cycle. When the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and 2009, the Federal Reserve in the United States responded by injecting liquidity into battered financial markets, effectively lowering U.S. interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds. As these fell, the interest rate differential between Japanese and U.S. assets narrowed sharply, and the carry trade became unprofitable. Financial institutions unwound their positions, selling dollar-denominated assets, and buying yen to pay back their original loans. The increased demand drove up the value of the yen. For Japanese exporters, the 40 percent increase in the value of the yen against the dollar (and the euro) between early 2008 and 2012 was a painful experience. A strong yen hurts the price competitiveness of Japanese exports and reduces the value of profits earned overseas when translated back into yen. Take Toyota as an example: In February 2012, the company stated that its profit for the year ending March 31, 2012, would be about ¥200 billion, 51 percent lower than in the prior year. Toyota makes nearly half of the cars it sells globally at its Japanese plants, so it has been particularly hard hit by a rise in the value of the yen. In late 2012, things started to change when the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party won national elections and Shinzo Abe was appointed prime minister. Abe had campaigned on a platform that included taking actions to weaken the value of the yen to help Japan’s exporters. Even before the election, Japan’s central bank had accelerated purchases of government securities, thereby expanding the money supply, and had agreed to a higher inflation target. Under Abe’s leadership, this policy had explicit government support. One consequence of the policy was to reduce the value of the yen against other currencies. Indeed, between October 2012 and December 2013, the yen lost more than 25 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar. The yen was trading at ¥104 to the U.S. dollar in late December 2013. While this helped Japan’s exporters, the policy was criticized by other major industrial nations as a unilateral action that came dangerously close to precipitating a currency war.

1. Who in Japan benefits from the devaluation of the yen? Who does this hurt in Japan?

2. What does this case teach you about the way foreign exchange markets work?