Interest Rates, Global Risk and Inflation Expectations: Drivers of US Dollar Exchange Rates
Using a data-driven identification approach of structural vector autoregressive models, we analyse the factors driving the US dollar exchange rate for a sample of eight advanced countries over the period 1980M1 to 2022M6. We find that the exchange rates are significantly affected not only by US monetary policy, but also by shocks to inflation expectations associated with shifts in fiscal sustainability concerns. In addition, external shocks related to global risk aversion and the convenience yield that investors are willing to give up to hold US dollar assets have a significant impact on the US dollar exchange rate. All three shocks considered make an important contribution to explaining US dollar exchange rate changes, with external shocks being the most impactful on average. Moreover, we find evidence that the monetary policy response to shocks to long-run inflation expectations has changed over time, suggesting shifts in monetary policy reaction functions.