This paper presents an empirical investigation on an important policy issue, namely, whether there is any evidence supporting monetary integration between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. We follow two lines of inquiry. First, we present a series of simple tests to find the extent to which...

This paper examines some of the open economy aspects of optimal monetary policies with a particular emphasis on those aspects that may induce a fear of floating on the part of central banks. Characteristics such as openness, exchange rate pass-through and adverse balance sheet effects have been...

It is by now common knowledge that there can be a significant divergence in the de facto versus de jure exchange rate regimes operated by economies. Although much of the recent published literature in Asia has focused on the crisis-hit economies, Korea and Thailand in particular, scant attention...

This paper develops a simple model to examine the reasons behind the capital inflow surges into selected Asian economies in the 1990s prior to the financial crisis of 1997-98. The analytical model shows that persistent uncovered interest differentials and consequent capital inflows may be a...

This paper uses a model calibrated to suit a small open Asian economy to present a series of counterfactual policy experiments aimed at comparing conventional optimal inflation targeting (IT) under commitment and discretion and variations of simple fixed monetary policy rules (MPRs). Two...

This paper uses a simple open economy interest rate determination model to empirically examine an important aspect of pre-crisis monetary and exchange rate policy. It investigates whether sterilization of the reserve effects of capital inflows helped keep interest rates sufficiently high that...

This paper develops a simple model to examine the reasons behind the capital inflow surges into selected Asian economies in the 1990s prior to the financial crisis of 1997-98. The simple analytical model reveals that persistent uncovered interest differentials and consequent capital inflows may...

Since the Asian crisis it has been recognized that exchange rate and monetary policy strategies must involve a fairly high element of flexibility rather than a single-minded defense of a particular rate. One way this flexibility might be introduced is by a country adopting an open economy...

There is a broad consensus that the soft US dollar pegs operated by a number of Asian countries prior to 1997 contributed to the regional financial crisis of 1997-98. There is, however, much less agreement on the types of exchange rate regimes operated by many Asian countries since the crisis....