This is a reprint of a previously published book. It consists of a series of papers by experts in the field on how the exchange rate volatility of the 1980s affected the financial policies of international firms.

"Exchange Rates and the Firm is the first book to provide an integrated treatment of financial and operating strategies with respect to exchange rate variability. Theory and evidence on strategies for handling exchange rate variability from many areas of study in economics are assembled and assessed, with a focus on operating strategies. The non-technical presentation makes it well suited for advanced undergraduate and MBA students, practitioners and researchers who want an accessible synthesis of current research in this topical and important field of economic theory and practice."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Most trade is invoiced in very few currencies. Despite this, the Mundell-Fleming benchmark and its variants focus on pricing in the producer’s currency or in local currency. We model instead a ‘dominant currency paradigm’ for small open economies characterized by three features: pricing in a dominant currency; pricing complementarities, and imported input use in production. Under this paradigm: (a) the terms-of-trade is stable; (b) dominant currency exchange rate pass-through into export and import prices is high regardless of destination or origin of goods; (c) exchange rate pass-through of non-dominant currencies is small; (d) expenditure switching occurs mostly via imports, driven by the dollar exchange rate while exports respond weakly, if at all; (e) strengthening of the dominant currency relative to non-dominant ones can negatively impact global trade; (f) optimal monetary policy targets deviations from the law of one price arising from dominant currency fluctuations, in addition to the inflation and output gap. Using data from Colombia we document strong support for the dominant currency paradigm.

The recent financial crisis has troubled the US, Europe, and beyond, and is indicative of the integrated world in which we live. Today, transactions take place with the use of foreign currencies, and their values affect the nations' economies and their citizens' welfare. Exchange Rates and International Financial Economics provides readers with the historic, theoretical, and practical knowledge of these relative prices among currencies. While much of the previous work on the topic has been simply descriptive or theoretical, Kallianiotis gives a unique and intimate understanding of international exchange rates and their place in an increasingly globalized world.

Using a unique dataset with information on the currency composition of firms' assets and liabilities in six Latin-American countries, I investigate how the choice of exchange rate regime affects firms' foreign currency borrowing decisions and the associated currency mismatches in their balance sheets. I find that after countries switch from pegged to floating exchange rate regimes, firms reduce their levels of foreign currency exposures, in two ways. First, they reduce the share of debt contracted in foreign currency. Second, firms match more systematically their foreign currency liabilities with assets denominated in foreign currency and export revenues--effectively reducing their vulnerability to exchange rate shocks. More broadly, the study provides novel evidence on the impact of exchange rate regimes on the level of un-hedged foreign currency debt in the corporate sector and thus on aggregate financial stability.

Discusses exchange rates and strategic decisions

Praise for Handbook of Exchange Rates “This book is remarkable. I expect it to become the anchor reference for people working in the foreign exchange field.” —Richard K. Lyons, Dean and Professor of Finance, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley “It is quite easily the most wide ranging treaty of expertise on the forex market I have ever come across. I will be keeping a copy close to my fingertips.” —Jim O’Neill, Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management How should we evaluate the forecasting power of models? What are appropriate loss functions for major market participants? Is the exchange rate the only means of adjustment? Handbook of Exchange Rates answers these questions and many more, equipping readers with the relevant concepts and policies for working in today’s international economic climate. Featuring contributions written by leading specialists from the global financial arena, this handbook provides a collection of original ideas on foreign exchange (FX) rates in four succinct sections: • Overview introduces the history of the FX market and exchange rate regimes, discussing key instruments in the trading environment as well as macro and micro approaches to FX determination. • Exchange Rate Models and Methods focuses on forecasting exchange rates, featuring methodological contributions on the statistical methods for evaluating forecast performance, parity relationships, fair value models, and flow–based models. • FX Markets and Products outlines active currency management, currency hedging, hedge accounting; high frequency and algorithmic trading in FX; and FX strategy-based products. • FX Markets and Policy explores the current policies in place in global markets and presents a framework for analyzing financial crises. Throughout the book, topics are explored in-depth alongside their founding principles. Each chapter uses real-world examples from the financial industry and concludes with a summary that outlines key points and concepts. Handbook of Exchange Rates is an essential reference for fund managers and investors as well as practitioners and researchers working in finance, banking, business, and econometrics. The book also serves as a valuable supplement for courses on economics, business, and international finance at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels.

Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775: A Handbook

The first book to provide an integrated treatment of financial and operating strategies to exchange rate variability. The choice of price-setting currency, when and how to adjust prices, the limitations of hedging and segmentation of national markets are some of the issues analyzed. The book investigates the impact of EMU.