The foreign exchange market is the largest, fastest-growing financial market in the world. Yet conventional macroeconomic approaches do not explain why people trade foreign exchange. At the same time, they fail to explain the short-run determinants of the exchange rate. These nine innovative essays use a microstructure approach to analyze the workings of the foreign exchange market, with special emphasis on institutional aspects and the actual behavior of market participants. They examine the volume of transactions, heterogeneity of traders, the time of day and location of trading, the bid-ask spread, and the high level of exchange rate volatility that has puzzled many observers. They also consider the structure of the market, including such issues as nontransparency, asymmetric information, liquidity trading, the use of automated brokers, the relationship between spot and derivative markets, and the importance of systemic risk in the market. This timely volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in the economics of international finance.

This book will provide a thorough introduction to the foreign exchange markets, looking at the main products through to the techniques used, coverage of the main participants, details of the various players, and an understanding of the jargon used in everyday dealings. Written in a concise and accessible manner, it will be an ideal introduction for anyone looking to become involved in the FX markets, from dealing rooms or sales perspectives, to novice investors. The new edition has been updated to reflect the changes that have taken place in the industry over the past few years. Most chapters have been enhanced and this new edition now features new material on the psychology of trading, the psychology of price movement and online trading.

In 1978, China embarked on a gradual but far-reaching reform of its economic system. This paper focuses on the achievements so far in reforming the financial sector, the legal framework for financial transactions, the payments system, and the monetary policy and foreign exchange system. It also analyzes the tasks ahead to achieve the goals set in these areas for the year 2000.

We demonstrate empirically that not all capital flows influence exchange rates equally: Capital flows induced by foreign investors’ stock market transactions have both an economically significant and a permanent impact on exchange rates, whereas capital flows induced by foreign investors’ transactions in government bond markets do not. We relate these differences in the price impact of capital flows to differences in the amounts of private information conveyed by these flows. Our empirical findings are based on novel, daily-frequency datasets on prices and quantities of all transactions of foreign investors in the stock, bond, and onshore FX markets of Thailand.

This is the 64th issue of the AREAER. It provides a description of the foreign exchange arrangements, exchange and trade systems, and capital controls of all IMF member countries. It also provides information on the operation of foreign exchange markets and controls on international trade. It describes controls on capital transactions and measures implemented in the financial sector, including prudential measures. In addition, it reports on exchange measures imposed by member countries for security reasons. A single table provides a snapshot of the exchange and trade systems of all IMF member countries. The Overview describes in detail how the general trend toward foreign exchange liberalization continued during 2012, alongside a strengthening of the financial sector regulatory framework. The AREAER is available in several formats. The Overview in print and online, and the detailed information for each of the 191 member countries and territories is included on a CD that accompanies the printed Overview and in an online database, AREAER Online. In addition to the information on the exchange and trade system of IMF member countries in 2012, AREAER Online contains historical data published in previous issues of the AREAER. It is searchable by year, country, and category of measure and allows cross country comparisons for time series.

For about three decades until the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), Covered Interest Parity (CIP) appeared to hold quite closely—even as a broad macroeconomic relationship applying to daily or weekly data. Not only have CIP deviations significantly increased since the GFC, but potential macrofinancial drivers of the variation in CIP deviations have also become significant. The variation in CIP deviations seems to be associated with multiple factors, not only regulatory changes. Most of these do not display a uniform importance across currency pairs and time, and some are associated with possible temporary considerations (such as asynchronous monetary policy cycles).

A comprehensive guide to financial econometrics Financial econometrics is a quest for models that describe financial time series such as prices, returns, interest rates, and exchange rates. In Financial Econometrics, readers will be introduced to this growing discipline and the concepts and theories associated with it, including background material on probability theory and statistics. The experienced author team uses real-world data where possible and brings in the results of published research provided by investment banking firms and journals. Financial Econometrics clearly explains the techniques presented and provides illustrative examples for the topics discussed. Svetlozar T. Rachev, PhD (Karlsruhe, Germany) is currently Chair-Professor at the University of Karlsruhe. Stefan Mittnik, PhD (Munich, Germany) is Professor of Financial Econometrics at the University of Munich. Frank J. Fabozzi, PhD, CFA, CFP (New Hope, PA) is an adjunct professor of Finance at Yale University’s School of Management. Sergio M. Focardi (Paris, France) is a founding partner of the Paris-based consulting firm The Intertek Group. Teo Jasic, PhD, (Frankfurt, Germany) is a senior manager with a leading international management consultancy firm in Frankfurt.