IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v70y1980i2p374-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Efficiency of Foreign Exchange Markets and Measures of Turbulence

Author

Listed:
  • Frenkel, Jacob A
  • Mussa, Michael L

Abstract

Since the move to generalized floating in1973, exchange rates between major currencies have displayed large fluctuations. This turbulence of foreign exchange rates is an important concern of government policy and its explanation is a challenge for theories of foreign exchange market behavior. In Section I of this paper, we document the extent of turbulence in foreign exchange markets by examining (i) the magnitude of short-run variations in exchange rates relative to other measures of economic variability; (ii) the degree of divergence between actual and expected changes in exchange rates; and (iii) the extent to which exchange-rate movements have diverged from movements of relative national price levels. In Section II, we provide a general explanation of this turbulence in terms of the modern "asset market theory" to exchange-rate determination. This theory emphasizes that exchange rates, like the prices of other assets determined in organized markets, are strongly influenced by the market's expectation of future events. In this context, we also discuss the narrower technical question of "foreign exchange market efficiency." Finally, in Section III, we address the question of whether turbulence in the foreign exchange markets has been "excessive" and what policy measures can (or should) be taken to reduce it.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Frenkel, Jacob A & Mussa, Michael L, 1980. "The Efficiency of Foreign Exchange Markets and Measures of Turbulence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(2), pages 374-381, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:70:y:1980:i:2:p:374-81
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282%28198005%2970%3A2%3C374%3ATEOFEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J&origin=repec
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to JSTOR subscribers. See http://www.jstor.org for details.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stanley W. Black, 1972. "International money markets and flexible exchange rates," Staff Studies 70, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frenkel, Jacob A. & Mussa, Michael L., 1985. "Asset markets, exchange rates and the balance of payments," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 679-747, Elsevier.
    2. Charles van Marrewijk, 2005. "Basic Exchange Rate Theories," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-024/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Maurice Obstfeld, 1995. "Intenational Currency Experience: New Lessons and Lessons Relearned," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 119-220.
    4. repec:ilo:ilowps:234932 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Andrew K. Rose, 1994. "A Survey of Empirical Research on Nominal Exchange Rates," NBER Working Papers 4865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Lance Girton & Dale W. Henderson, 1977. "Critical determinants of the effectiveness of monetary policy in the open economy," International Finance Discussion Papers 107, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Christelle Lecourt, 2000. "Dépendance de court et de long terme des rendements de taux de change," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 146(5), pages 127-137.
    8. Engel, Charles & Rodrigues, Anthony P, 1989. "Tests of International CAPM with Time-Varying Covariances," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(2), pages 119-138, April-Jun.
    9. Obstfeld, Maurice & Stockman, Alan C., 1985. "Exchange-rate dynamics," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 18, pages 917-977, Elsevier.
    10. Miksjuk Alexei, 2011. "Study the relation between monetary and exchange rate policy: The case of Belarus," EERC Working Paper Series 11/16e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    11. Awad, Taleb Mohammad, 1987. "International monetary and exchange rate policies and world agricultural markets: the case of soybeans and soybean products," ISU General Staff Papers 198701010800009611, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Lance Girton & Dale W. Henderson, 1976. "Central bank operations in foreign and domestic assets under fixed and flexible exchange rates," International Finance Discussion Papers 83, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Mr. Akito Matsumoto & Mr. Charles Engel, 2005. "Portfolio Choice in a Monetary Open-Economy DSGE Model," IMF Working Papers 2005/165, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Emmanuel Farhi & Ivan Werning, 2012. "Dealing with the Trilemma: Optimal Capital Controls with Fixed Exchange Rates," NBER Working Papers 18199, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1984. "Tests of Monetary and Portfolio Balance Models of Exchange Rate Determination," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rate Theory and Practice, pages 239-260, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Michael L. Mussa, 1984. "The Theory of Exchange Rate Determination," NBER Chapters, in: Exchange Rate Theory and Practice, pages 13-78, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:70:y:1980:i:2:p:374-81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.