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U.S. Populist Rhetoric and Currency Returns

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  • Taylor, Mark
  • Filippou, Ilias
  • Gozluklu, Arie
  • Nguyen, My

Abstract

We develop a novel measure of U.S. populist rhetoric. Aggregate Populist Rhetoric (APR) Index spikes around populist events. We decompose the APR Index into sub-indices. We show that APR Index and International Relations sub-index are negatively priced in the cross-section of currency excess returns. Currencies that perform well (badly) when U.S. populist rhetoric is high yield low (high) expected excess returns. Investors require high risk premium for holding currencies which underperform in times of rising U.S. populist rhetoric, especially in the post-crisis period. A long-short strategy that buys (sells) currencies with high (low) exposure to U.S. populism offers strong diversification benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Taylor, Mark & Filippou, Ilias & Gozluklu, Arie & Nguyen, My, 2020. "U.S. Populist Rhetoric and Currency Returns," CEPR Discussion Papers 15054, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15054
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Populism; Foreign exchange market; Textual analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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