Government Policies toward the Foreign Exchange Market

# 第20章 Government Policies toward the Foreign Exchange Market

## 章节概览
Government Policies toward the Foreign Exchange Market The first half of this chapter examines types of government policies toward the foreign exchange market and provides analysis of government intervention and exchange controls. The second half examines the actual policies that governments have adopted during the past 150 years. Government policies toward the foreign exchange market exist for a variety of reasons, including to reduce variability in exchange rates, to keep the exchange value of its currency either high or low, or to raise national pride in a steady or strong currency.

## 知识点
### 1. Two Aspects: Rate Flexibility and Restrictions on Use
- 教学说明：Government policies toward the foreign exchange market exist for a variety of reasons, including to reduce variability in exchange rates, to keep the exchange value of its currency either high or low, or to raise national pride in a steady or strong currency. The two major aspects of government policies toward the foreign exchange market are policies toward the exchange rate itself and policies that permit or restrict access to the foreign exchange market.
- 支撑要点：Policy toward the level and variability of the (nominal spot) exchange rate. In simple terms, it is the choice between a floating exchange rate and a fixed exchange rate.
- 支撑要点：Restrictions (if any) on the use of the foreign exchange market. These restrictions are generally called
- 支撑要点：exchange controls
- 来源类型：manual

### 2. Floating Exchange Rate
- 教学说明：The basic choice that a government faces with its policy toward the exchange rate itself is between an exchange rate that is floating and one that is set or fixed by the government. In the polar case of a clean float the government permits private market demand and supply to set the exchange rate with no direct involvement by government officials.
- 支撑要点：Policy toward the level and variability of the (nominal spot) exchange rate. In simple terms, it is the choice between a floating exchange rate and a fixed exchange rate.
- 支撑要点：Restrictions (if any) on the use of the foreign exchange market. These restrictions are generally called
- 支撑要点：exchange controls
- 来源类型：manual

### 3. Fixed Exchange Rate
- 教学说明：The basic choice that a government faces with its policy toward the exchange rate itself is between an exchange rate that is floating and one that is set or fixed by the government. In the polar case of a clean float the government permits private market demand and supply to set the exchange rate with no direct involvement by government officials.
- 支撑要点：Policy toward the level and variability of the (nominal spot) exchange rate. In simple terms, it is the choice between a floating exchange rate and a fixed exchange rate.
- 支撑要点：Restrictions (if any) on the use of the foreign exchange market. These restrictions are generally called
- 支撑要点：exchange controls
- 来源类型：manual

### 4. Defense Through Official Intervention
- 教学说明：The first line of defense is often official intervention. If the country's currency is experiencing pressure toward depreciation, the country's monetary authority can defend the fixed rate by entering the foreign exchange market to buy domestic currency and sell foreign currency. The intervention is financing the country's official settlements balance deficit and preventing this excess private demand for foreign currency from driving the foreign currency's value above the top of the band.
- 支撑要点：Defending against depreciation
- 支撑要点：Defending against appreciation
- 支撑要点：Temporary disequilibrium
- 来源类型：manual

### 5. Exchange Controls
- 教学说明：The first half of this chapter examines types of government policies toward the foreign exchange market and provides analysis of government intervention and exchange controls. The second half examines the actual policies that governments have adopted during the past 150 years.
- 支撑要点：Policy toward the level and variability of the (nominal spot) exchange rate. In simple terms, it is the choice between a floating exchange rate and a fixed exchange rate.
- 支撑要点：Restrictions (if any) on the use of the foreign exchange market. These restrictions are generally called
- 支撑要点：exchange controls
- 来源类型：manual

### 6. International Currency Experience
- 教学说明：11.Key features of the interwar currency experience were that exchange rates were highly variable, especially during the first years after World War I and during the early 1930s. Speculation seemed to add to the instability, and governments sometimes appeared to manipulate the exchange-rate values of their currencies to gain competitive advantage.
- 支撑要点：Gold Standard, 1870-1914
- 支撑要点：Gold value of each currency was fixed.
- 支撑要点：Britain was the central country.
- 来源类型：manual

### 7. What to Fix To?
- 教学说明：If the government chooses to impose a fixed exchange rate, there are three additional choices that the government faces. First, what to fix to? Answers could include gold (or some other commodity), the U.S. dollar or some other single currency, or a basket of currencies. (With the exception of the specific examination of the gold standard, subsequent discussion assumes that a fix is to one or several foreign currencies.) Second, when to change the fixed exchange rate?
- 支撑要点：A fixed rate means that the value of a country’s currency is fixed to something else, but what is this something else?
- 支撑要点：A commodity (e.g. gold)?
- 支撑要点：A single currency (e.g. dollar or euro)?
- 来源类型：manual

### 8. When to Change the Fixed Rate?
- 教学说明：If the government chooses to impose a fixed exchange rate, there are three additional choices that the government faces. First, what to fix to? Answers could include gold (or some other commodity), the U.S. dollar or some other single currency, or a basket of currencies. (With the exception of the specific examination of the gold standard, subsequent discussion assumes that a fix is to one or several foreign currencies.) Second, when to change the fixed exchange rate?
- 支撑要点：Never
- 支撑要点：: Permanently fixed rate. Not credible.
- 支撑要点：Occasionally
- 来源类型：manual

## 案例
### 案例 1: A compromise between the United States and Britain led to an ...
A compromise between the United States and Britain led to an agreement in 1944 that established the Bretton Woods System, a regime of adjustable pegged exchange rates. While this system looked successful for almost two decades, it also had two defects. One was that it set up one-way speculative gambles when currencies were in trouble.

### 案例 2: The U.S. government probably could have maintained the system, at least ...
The U.S. government probably could have maintained the system, at least for longer than it actually lasted, if it had been willing to change its domestic policies, tightening up on government spending to contract the economy and cool off its inflation. The United States instead reacted by changing the rules of Bretton Woods, severing the link between the private gold market and the official gold price in 1968 and suspending gold convertibility and forcing other countries to revalue their currencies in 1971.

### 案例 3: The current system is often described as a system of managed ...
The current system is often described as a system of managed floating exchange rates, and the trend is generally in this direction. But there is also much official resistance to market-driven exchange rates. Some of the resistance is seen in the active management of floating exchange rates. More dramatically, the countries of the European Union have attempted to create a zone of stability in Europe, first by using the snake within the tunnel, then through the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Monetary System, and now with European Monetary Union and the euro.

### 案例 4: The actual current system is in many ways a nonsystem—countries can ...
The actual current system is in many ways a nonsystem—countries can choose almost any exchange rate policies that they want, and there is much variety. Two major blocs of currencies exist—one is the U.S. dollar and the currencies fixed to it, and the other is the countries adopting the euro and other currencies fixed to the euro.

## 习题
### 题目 1
________ are in place when a country's government places restrictions on the conversion of the domestic currency into foreign currency or vice versa.
- A) Exchange controls
- B) Capital controls
- C) Official interventions
- D) Adjustable pegs

### 题目 2
Which of the following are in place when government imposes limits on or requires approvals for payments related to some (or all) international financial investment activities?
- A) Exchange controls
- B) Capital controls
- C) Official interventions
- D) Adjustable pegs

### 题目 3
With a(n) ________, the government allows the market to determine the exchange rate of a currency.
- A) adjustable peg
- B) dirty float
- C) crawling peg
- D) clean float

### 题目 4
Under which of the following policies does the government enter the foreign exchange market and buy or sell foreign currency to influence the exchange rate of the domestic currency?
- A) Exchange controls
- B) Capital controls
- C) Official intervention
- D) Devaluation or revaluation

### 题目 5
Which of the following terms describes an exchange rate regime in which the government intervenes in the foreign exchange market to influence the market-determined exchange rate?
- A) Fully convertible
- B) Currency control
- C) Managed float
- D) Clean float

### 题目 6
Which of the following statements is true?
- A) The special drawing right (SDR) is a basket of currencies made up of U.S. dollars, euros, and Japanese yen.
- B) Today, South Africa is a country that has a currency fixed to gold.
- C) Currencies whose prices are fixed to the same commodity would have currency exchange rates that are also fixed.
- D) A country maintains a cleanly floating exchange rate value to neutralize the international value of its currency.

### 题目 7
Which of the following terms is used to describe an exchange rate regime in which the rate is fixed to a currency or basket of currencies?
- A) Exchange controls
- B) Pegged exchange rate
- C) Managed float
- D) Fully convertible

### 题目 8
An exchange rate regime in which the government may change the fixed rate in the face of a significant disequilibrium in the country's international position is called a(n)
- A) crawling pegged exchange rate.
- B) currency board.
- C) adjustable peg.
- D) managed float.

## 参考答案
- 题目 1: 答案：A | 选项内容：Exchange controls | Topic：Two Aspects: Rate Flexibility and Restrictions on Use | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 2: 答案：B | 选项内容：Capital controls | Topic：Two Aspects: Rate Flexibility and Restrictions on Use | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 3: 答案：D | 选项内容：clean float | Topic：Floating Exchange Rate | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 4: 答案：C | 选项内容：Official intervention | Topic：Floating Exchange Rate | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 5: 答案：C | 选项内容：Managed float | Topic：Floating Exchange Rate | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 6: 答案：C | 选项内容：Currencies whose prices are fixed to the same commodity would have currency exchange rates that are also fixed. | Topic：Fixed Exchange Rate | Difficulty：2 Medium
- 题目 7: 答案：B | 选项内容：Pegged exchange rate | Topic：Fixed Exchange Rate | Difficulty：1 Easy
- 题目 8: 答案：C | 选项内容：adjustable peg. | Topic：Fixed Exchange Rate | Difficulty：1 Easy

## AI / NextLab 使用建议
- Mundell Trilemma Lab：将《Government Policies toward the Foreign Exchange Market》对应的理论或政策机制放到贸易分析实验室中做交互式验证。 https://digitconnection.ai/nextlab/