Japan’s Foreign Assets and Liabilities: Implications for the External Accounts

Japan’s Foreign Assets and Liabilities: Implications for the External Accounts PDF Author: Mariana Colacelli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513568272
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
The composition of Japan’s current account balance has changed over time, with an increasing income balance primarily reflecting a growing net foreign asset position and higher corporate saving. A comparison of Japan’s income balance with peer countries highlights: (i) relatively high yields on FDI assets, and (ii) very low FDI liabilities in Japan. Panel estimation is used to derive separate exchange rate elasticities for income credit and debit, with novel accounting that disentangles the mechanical from the economic response to exchange rate fluctuations. Despite the changing composition of Japan’s current account balance, its response to exchange rate movements still operates mostly through the traditional trade channel, with a small but reinforcing contribution from the income balance.

Japan’s Foreign Assets and Liabilities: Implications for the External Accounts

Japan’s Foreign Assets and Liabilities: Implications for the External Accounts PDF Author: Mariana Colacelli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513568272
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
The composition of Japan’s current account balance has changed over time, with an increasing income balance primarily reflecting a growing net foreign asset position and higher corporate saving. A comparison of Japan’s income balance with peer countries highlights: (i) relatively high yields on FDI assets, and (ii) very low FDI liabilities in Japan. Panel estimation is used to derive separate exchange rate elasticities for income credit and debit, with novel accounting that disentangles the mechanical from the economic response to exchange rate fluctuations. Despite the changing composition of Japan’s current account balance, its response to exchange rate movements still operates mostly through the traditional trade channel, with a small but reinforcing contribution from the income balance.

Implications for the Yen of Japanese Current Account Adjustment

Implications for the Yen of Japanese Current Account Adjustment PDF Author: Maurice Obstfeld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Balance of payments
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
This paper presents a quantitative evaluation of the effect on the yen of some alternative scenarios under which Japan reaches current account balance. The analytical framework is a global general-equilibrium model, based closely on Obstfeld and Rogoff (2005a, 2005b), within which relative prices clear the world markets for traded goods as well as the domestic markets for nontraded goods. Depending on assumptions about the critical substitution elasticities underlying the model, the yen could appreciate by as much as 10 per cent for each 1 percent of GDP reduction in its current account surplus. The effect would be smaller if substitution elasticities are larger, or if adjustment is accompanied by an expansion of Japanese nontradable output, the latter presumably implied by a return to a more efficient level of labor utilization.--Author's desription.

The Japanese Yen as an International Currency

The Japanese Yen as an International Currency PDF Author: Mr.George S. Tavlas
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451930992
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
The role of the Japanese yen as an international currency is assessed. It is found that the determinants of international-currency use imply some increase for the yen’s use in international finance; however, the implications for the yen’s use in international trade are mixed. It is also shown that, despite Japan’s emergence as the world’s largest net creditor nation, Japan’s capital outflows have not significantly facilitated the yen’s internationalization. Data are presented showing that, although the yen’s use as an international currency has increased, it is still rather modest. Wider use of the yen as a regional currency in Asia has occurred, though a “yen-zone” does not appear to be emerging.

Japan's Public Sector Balance Sheet

Japan's Public Sector Balance Sheet PDF Author: Yugo Koshima
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513514520
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
This paper compiles and reviews the evolution of Japan’s Public Sector Balance Sheet (PSBS). In the past, large crossholdings of assets and liabilities within the public sector played a role in sustaining a high level of public debt and low interest rates. The Fiscal Investment and Loan Fund (FILF) channeled all postal deposits and pension savings to financing of public sector borrowing. After the FILF refrom in 2000, however, the Post Bank and pension funds shifted their assets to the portfolio investments and are seeking to maximize risk-adjusted returns. This has changed the implications of crossholdings for public debt management. In the future, population aging is expected to add more pressures on the PSBS, which already saw a considerable decrease of net worth over the last three decades.

International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484350162
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This update of the guidelines published in 2001 sets forth the underlying framework for the Reserves Data Template and provides operational advice for its use. The updated version also includes three new appendices aimed at assisting member countries in reporting the required data.

The External Wealth of Nations

The External Wealth of Nations PDF Author: Mr. Gian-Maria Milesi-Ferretti
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451899254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Capital flows are closely monitored, but surprisingly little is known about the stocks of external assets and liabilities held by countries, especially in the developing world. This paper constructs estimates of foreign assets and liabilities and their equity and debt subcomponents for 66 industrial and developing countries for the period 1970-97. It explores the sensitivity of estimates of stock positions to the treatment of valuation effects not captured in balance of payments data. Finally, it characterizes the stylized facts of estimated stocks and asks whether there are trends in net foreign asset positions and differences in debt-equity ratios across countries.

Europe and Global Imbalances

Europe and Global Imbalances PDF Author: Philip R. Lane
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
Although Europe in the aggregate is a not a major contributor to global current account imbalances, its trade and financial linkages with the rest of the world mean that it will still be affected by a shift in the current configuration of external deficits and surpluses. We assess the macroeconomic impact on Europe of global current account adjustment under alternative scenarios, emphasizing both trade and financial channels. Finally, we consider heterogeneous exposure across individual European economies to external adjustment shocks.

Macroeconomics for Professionals

Macroeconomics for Professionals PDF Author: Leslie Lipschitz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108568467
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Understanding macroeconomic developments and policies in the twenty-first century is daunting: policy-makers face the combined challenges of supporting economic activity and employment, keeping inflation low and risks of financial crises at bay, and navigating the ever-tighter linkages of globalization. Many professionals face demands to evaluate the implications of developments and policies for their business, financial, or public policy decisions. Macroeconomics for Professionals provides a concise, rigorous, yet intuitive framework for assessing a country's macroeconomic outlook and policies. Drawing on years of experience at the International Monetary Fund, Leslie Lipschitz and Susan Schadler have created an operating manual for professional applied economists and all those required to evaluate economic analysis.

The Curious Case of the Yen as a Safe Haven Currency

The Curious Case of the Yen as a Safe Haven Currency PDF Author: Mr.Dennis P. J. Botman
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475513429
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Book Description
During risk-off episodes, the yen is a safe haven currency and on average appreciates against the U.S. dollar. We investigate the proximate causes of yen risk-off appreciations. We find that neither capital inflows nor expectations of the future monetary policy stance can explain the yen’s safe haven behavior. In contrast, we find evidence that changes in market participants’ risk perceptions trigger derivatives trading, which in turn lead to changes in the spot exchange rate without capital flows. Specifically, we find that risk-off episodes coincide with forward hedging and reduced net short positions or a buildup of net long positions in yen. These empirical findings suggest that offshore and complex financial transactions should be part of spillover analyses and that the effectiveness of capital flow management measures or monetary policy coordination to address excessive exchange rate volatility might be limited in certain cases.

A Global Perspective on External Positions

A Global Perspective on External Positions PDF Author: Philip R. Lane
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
This paper highlights the increased dispersion in net external positions in recent years, particularly among industrial countries. It provides a simple accounting framework that disentangles the factors driving the accumulation of external assets and liabilities (such as trade imbalances, investment income flows, and capital gains) for major external creditors and debtors. It also examines the factors driving the foreign asset portfolio of international investors, with a special focus on the weight of U.S. liabilities in the rest of the world's stock of external assets. Finally, it relates the empirical evidence to the current debate about the roles of portfolio balance effects and exchange rate adjustment in shaping the external adjustment process.