Black market exchange rate, currency substitution and the demand for money in LDCs

Abstract

Mundell's conjecture in 1963 that the demand for money could depend on the exchange rate in addition to income and interest rate has received some attention in the literature by including the official exchange rate and estimating the money demand in a few developed countries. In less developed countries, since there is a black market for foreign exchange, it has been suggested that the black market exchange rate rather than the official rate should be the determinant of the demand for money in LDCs. This proposition is tested by estimating the demand for money for 25 LDCs using the bounds testing approach to cointegration. The main conclusion is that while in some LDCs, the black market rate enters into the formulation of the demand for money, in some others the official rate is the determinant. The black market premium also played a role in some countries.