Abstract
Should or will the yuan depreciate? This is an important question widely speculated in world financial markets and intensively debated in China in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis in 1997. The present paper examines in detail the fundamentals that determine the exchange rate in China and concludes with two important findings. One is that the past two decades of economic reform has made domestic prices in China sufficiently market-determined and linked to world prices so that the exchange rate can serve as an effective nominal anchor. Exchange rate stability leads to domestic price stability. The other result is that because of the flexibility of domestic prices, a change in the exchange rate has only a modest and ephemeral effect on the terms of trade and trade flows. Therefore, exchange rate flexibility is not essential to keep the current account in balance. Such evidence suggests that China should continue the policy to maintain exchange rate stability, as it has done since 1994.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
