Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle Research Articles

Uncovered interest rate, overshooting, and predictability reversal puzzles in an emerging economy

By using realized and survey-based expected exchange rate data, the paper presents five key findings regarding the Uncovered Interest rate Parity (UIP) and related puzzles in an Emerging Market (EM). First, Fama regressions, when not accounting for shifts in the UIP relationship, yield slopes that are statistically identical to one, irrespective of whether survey-based expected exchange rates or realized exchange rates are used. Second, caution is necessary however, as our analysis identifies three distinct sub-periods within each exchange rate measure, each exhibiting varying levels of puzzling behavior. Third, under realized exchange rates, expectation errors can introduce both downward and upward biases or no bias at all, depending on the sub-period. On the other hand, currency risk premiums consistently lead to a downward bias. Under expected exchange rates, currency risk premiums continue to exert a downward bias at varying degrees across sub-periods. Fourth, responses to interest rate differential shocks by expectation errors are pivotal in inducing both downward and upward biases or removing biases altogether when utilizing realized exchange rate data. Fifth, evidence concerning overshooting and reversal puzzles, as well as their link to the UIP puzzle, varies depending on the specific sub-period and the choice of exchange rate measurement, making it more intricate than the previous literature has documented.

Deviations from Rational Expectations and the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle

Deviations from Rational Expectations and the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle

Exchange rate predictability, risk premiums, and predictive system

Uncovered interest rate parity (UIP), a basic assumption in many theoretical models, is known to perform poorly in forecasting exchange rate movements, especially in the short run. One possible reason for this failure is the existence of unobservable risk premium. We estimate the unobservable risk premium with a Bayesian approach having the risk premium as a latent variable and the implied volatility of at-the-money currency options as an imperfect predictor. We find in most cases that expected exchange rate changes, constructed from forward-spot differentials and estimated risk premiums, track actual exchange rate changes more closely than do the fitted values of the predictive regression (i.e. the Fama regression). An out-of-sample analysis reveals that adding the estimated risk premium greatly improves the short-run predictability of exchange rates in general. These findings strongly suggest that the risk premium is important in understanding the dynamics of exchange rate and the UIP puzzle.

Differential risk premiums and the UIP puzzle

AbstractWe respecify the uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) conditions by inverting the market price of the risk (Sharpe ratio) formula. Our empirical model provides new insight indicating that violations to the UIP stem from the existence of a risk premium in the exchange rates and from observed market return differentials being a noisy statistic of the markets’ expected return differentials in our respecified model. Using an integrated macro‐micro structure framework for expected market return differentials improves our model fit and the validity of UIP.

The Present-Value Model of the Exchange Rate with a Persistently Time-Varying Risk Premium: Evidence from the Dollar-Yen Rate

In this study, I formulate a present value model of the exchange rate with a risk premium and introduce exchange rate risk exposure as a factor of the persistently time-varying risk premium. The present value model incorporates expectations for the distant future, and therefore, indicates that spot exchange rate variations reflect changes in long-run future interest rate differential and exchange rate expectations, in addition to a risk premium for long-run risk exposure. I also conduct empirical analyses using mainly the USD/JPY rate and other exchange rates against the USD. The Japanese current account balance provides a better estimation of the change in USD/JPY rate market risk exposure as USD invoiced trades are prevalent in Japan. Then, I demonstrate the possibility that a persistently time-varying risk premium offsets the effect of the interest rate differential on exchange rate variations, which can be a solution to the uncovered interest rate parity puzzle.

Order Flows, Differential Risk Premiums, and the UIP Puzzle

We jointly re-specify the relative purchasing power parity (RPPP) and uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) conditions as the (log) ratio of stochastic discount factors by inverting the market price of risk formula. Our empirical model provides new insights, which show that violations to UIP and RPPP both stem from the existence of a risk premium in exchange rates and from observed market return differentials being a noisy statistic of the markets' expected return differentials in our re-specified model. Using an integrated macro-microstructure framework for expected market return differentials improves our model fit and the validity of UIP and RPPP.

Violations of uncovered interest rate parity and international exchange rate dependences

The uncovered interest rate parity puzzle questions the economic relation existing between short term interest rate differentials and exchange rates. One would indeed expect that the differential of interest rates between two countries should be offset by an opposite evolution of the exchange rate between them, hence ruling out any limited risk profit opportunities. However, it has been shown empirically that this relation is not holding and accordingly has led, over the past two decades, to the reinforcement of a well-known trading strategy in financial markets, namely the currency carry trade. This paper investigates how highly leveraged, mass speculator behaviour affects the dependence structure of currency returns. We propose a rigorous statistical modelling approach using two complementary techniques in order to demonstrate that speculative carry trade volumes are informative in both the covariance and tail dependence of high and low interest rate currency returns, whereas the price based factors previously suggested in the literature hold little explanatory power. We add a new feature to the understanding of the link between the UIP condition and the carry trade strategy, specifically attributed to the large joint exchange rate movements in high and low risk environments.

An Incomplete Markets Explanation of the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle

AbstractA large literature attributes failure of uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) to the existence of a time‐varying risk premium. This paper presents a mechanism in a simple two‐country two‐good endowment economy with incomplete markets that generates sizeable deviations from UIP. In a parameterization where international wealth effects are important, liquidity constraints on an internationally traded bond and agents’ strong resulting precautionary motives successfully generates a time‐varying risk premium: countries that have accumulated large outstanding external positions have, being closer to the constraints, stronger precautionary motives and their asset carries a risk premium.

Monetary Policy and the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle: Theory and Empirical Results for Oceania

This article offers a theory-based explanation for why high- interest-rate countries see their currencies appreciate, the so-called UIP puzzle. The central bank bases its target rule on the lag of the policy instrument and the CPI inflation rate. When combined with a stylised model of an open economy, the endogenous target rule can account for the systematic negative relation between the change in the exchange rate and the lagged interest rate differential. Foreign inflation and the foreign interest rate also affect nominal exchange rate changes. The model-based behaviour of the exchange rate is tested on New Zealand and Australian data with mixed results.

Reinvestigating the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle Via Analysis of Multivariate Tail Dependence in Currency Carry Trades

The currency carry trade is the investment strategy that involves selling low interest rate currencies in order to purchase higher interest rate currencies, thus profiting from the interest rate differentials. This is a well known financial puzzle to explain, since assuming foreign exchange risk is uninhibited and the markets have rational risk-neutral investors, then one would not expect profits from such strategies. That is uncovered interest rate parity (UIP), the parity condition in which exposure to foreign exchange risk, with unanticipated changes in exchange rates, should result in an outcome that changes in the exchange rate should offset the potential to profit from the interest rate differentials. Given foreign exchange market equilibrium, the interest rate parity condition implies that the expected return on domestic assets will equal the exchange rate-adjusted expected return on foreign currency assets. However, it has been shown empirically, that investors can actually earn profits by borrowing in a country with a lower interest rate, exchanging for foreign currency, and investing in a foreign country with a higher interest rate, whilst allowing for any losses (or gains) from exchanging back to their domestic currency at maturity. Therefore trading strategies that aim to exploit the interest rate differentials can be profitable on average. The intention of this paper is therefore to reinterpret the currency carry trade puzzle in light of heavy tailed marginal models coupled with multivariate tail dependence features. We analyse the returns of currency carry trade portfolios adjusting for tail dependence risk. To achieve this analysis of the multivariate extreme tail dependence we develop several parametric models and perform detailed model comparison. It is thus demonstrated that tail dependencies among specific sets of currencies provide other justifications to the carry trade excess return and also allow us to detect construction and unwinding periods of such carry portfolios.

General equilibrium pricing of currency and currency options

This paper presents a consumption-based general equilibrium model for valuing foreign exchange contingent claims. The model identifies a novel economic mechanism by exploiting highly but imperfectly shared consumption disaster with variable intensities which are the concerns to the representative investor under recursive utility. When applied to the data, the model simultaneously replicates (i) the moderate option-implied volatilities; (ii) substantial variations in the risk-neutral skewness of currency returns; (iii) the uncovered interest rate parity puzzle; and (iv) the first two moments of carry trade returns. Furthermore, the model rationalizes salient features of the aggregate stock, government bonds, and equity index options.

Ambiguity Aversion: Implications for the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle

High interest rate currencies tend to appreciate in the future relative to low interest rate currencies instead of depreciating as uncovered interest parity (UIP) predicts. I construct a model of exchange rate determination in which ambiguity-averse agents face a dynamic filtering problem featuring signals of uncertain precision. Solving a max-min problem, agents act upon a worst-case signal precision and systematically underestimate the hidden state that controls payoffs. Thus, on average, agents next periods perceive positive innovations, which generates an upward re-evaluation of the strategy's profitability and implies ex post departures from UIP. The model also produces predictable expectational errors, negative skewness, and time-series momentum for currency speculation payoffs. (JEL D81, F31, G15)

A Habit‐Based Explanation of the Exchange Rate Risk Premium

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a model that reproduces the uncovered interest rate parity puzzle. Investors have preferences with external habits. Countercyclical risk premia and procyclical real interest rates arise endogenously. During bad times at home, when domestic consumption is close to the habit level, the representative investor is very risk averse. When the domestic investor is more risk averse than her foreign counterpart, the exchange rate is closely tied to domestic consumption growth shocks. The domestic investor therefore expects a positive currency excess return. Because interest rates are low in bad times, expected currency excess returns increase with interest rate differentials.

Monetary Policy and the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity Puzzle

High interest rate currencies tend to appreciate. This is the uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) puzzle. It is primarily a statement about short-term interest rates and how they are related to exchange rates. Short-term interest rates are strongly affected by monetary policy. The UIP puzzle, therefore, can be restated in terms of monetary policy. Do foreign and domestic monetary policies imply exchange rates that violate UIP? We represent monetary policy as foreign and domestic Taylor rules. Foreign and domestic pricing kernels determine the relationship between these Taylor rules and exchange rates. We examine different specifications for the Taylor rule and ask which can resolve the UIP puzzle. We find evidence in favor of a particular asymmetry. If the foreign Taylor rule responds to exchange rate variation but the domestic Taylor rule does not, the model performs better. A calibrated version of our model is consistent with many empirical observations on real and nominal exchange rates, including Fama's negative correlation between interest rate differentials and currency depreciation rates.

The Time-Varying Systematic Risk of Carry Trade Strategies

We explain the currency carry trade performance using an asset pricing model in which factor loadings are regime-dependent rather than constant. Empirical results show that a typical carry trade strategy has much higher exposure to the stock market and is mean-reverting in regimes of high FX volatility. The findings are robust to various extensions. Our regime-dependent pricing model provides significantly smaller pricing errors than a traditional model. Thus, the carry trade performance is better explained by a time-varying systematic risk that increases in volatile markets, suggesting a partial resolution of the Uncovered Interest Rate parity puzzle.

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