Debt Deleveraging and the Exchange Rate

Working Paper: NBER ID: w17944

Authors: Pierpaolo Benigno; Federica Romei

Abstract: Deleveraging from high debt can provoke deep recession with significant international side effects. The exchange rate of the deleveraging country will depreciate in the short run and appreciate in the long run. The real interest rate will fall by more than in the rest of the world. Bounds and policies that constrain the adjustment can prolong and deepen the recession. Early exit strategies from accommodating monetary policy can be quite harmful, as can such other policies as keeping interest rates too high during the deleveraging period. The analysis also applies to a monetary union facing internal adjustment of current account imbalances.

Keywords: No keywords provided

JEL Codes: E52; F32; F41


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
deleveraging (G33)short-term depreciation of exchange rate (F31)
deleveraging (G33)long-term appreciation of exchange rate (F31)
deleveraging (G33)fall in real interest rate (E43)
zero lower bound on nominal interest rates (E43)prolonged recession (E32)
monetary policy decisions (E52)trajectory of the economy during deleveraging (E32)
constraints on adjustment mechanisms (F32)prolonged economic contraction (E32)

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