Holding International Reserves in an Era of High Capital Mobility

53 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2006

See all articles by Robert P. Flood

Robert P. Flood

International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Research Department; CENTRUM Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Nancy Peregrim Marion

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 2002

Abstract

Why do countries hold so much international reserves? Global reserve holdings (excluding gold) were equivalent to 17 weeks of imports at the end of 1999. That is almost double what they were at the end of 1960 and about 20 percent higher than they were at the start of the 1990s. In this paper we study countries' reserve holdings in light of both the increased financial volatility experienced in the last decade and diminished adherence to fixed exchange rates. We find that buffer-stock reserve models work about as well in the modern floating-rate period as they did during the Bretton Woods regime. During both periods, however, the models' fundamentals explain only a small portion (10-15 percent) of reserves volatility.

Keywords: International reserves, capital mobility

JEL Classification: 11E

Suggested Citation

Flood, Robert P. and Marion, Nancy P., Holding International Reserves in an Era of High Capital Mobility (April 2002). IMF Working Paper No. 02/62, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=879548

Robert P. Flood (Contact Author)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Research Department ( email )

700 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20431
United States
202-623-7667 (Phone)
202-623-6339 (Fax)

CENTRUM Business School

Daniel Alomía Robles s/n
Los Alamos de Monterrico
Surco, Lima, Lima 00001
Peru

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Nancy P. Marion

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
United States
(603) 646-2511 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
272
Abstract Views
6,130
Rank
203,560
PlumX Metrics