A New Macro-Financial System for a Stable and Crisis-resilient Growth in Korea
JEL Classification: E6, F2, F4
Abstract
A structuralist macroeconomics perspective is taken to interpret the two recent financial crises in Korea, and new policy framework and reform measures are suggested to build a crisis-resilient macro-financial system. This paper focuses on the “Frenkel-Neftci” cycle (Taylor 1998) and the two kinds of expected spreads, interest spread and capital gain spreads, which initially motivate foreign investment in emerging economies. To establish a crisis-resilient macro-financial system, a new macro policy framework that can be described as “an intermediate system” is proposed, with full capital mobility but with an explicit option of Tobin taxes, flexible basket, band, and crawl (BBC) exchange rate system, and relative independence in monetary policy striking a new balance between interest rates and exchange rate targeting. An intermediate system is proposed because it is not easy to prevent the “two kinds of spreads” from happening simultaneously in a standard open macroeconomic policy setting.
Keywords:
Financial crises, BBC (basket, bands, and crawl), Tobin taxes, Intermediate system, Capital controlsAcknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant (RISA 2009-6) from the Research Institute for Social Advancement. The authors would like to thank Wai Mun Chia, Doowon Lee, Soyoung Kim, and Inhyung Lee for their helpful comments or information; and Jin Son for research assistance.
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