August 30th, 2018

Our second Monetary Policy Report is online. Learn more about the recent policy actions of the People´s Bank of China in the last 3 months.

Read the full report

August 22nd, 2018

Discussion Paper 2018/6 is now available: El-Shagi, M. / Yamarik, S.: IMF Conditionality and Capital Controls: Capital Account Liberalization to Capital Inflow Management?

Abstract:

Since the end of the Bretton Woods system, promoting capital account liberalization has been one of the tenants of the IMF. Capital account liberalization was deemed one of the 10 pillars of what was often dubbed the Washington Consensus. Yet things changed drastically with the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. From 2009 to 2012, comments from top IMF officials and staff reports displayed quite clearly that the IMF had revised its position where capital controls could be part of the toolkit. In this paper, we assess the role of the IMF in capital account liberalization from 1995 to 2015. We use a midpoint-inflated ordered probit model to estimate the effects of being under IMF conditionality on capital controls, allowing for different effects for pre- and post-Financial Crisis. We find that the IMF did indeed drive liberalization of capital inflows in the precrisis era, but stopped doing so in the post-crisis period.

GET THE ARTICLE

July 31st 2018

Just in time for the start of the new academic year, take a look at our analysis of the Chinese college admission system. 

Policy Forum 3 (July 2018)Policy Forum 3 (July 2018)

July 14th 2018

Our 5th HenU/INFER Workshop will be held on March 29th and 30th, 2019 (post-conference trip on March 31st). We are excited to announce our keynote speakers for the 2019 workshop - Prof. Lawrence Christiano from Northwestern University and Prof. Randall Wright from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Submission will open in September 2018.

July 9th, 2018

As part of our cooperation with universities from Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa under the umbrella of the BRICS network university, the CFDS is now inviting researchers who work on the BRICS economies to apply for our visiting positions.

July 4th, 2018

Discussion Paper 2018/5 is now available: Rongrong Sun: Monetary Policy Announcements and Market Interest Rates’ Response: Evidence from China

Abstract:

This paper uses the event study to estimate the impact of various monetary policy announcements on market interest rates in China over the 2002-2017 period. I find that financial markets understand the quantitative signals better: the market response to an announced adjustment of the regulated retail interest rate and the required reserve ratio is positive and significant at all maturities of bond rates, but smaller at the long end of the yield curve. However, the market barely responds to announced changes in the qualitative policy stance index, which contains limited vague information and is easily anticipated. Two newly introduced central bank lending rates do not appear to be sufficient to replace the retail interest rate and the reserve ratio in guiding market rates in the post-deregulation era. My results suggest that the PBC adopts a publicly announced short-term interest-rate operating target regime, similar to the Fed’s federal funds rate target.

GET THE ARTICLE

July 4th, 2018

Discussion Paper 2018/4 is now available: Rongrong Sun: Requiem for the Interest-Rate Controls in China

Abstract:

This paper reviews the retail interest-rate-control deregulation in China over the 1993-2015 period and provides a preliminary assessment of the PBC’s replacement monetary framework. I show that the interest-rate controls triggered the development of deposit substitutes that banks used to circumvent the restrictions, which in turn drove deposits out of commercial banks. Concerned by deterioration of bank profits and build-up of financial frangibility, the PBC has been pushing strongly for interest-rate liberalization. I quantify the distortionary effects of these controls: disintermediation, a rising shadow banking system and financial repression. Despite the official lift-off of the controls, the retail interest rates are still subject to the PBC’s window guidance and other pricing mechanism guidance. The interest-rate corridor does not function well in confining money market rates. This suggests that the PBC adopt a target money market rate system.

GET THE ARTICLE

May 31st 2018

Check out how Trump reshapes the world in a different way then he thinks. Our Policy Forum 2 is now online.

Policy Forum 2 (May 2018)

May 8th, 2018

Discussion Paper 2018/3 is now available: Michael Funke, Rongrong Sun, Linxu Zhu: The Credit Risk of Chinese Households – A Micro-Level Assessment

Abstract: Household borrowing in China has increased considerably in recent years, raising concerns about the household sector’s vulnerability and implications for the stability of the financial system. We construct a number of granular debt-burden indicators at the level of individual Chinese households and calculate the share of households that are financially vulnerable using the three available waves (2011, 2013 and 2015) of China’s Household Finance Survey. Overall loan-to-value (LTV) ratios appear safe and sound at first glance, but closer scrutiny reveals that Chinese households in the lowest income quintile face high vulnerability and struggle to meet their debt commitments. Our stress tests suggest that Chinese households in higher quintiles, despite the huge increase in household indebtedness, are not particularly vulnerable to declining incomes or falling house prices.

GET THE ARTICLE

May 2nd, 2018

We are proud to announce our new CFDS Monetary Policy Reports. New Reports will be available after every major policy change but at least once per quarter. With our reports we hope to provide a concise and timely assessment that makes Chinese monetary policy more accesible to an international audience.