Skip to main content

Empirical Assessment of Foreign Currency Risk Premiums

  • Chapter
Financial Risk: Theory, Evidence and Implications

Abstract

Empirical investigation into the nature and significance of exchange rate risk premiums has evolved from naive studies of the time-series properties of spot and forward exchange rates to sophisticated tests of agents’ first-order conditions for expected utility maximization. Modern empirical work recognizes that any test concerning the behavior of exchange rate risk premiums is necessarily a joint hypothesis test of an equilibrium model of exchange risk and return, an assumption about expectations formation, and a set of auxiliary statistical assumptions under which formal inference proceeds. The evolution in theoretical and econometric sophistication over the past 15 years is the subject of this review. Fortunately, the task of reviewing the risk premium literature has been greatly simplified by the recent publication of a number of related survey papers.1 In particular, this review makes considerable use of Hodrick’s (1987) recent monograph, The Empirical Evidence on the Efficiency of Forward and Future Foreign Exchange Markets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adler, M. and B. Dumas (1983), “International Portfolio Choice and Corporation Finance: A Survey,” Journal of Finance, 38, 925–984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akerlof, G. and J. Yellen (1985), “Can Small Deviations from Rationality Make Significant Differences to Economic Equilibria?” American Economic Review, 75, 708–720.

    Google Scholar 

  • Artus, J. (1976), “Exchange Rate Stability and Managed Floating: The Experience of the Federal Republic of Germany,” International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 23, 312–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baillie, R., R. Lippens, and P. McMahon (1983), “Testing Rational Expectations and Efficiency in the Foreign Exchange Market,” Econometrica, 51, 553–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilson, J. (1981), “The Speculative-Efficiency Hypothesis,” Journal of Business, 55, 435–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Staff Studies Nos. 126–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollerslev, T., R. Engle, and J. Wooldridge (1985), “A Capital Asset Pricing Model with Time Varying Covariances,” University of California, San Diego, mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branson, W. and D. Henderson (1985), “The Specification and Influence of Asset Markets,” in R. Jones and P. Kenen (Eds.), Handbook of International Economics, Vol. 2, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp. 749–804.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branson, W., Halttunen, and P. Masson (1977), “Exchange Rates in the Short Run: The Dollar-Deutschemark Rate,” European Economic Review, 10, 303–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branson, W., Halttunen, and P. Masson (1979), “Exchange Rates in the Short Run: Some Further Results,” European Economic Review, 12, 395–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caramazza, F., K. Clinton, A. Cote, and D. Longworth (1986), “International Capital Mobility and Asset Substitutability: Some Theory and Evidence on Recent Structural Changes,” Bank of Canada Technical Reports No. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornell, W. and J. Dietrich (1978), “The Efficiency of the Market for Foreign Exchange Under Floating Exchange Rate,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 60, 111–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, J., J. Ingersol, and S. Ross (1985), “An Intertemporal General Equilibrium Model of Asset Prices,” Econometrica 53; 363–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cumby, R. (1986), “Is It Risk? Explaining Deviations from Uncovered Interest Parity,” New York University mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cumby, R. and M. Obstfeld (1984), “International Interest-Rate and Price-Level Linkages under Flexible Exchange Rate: A Review of Recent Evidence,” in J. Bilson and R. Marston (Eds.), Exchange Rates: Theory and Practice, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danker, D., R. Haas, D. Henderson, S. Symansky, and R. Tryon (1985). “Small Empirical Models of Exchange Market Intervention: Applications to Germany, Japan, and Canada,” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Staff Studies No. 135.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBondt, W. and R. Thaler (1985), “Does the Stock Market Overreact?” Journal of Finance, 40, 793–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domowitz, I. and C. Hakkio (1985), “Conditional Variance and the Risk Premium in the Foreign Exchange Market,” Journal of International Economics, 19, 47–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, M. and P. Isard (1982), “A Portfolio-Balance Rational Expectations Model of the Dollar-Mark Exchange Rate,” Journal of International Economics, 12, 257–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, M. and J. Shafer (1976), “Analysis of Short-Run Exchange Rate Behavior, March 1973 to September 1975,” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve International Finance Discussion Paper No. 76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, M. and J. Shafer (1983), “Analysis of Short-Run Exchange Rate Behavior, March 1973 to November 1981,” in D. Bigman and T. Taya (Eds.), Exchange Rate and Trade Instability, Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dornbusch, R. (1983), “Exchange Rate Risk and the Macroeconomics of Exchange Rate Determination,” in R. Hawkins, R. Levich, and C. Wihlborg (Eds.), The Internationalization of Financial Markets and National Economic Policy, JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, C. (1984), “Testing for the Absence of Expected Real Profits from Forward Market Speculation,” Journal of International Economics, 17, 299–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engle, R. (1982), “Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity with Estimates of the Variance of U.K. Inflation.” Econometrica, 50, 987–1008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engle, R. and C. Granger (1987), “Cointegration and Error Correction: Representation, Estimation and Testing,” Econometrica, 55, 251–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G. (1986), “A Test for Speculative Bubbles and the Sterling-Dollar Exchange Rate: 1981–84,” American Economic Review, 76, 621–636.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E. (1984), “Forward and Spot Exchange Rates,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 14, 319–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E. and A. Farber (1979), “Money, Bonds and Foreign Exchange,” The American Economic Review, 69, 639–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal Reserve Bulletin (November 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavin, M. (1983), “Excess Volatility in the Financial Markets: A Reassessment of the Empirical Evidence,” Journal of Political Economy, 91, 929–956.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood, R. and P. Garber (1980), “Market Fundamentals versus Price-Level Bubbles: The First Tests,” Journal of Political Economy, 88, 745–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood, R. and P. Garber (1983), “A Model of Stochastic Process Switching,” Econometrica, 51, 537–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. (1979a), “The Diversifiability of Exchange Risk,” Journal of International Economics, 9, 379–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. (1979b), “A Test of the Existence of the Risk Premium in the Foreign Exchange Market versus the Hypothesis of Perfect Substitutability,” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve International Finance Discussion Paper No. 149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. (1982), “In Search of the Exchange Risk Premium: A Six-Currency Test Assuming Mean-Variance Optimization,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 1, 255–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. (1983), “Estimation of Portfolio-Balance Functions That Are Mean-Variance Optimizing: The Mark and the Dollar,” European Economic Review, 23, 315–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. (1986), “The Implications of Mean-Variance Optimization for Four Questions in International Macroeconomics,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 5, (Suppl.), s53-s75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. and K. Froot (1985), “Using Survey Data to Test Standard Propositions Regarding Exchange Rate Expectations,” NBER working paper No. 1672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. and K. Froot (1986a), “Interpreting Tests of Forward Discount Bias Using Survey Data on Exchange Rate Expectations,” University of California, Berkeley, mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankel, J. and K. Froot (1986b), “The Dollar as a Speculative Bubble: A Tale of Chartists and Fundamentalists,” University of California, Berkeley, mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, K. and R. Roll (1984), “Stock Return Variances: The Arrival of Information and Reaction of Traders,” University of California, Los Angeles, mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, J. and A. Razin (1980), “Stochastic Prices and Tests of Efficiency of Foreign Exchange Markets,” Economic Letters, 6, 165–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedmen, D. and S. Vandersteel (1982), “Short Run Fluctuations in Foreign Exchange Rates: Evidence from the Data, 1973–79,” Journal of International Economics, 13, 171–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Froot, K. (1986), “Currency Values in a Continuous Time Capital Asset Pricing Model Driven by Asset Supplies,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geweke, J. and E. Feige (1979), “Some Joint Tests of the Efficiency of the Markets for Forward Foreign Exchange,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 61, 334–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddy, I. and M. Dufey (1975), “The Random Behavior of Flexible Exchange Rates,” Journal of International Business Studies, 6, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giovannini, A. and P. Jorion (1986), “Interest Rates and Risk Premia in the Stock Market and in the Foreign Exchange Market,” Columbia University mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grauer, F., R. Litzenberger, and R. Stehle (1976), “Sharing Rules and Equilibrium in an International Capital Market with Uncertainty,” Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 233–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkio, G. (1981), “The Term Structure of the Forward Premium,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 8, 41–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen L. and R. Hodrick (1980), “Forward Exchange Rates as Optimal Predictors of Future Spot Rates: An Econometric Analysis,” Journal of Political Economy, 88, 828–853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen L. and R. Hodrick (1983), “Risk Averse Speculation in the Forward Foreign Exchange Market: An Econometric Analysis of Linear Models,” in J. Frenkel (Ed.), Exchange Rates and International Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodrick, R. (1981), “International Asset Pricing with Time-Varying Risk Premia,” Journal of International Economics, 11, 573–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodrick, R. (1987), The Empirical Evidence on the Efficiency of Forward and Future Foreign Exchange Markets, Harwood Academic, Chur, Switzerland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodrick, R. and S. Srivastava (1984), “An Investigation of Risk and Return in Forward Foreign Exchange,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 3, 5–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodrick, R. and S. Srivastava (1986), “The Covariation of Risk Premiums and Expected Future Spot Exchange Rates,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 5 (Suppl.) s5-s21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh, D. (1984), “Tests of Rational Expectations and No Risk Premium in Forward Exchange Markets,” Journal of International Economics, 17, 173–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, R. (1981), “The Monetary Approach to Exchange Rates in an Efficient Foreign Exchange Market: Tests Based on Volatility,” Journal of Finance, 36, 31–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isard, P. (1986), “The Empirical Modeling of Exchange Rates: An Assessment of Alternative Approaches,” International Monetary Fund mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleidon, A. (1986a), “Bias in Small Sample Tests of Stock Price Rationality,” Journal of Business, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleidon, A.(1986b), “Variance Bounds Tests and Stock Price Valuation Models,” Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kouri, P. (1977), “International Investment and Interest Rate Linkages under Flexible Exchange Rates,” in R. Aliber (Ed.), The Political Economy of Monetary Reform, Macmillan, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kouri, P. and M. Porter (1977), “International Capital Flows and Portfolio Equilibrium,” Journal of Political Economy, 82, 443–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krasker, W. (1980), “The ‘Peso Problem’ in Testing the Efficiency of Forward Exchange Markets,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 6, 269–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (1981), “Consumption Preferences, Asset Demands and Distribution Effects in International Financial Markets,” NBER working paper No. 651.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeRoy, S. and R. Porter (1981), “The Present Value Relation and Implied Variance Bounds,” Econometrica, 49, 555–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levich, R. (1979), “On the Efficiency of Markets for Foreign Exchange,” in R. Dornbusch and J. Frenkel (Eds.), International Ecomomic Policy: Theory and Evidence, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levich, R. (1985), “Empirical Studies of Exchange Rates: Price Behavior, Rate Determination and Market Efficiency,” in R. Jones and P. Kenen (Eds.), Handbook of International Economics, Vol. 2, Elsevier Science Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Logue, D., R. Sweeney, and T. Willett (1978), “The Speculative Behavior of Foreign Exchange Rates during the Current Float,” Journal of Business Research, 6, 150–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. (1976), “Econometric Policy Evaluation: A Critique,” in K. Brunner and A. Meltzer (Eds.), The Philips Curve and Labor Markets, Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public No. 1, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 19–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. (1982), “Interest Rates and Currency Prices in a Two-Country World,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 12, 55–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, J. and H. White (1985), “Some Heteroskedasticity Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimators with Improved Finite Sample Properties,” Queens University mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattey, J. and R. Meese (1986), “Empirical Assessment of Present Value Relations,” Econometric Reviews, 5, 171–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meese, R. (1986), “Testing for Bubbles in Exchange Markets: A Case of Sparkling Rates?” Journal of Political Economy, 94, 345–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meese, R. and K. Rogoff (1983a), “Empirical Exchange Rate Models of the Seventies: Do They Fit Out-of-Sample?” Journal of International Economics, 14, 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R. (1983b), “The Out-of-Sample Failure of Empirical Exchange Rate Models: Sampling Error or Misspecification?” in J. Frenkel (Ed.), Exchange Rates and International Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meese, R. and K. Singleton (1982), “On Unit Roots and the Empirical Modeling of Exchange Rates,” Journal of Finance, 37, 1029–1035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meese, R. and K. Singleton (1983), “Rational Expectations and the Volatility of Floating Exchange Rates,” International Economic Review, 24, 721–733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mussa, M. (1979), “Empirical Regularities in the Behavior of Exchange Rates and Theories of the Foreign Exchange Market,” Carnegie-Rochester Series on Public Policy, 11, 9–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mussa, M. (1981), “The Role of Official Intervention,” Group of Thirty Occasional Papers 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, M. (1983), “Exchange Rates, Inflation and the Sterilization Problem: Germany 1975–1981,” European Economic Review, 21, 161–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, M. and K. Rogoff (1983), “Speculative Hyperinflations in Maximizing Models: Can We Rule Them Out?” Journal of Political Economy, 91, 675–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, M. and K. Rogoff (1986), “Ruling Out Divergent Speculative Bubbles,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 349–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obstfeld, M. and A. Stockman (1985), “Exchange Rate Dynamics,” in R. Jones and P. Kenen (Eds.), Handbook of International Economics, Vol. 2, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poole, W. (1967), “Speculative Prices as Random Walks: An Analysis of Ten Time Series of Flexible Exchange Rates,” Southern Economic Journal, 33, 468–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richard, S. and M. Sundaresan (1981), “A Continuous Time Equilibrium Model of Forward Prices and Future Prices in a Multigood Economy,” Journal of Financial Economics, 9, 347–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, K. (1979), “Essays on Expectations and Exchange Rate Volatility,” Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roper, D. (1975), “The Role of Expected Value Analysis for Speculative Decisions in the Foreign Currency Market,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 89, 157–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiller, R. (1981a), “Do Stock Prices Move Too Much to Be Justified by Subsequent Changes in Dividends?” American Economic Review, 71, 421–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiller, R. (1981b), “The Use of Volatility Measures in Assessing Market Efficiency,” Journal of Finance, 36, 291–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singleton, K. (1980), “Expectations Models of the Term Structure and Implied Variance Bounds,” Journal of Political Economy, 88, 1159–1176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solnik, B. (1974), “An Equilibrium Model of the International Capital Market,” Journal of Economic Theory, 8, 500–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, J. (1987), “Asymptotic Properties of Least Squares Estimators of Cointegrated Vectors,” Econometrica, 55, 1035–1056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stockman, A. (1978), “Risk, Information and Forward Exchange Rates,” in J. Frenkel and H. Johnson (Eds.), The Economics of Exchange Rates, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockman, A. (1979), “Monetary Control and Sterilization under Pegged Exchange Rates,” University of Rochester mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stulz, R. (1981), “A Model of International Asset Pricing,” Journal of Financial Economics, 383–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stulz, R. (1982), “The forward Rate and Macroeconomics,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 12, 285–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson, L. (1985), “Currency Prices, Terms of Trade and Interest Rates: A General Equilibrium Asset-Pricing Cash-in-Advance Approach,” Journal of International Economics, 15, 17–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, R. (1986a), “Beating the Foreign Exchange Market,” Journal of Finance, 41, 163–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, R. (1986b), “Risk Premia in Forward Exchange Rates: Systematic or Non-systematic?” Claremont Graduate School mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, R. and E. Lee (1985), “Trading Strategies in Forward Exchange Markets,” Claremont Graduate School mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tryon, R. (1979), “Testing for Rational Expectations in Foreign Exchange Markets,” Federal Reserve Board International Finance Discussion Paper No. 139.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, K. (1985), “A Standard Monetary Model and the Variability of the Deutsemark-Dollar Exchange Rate,” Princeton University mimeo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woo, W. (1984), “Speculative Bubbles in the Foreign Exchange Markets,” Brooking Discussion Paper in International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Meese, R. (1989). Empirical Assessment of Foreign Currency Risk Premiums. In: Stone, C.C. (eds) Financial Risk: Theory, Evidence and Implications. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2665-3_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2665-3_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7701-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2665-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics