Policy effectiveness by exchange rate regime
Fixed rate: fiscal EFFECTIVE, monetary ineffective (powerless at perfect mobility)
Flexible rate: monetary EFFECTIVE, fiscal ineffective (powerless at perfect mobility)
Reason: the induced capital flow lands on reserves under a fixed rate
and on the exchange rate under a flexible one
Any question naming a regime and asking which instrument to use. State the rule, then trace the capital flow to justify it.
- fixed rate chain
- rate gap, capital flow, reserves, money supply, LM shifts back: monetary policy cancelled
- flexible rate chain
- rate gap, capital flow, exchange rate, net exports, IS shifts back: fiscal policy cancelled
The four policy pairs
Inflation + surplus : contractionary fiscal + EASY money
Recession + surplus : expansionary fiscal
Inflation + deficit : contractionary fiscal
Recession + deficit : expansionary fiscal + TIGHT money
Any question that states an internal and an external condition together. The two-instrument rows are the conflicting Swan zones II and IV.
- assignment rule
- Fiscal policy to the internal target, monetary policy to the external one
- one-instrument rows
- Zones I and III, where both problems want the same change in spending
Uniform tariff plus subsidy equals devaluation
Import: value x R x (1 + t) = value x R x (1 + d) when t = d
Export: P x R x (1 + s) = cost gives the same P as P x R(1+d) = cost
With partial coverage: effective devaluation = t x (share of trade covered)
Whenever a question compares a control package with an exchange rate change. Prove it on both sides, then apply the coverage weighting.
- t, s, d
- The tariff rate, the subsidy rate and the devaluation rate. Equivalence needs t = s = d and full coverage
- coverage
- The share of imports or exports the measure actually reaches. Each exemption is a hole in the equivalence
Tariff-equivalents of other controls
Advance deposit: equivalent tariff = deposit fraction x annual interest rate x fraction of a year
Multiple exchange rates: implicit tax = (luxury rate - essential rate) / essential rate
Converting a non-tariff control into a comparable tariff rate, which is how the exam asks you to judge its severity.
- deposit fraction
- Share of import value that must be deposited, often 1.0
- essential rate
- The reference exchange rate, always the denominator