Motivations and strategies for a real revaluation of the Yuan

Dai, Meixing (2011): Motivations and strategies for a real revaluation of the Yuan.

Abstract

Most Western economists and policy makers agree that the Yuan is significantly undervalued and push the Chinese government for a large nominal revaluation of the Yuan. This paper, while surveying recent research on Chinese exchange rate policy, gives some new insights into this issue. Notably, this paper defends that China is not solely responsible for the Yuan’s undervaluation, the Chinese central bank cannot optimally invest an increasing amount of foreign currency reserves, and the Yuan’s nominal revaluation is not the only way to resolve the problem. After having analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of a nominal versus a real revaluation of the Yuan for the Chinese economy, I advocate and analyze, besides a modest nominal revaluation, a multitude of alternative policies to achieve a complete revaluation of the Yuan in real terms, which allows absorbing external disequilibrium while laying down the foundation for the long-term growth of the Chinese economy.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Renminbi (RMB), revaluation of the Yuan, foreign exchange reserves, external disequilibrium, measures of macroeconomic adjustment.
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F4 - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

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