Domestic financial market frictions, unrestricted international capital flows, and crises in small open economies

Summary

We present an example of a small open economy for which small increases in the world interest rate may induce a sharp decline in output and a precipitous depreciation of the nominal and the real exchange rate (RER). Due to a costly state verification problem in domestic credit markets, combined with unrestricted international capital flows, our economy generates two long run equilibria, one with low GDP and a relatively depreciated RER, and one with high GDP and a relatively appreciated RER. The first is always a saddle, while the second may be a sink or a source, depending on the level of the world interest rate. There exists a critical level of the world interest rate above which the high-GDP steady state turns from a sink to a source. A “crisis” is identified in the model with the economy switching from an equilibrium path approaching the high-output steady state to the saddle path approaching the low output steady state. We simulate such a crisis trajectory for our model economy. In Mexico’s recent history, periods of growth associated with an appreciation of the real exchange rate (RER) have alternated with periods of sharp contraction characterized by a depreciation of the RER. Our economy may display such behavior as an equilibrium response to changes in the world interest rate.

We thank Steve Fazzari, Tim Kehoe, Todd Keister, Manuel Santos, Karl Shell and especially Bruce Smith for very helpful discussions. Jaime Calleja Alderete, Eduardo Camero Godínez, and Juan Vargas Hernández provided excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are ours. Huybens was an assistant professor in the Centro de Investigación Económica, ITAM, at the time this article was written, and part of this work was completed while Antinolfi was a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not reflect those of the World Bank or the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.