• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.81-100
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• 2017

This study measures the degree of dollarization in North Korea using results from a survey of 231 North Korean refugees. Specifically, we compare foreign currency use of households as both store-of-value substitutes (i.e., asset substitution) and transaction substitutes (i.e., currency substitution) before and after the confiscatory currency reform of 2009. The degree of dollarization has advanced since the currency reform in terms of both asset and currency substitutions. Survey results also indicate that the Chinese yuan is frequently used in the Sino-North Korean border area, whereas the US dollar is predominantly used in non-border areas. Furthermore, foreign currency increasingly serves as a medium of exchange not only for large transactions but also for smaller transactions, such as food purchases.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.55-62
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• 2013

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to suggest a risk factor that significantly explains foreign currency risk premia. In recent years, some studies have found that the performance of the simultaneous consumption risk model improves considerably when tested on foreign currency portfolios, which are constructed based on the international interest rates differentials. However, this paper focuses on the long-run consumption risk factor. In our empirical research, we found that the real excess returns of high interest rate currency portfolios depreciate on average, when the future American long-run consumption growth rate appears low. This makes the high interest rate currency portfolios have relatively high risk premia. Meanwhile, the real excess returns of low interest rate currency portfolios appreciate on average, under the same conditions, which results in relatively low risk premia for these portfolios. Therefore, this long-run consumption risk factor might explain why low interest rate currencies do not appreciate as much as the interest rate differential, and why high interest rate currencies do not depreciate as much as the interest rate differential. Research design, data, methodology - In our explanation, we provide new evidence on the success of long-run consumption risks in currency risk premia by focusing on the long-run consumption risks borne by American representative investors. To uncover the hidden link between exchange rates and long-run consumption growth, we set the eight currency portfolios as our basic assets, which have been built based on the foreign interest rates of eighty countries. As these eight currency portfolios are rebalanced every year, the first group always contains the lowest interest rate currencies, and the last group contains the highest interest rate currencies. Against these basic eight currency portfolios, we estimate the long-run consumption risk model. We use recursive utility framework and the stochastic discount factor that depends on the present value of expected future consumption growth rates. We find that our model is optimized in the two-year period of constructing the durable consumption expectation factor. Our main results surprisingly surpass the performance of the existing benchmark simultaneous consumption model in terms of R², relatively risk aversion coefficient γ, and p-value of J-test. Results - The performance of our model is superior. R², relatively risk aversion coefficient γ, and p-value of J-test of our long-run durable consumption model are 90%, 93%, and 65.5%, respectively, while those of EZ-DCAPM are 87%, 113%, and 62.8%, respectively. Thus, we can speculate that the risk premia in foreign currency markets have been determined by the long-run consumption risk. Conclusions - The aggregate long-run consumption growth risk explains a large part of the average change in the real excess returns of foreign currency portfolios. The real excess returns of high interest rate currency portfolios depreciate on average when American long-run consumption growth rate is low, and the real excess returns of low interest rate currency portfolios appreciate under the same conditions. Thus, the low interest rate currency portfolios allow investors to hedge against aggregate long-run consumption growth risk.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2022

This study uses the panel probit model to investigate and evaluate the relationship between exchange rate regimes, political stability, and carbon dioxide during currency crises. To understand currency crisis times, we study a panel dataset of seven South Asian nations that contain annual observations from 1996 to 2020. Furthermore, we created the EMPI exchange market pressure indicator to detect crises. Our results strongly suggested that fixed exchange rate is negatively associated with currency crises, with good regulatory quality and better effective governments. Simultaneously, the floating exchange rate is positively related to the currency crises in those countries where the rule of law has less adequately flowed. However, CO₂, exports, and interest rates are buoyantly associated with crises. The floating exchange rate, the rule of law, exports, and interest rate are associated positively and contribute more prone to the crisis episodes. Negatively associated variables contributed less amid crises episodes: fixed exchange rate regime, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality. Meanwhile, CO₂ has a positive relationship with a currency crisis and contributes more likelihood to the probability of a currency crisis. Countries that adopted the fixed exchange rates with effective governments and regulatory quality faced more minor currency crises.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.279-304
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• 2022

This paper quantitatively analyzes the current status of North Korean consumer payment instruments through a questionnaire survey of 292 North Korean defectors. In the 2010s, it was found that the payment experience ratio of domestic currency cash and grain decreased, while the payment experience ratio of foreign currency cash increased. The use of foreign currency reached a stage where it was spread not only as a store of value but also as a medium of exchange. However, the most frequently used payment instrument by North Korean consumers was still domestic currency cash. By region, in inland urban areas both domestic currency cash and U.S. dollars are used and in the North Korea-China border region both domestic currency cash and Chinese yuan are used, while in inland rural areas dollarization does not occur because both domestic currency cash and grain are used. Meanwhile, despite the stable price trend during 2013-2019, the dollarization hysteresis effect is appearing, and both the purchasing power risk theory and the network externality theory are considered to have explanatory power for the cause. The results of this paper suggest that as dollarization is intensifying, it is expected that more costs such as shortages of commodities will be incurred than in the past if North Korea's de-dollarization policy is reimplemented. Also, in the case of domestic currency cards, which the North Korean authorities introduced in 2015 as part of a means of financial reform, this paper suggests that it may continue to be difficult for domestic currency cards to normalize official finance under the dollarization hysteresis.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.152-159
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• 2021

Small local businesses such as corner shops and street markets have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and declining consumption. A community currency is a local currency that can be used to exchange for one of the local currencies within an online community. Community currencies can be effective not only in supporting small businesses, but also in helping the local economy more vibrant, benefiting consumers in the community. An important goal of Community Currency is to foster a vibrant local economy by building mutually beneficial relationships between local business owners and customers. The purpose of this study was to identify how the existing community currencies of participating SMEs and self-employed in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do metropolitan areas contributed to commercial revitalization by category and to suggest a new or better approach to community currency operation. It also focused on presenting the best solutions for the future direction of mobile community currencies, measures that are better than current currency operations, revitalize the community and develop the economy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.43-52
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• 2021

This study is the first to scrutinize how real effective exchange rate, together with the vehicle currency exchange rate, asymmetrically influences the total trade balance between ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the EU (European Union). This research employs quarterly data between 2000Q1 and 2018Q1, which is derived from several sources. We introduce a method for constructing the double-aggregated real effective exchange rate between ASEAN and the EU that captures the roles of all their currencies. Moreover, we propose the formula to compute vehicle currency exchange rate to assess the importance of vehicle currency in ASEAN-EU trade. Additionally, as asymmetrical impacts of exchange rate on trade balance are well documented by current studies, we employ Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model of Shin et al. (2014) to analyze the impacts of currency depreciation as well as appreciation in detail. The findings confirm the prominence of USD as vehicle currency in ASEAN-EU trade. Both depreciation and appreciation of ASEAN's currencies against USD can foster ASEAN's trade balance in the long run. Short-run asymmetrical impacts as well as J-curve effect are found in the vehicle currency models only. The results are robust for the cases of EU-28 and EU-27.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.127-140
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• 2023

Purpose: In a situation where the local economy and alley economy are stagnant, efforts to revitalize the role of small business owners need a virtuous cycle system through consumers' consumption power, not just cash support. Research design, data, and methodology: The study site focuses on Daedeok-gu, the first to introduce local currency as a policy. In the case of the store survey, 254 stores out of 300 stores registered with local currency were analyzed, and the consumer survey was conducted on 1,394 out of 1,500 local people using local currency. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS. Result: As a result of time-series checking whether local economic activities are carried out smoothly due to the nature of the local currency, the average daily sales of Daedeok-gu increased by 388,980won compared to 2019. This proved through empirical research in the region that local currency played a priming role in bringing opportunities and rehabilitation to the local commercial districts and small business owners. Conclusions: In the monetary function of simply buying and selling value through payment, points supported as incentives can be used as local currency while inducing direct participation in solving social problems, and the concurrent effect of causing problem-solving and regional economic vitality began to sprout.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2020

This study attempts to find out the characteristics of digital currency and currency transformation through the analytical descriptions of the literature. In the early days of the emergence of new currency, market-oriented autonomous monetary adjustment was made along with various attempts by the private sector, and then government-centered central currency management and coordination were made for the national monopoly of profits and power. Digital currency can be seen as the emergence of a new form of money that will bring about paradigm changes. CBDC can be divided into direct and indirect types. CBDC is expected to require a strategic approach by the government or firm as it will bring about changes in the ecosystem of related industries. Libra is a stablecoin designed to minimize price fluctuations, and if it succeeds in commercializing it, it is expected to bring about revolutionary changes in the financial industry around the world.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1398-1404
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• 2018

The Blockchain technology could represent a solution to unexpected problems. In modern society, the domain of value has become diversified. The Crypto currency would replace the area that conventional currency could not function. The Japanese government recognized the Bitcoin as an official currency from April 2017 through amendment of the Money Transfer Act in 2016, and has been leading the related regulation policy recently. This paper examines the policy strategy of the Japanese government that is leading the current policy related to the Crypto currency market. The sequence of this paper is as follows: Coordination Process of Japanese Government's Crypto currency Policy of Special Mission Committee on IT Strategy as a Coordinator, Amendment of the Fund Settlement Act and the Establishment of a Self-Regulation Organizations in Crypto currency and Japan's Crypto currency Taxation and Supplementary System.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.129-144
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• 2019

Purpose - Recent empirical studies have reached mixed results on the effects of financial liberalization and currency crises. We argue that this relationship is likely to depend both on whether controls are primarily on the degrees of financial liberalization and on the stability of the government. Using the disaggregated data on financial liberalization recently developed by Abiad et al (2010) for a sample of 30 emerging countries over the period 1995-2015, we attempt to investigate the political economy determinants of currency crises. Design/methodology - Our empirical model considers the relationship between financial liberalization and currency crises for emerging market economies. This study employs the existing theoretical framework to identify the disaggregate level for financial liberalization across countries. Using a multivariate logit model, this study attempts to estimate the interrelationship among financial liberalization, government stability and currency crises complemented by a case study of South Korea. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: we find strong support for the proposition that more liberalized financial institutions are positively associated with the probability of currency crises especially under less stable governments, but reduce the risks of currency crises especially for more stable governments. We also examine the role of financial systems with the case of South Korea after Asian financial crises and the results are further supported and consistent with the empirical findings. Originality/value - Existing studies focus on the economic factors across countries. This paper instead attempts to evaluate the effects of financial liberalization and currency crises by incorporating political considerations with newly developed dataset on financial liberalization, which are essential to the understanding of the causes of currency crises.