Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: A, National University of Ireland, Maynooth (Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting), course: MSc Economic and Financial Risk Analysis, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect of real exchange rate volatility between the Canadian and US dollars on real exports from Canada to US. The study uses quarterly data from 1960-2017. The GARCH (1, 1) is used to model exchange rate volatility. After finding the variables are non-stationary with no co-integration, a VAR (Vector Auto regression) model is used to investigate the short-run relationship in the variables using Granger causality, impulse response functions and variance decomposition estimates. The results reveal that the effect of exchange rate volatility is of mixed signs with coefficients that are not statistically significant. The thesis is divided into 7 chapters; chapter 2 gives an overview of important literature and contributions by researchers over the years specifically covering the relationship between exchange rate volatility and trade, exchange rate regimes, exchange rate target zones and inflation targeting. Chapter 3 presents the model and data used, definitions of the variables and the predictions of the model. Chapter 4 gives a theoretical and econometric overview of the unit root and co-integration tests. Chapter 5 gives the data output of the empirical results and discussions of test results. This output is presented using graphs and tables. Chapter 6 is a presentation of the limitations of the model and possible areas of improvement. Lastly, chapter 7 concludes and gives policy recommendations moving forward. Exchange rates are a key player in any economy that is engaging in international trade. A stable monetary policy system and financial sector play a key role in ensuring the exchange rate stability of the currency of a country. Firms and traders rely on prevailing exchange rates to forecast amounts to produce, import and export; thus are very much affected by the exchange rate volatility. In addition to this, there is a currency conversion cost in international trade. Traders use a number of products in financial markets to hedge against currency fluctuations; these include among others forwards contracts. This is especially true for short-term hedging than long-term hedging.

Inconsistency in the relationship between exchange rate volatility and export growth reflects differences among countries in the currency in which trade is invoiced. Also, exchange rate volatility may affect the allocation of trade more than its level.

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In View of the continuation of substantial movements in exchange rate relationships among major currencies, the recent increase in protectionist pressures, and the disappointing performance of world trade, renewed concern has been expressed about the possible adverse effects of exchange rate variability on trade. Against the background of this concern, the following decision was reached at the ministerial meeting of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in November 1982.

This piece of work try address the volatility impacts on export through an extenvsive analysis. The econometric analysis was employed to exploit the theory of cointegration, given the obvious non- stationarity of the time series. The study used Engle-Granger two step procedures. Three measures of exchange rate volatilities were used and produced mixed results. The mean adjusted relative change (V) as a measure of exchange rate volatility indicated positive and insignificant impact on real exports of Namibia. The moving average standard deviation (MASD) as a measure of exchange rate volatility produced a negative insignificant impact of exchange rate volatility on real exports of Namibia. The last measure of exchange rate volatility was the general autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH), which indicated a positive and significant impact of exchange rate volatility on Namibia s real exports. These results suggest that Namibia should start exploring possibility of macro-economic policy independence and be involved in the determination of exchange rate within the CMA framework.

There is no denying the role of empirical research in finance and the remarkable progress of empirical techniques in this research field. This Special Issue focuses on the broad topic of “Empirical Finance” and includes novel empirical research associated with financial data. One example includes the application of novel empirical techniques, such as machine learning, data mining, wavelet transform, copula analysis, and TV-VAR, to financial data. The Special Issue includes contributions on empirical finance, such as algorithmic trading, market efficiency, market microstructure, portfolio theory and asset allocation, asset pricing models, liquidity risk premium, currency crisis, return predictability, and volatility modeling.

The effect of exchange rate volatility on trade flows was examined by a 1984 IMF study on G-7 countries. Over the past two decades, many developments in the world economy, such as the currency crises in the 1990s and increasing cross-border capital flows, may have exacerbated exchange rate volatility, while others, such as a deepening of the market in foreign exchange hedging instruments, may have reduced the impact of volatility on trade flows. Using recent advances in the economic theories on trade and in statistical methodologies, this paper revisits this important issue by taking into account these new developments and examining their effects on developing and transition economies, as well as on developed countries.