International Risk-Sharing and Optimal Monetary Policy in a Small Commodity-Exporting Economy

This paper evaluates the welfare implications of alternative monetary policy regimes for a small commodity-exporting economy. In line with the existing literature, welfare analysis shows that a flexible exchange rate regime tends to outperform a fixed nominal exchange rate. However, this paper shows that the welfare costs of a nominal peg vary considerably with the extent of international risk-sharing. In a model with complete and frictionless asset markets, real exchange rate volatility is small, and welfare losses from the nominal peg are negligible. By contrast, under financial autarky, a fixed nominal exchange rate generates significant volatility in inflation and results in large welfare costs. I also consider the welfare properties of flexible regimes, showing that core consumer inflation targeting and non-commodity domestic inflation targeting are not generally optimal, although their welfare costs are small compared to those of a fixed regime. Furthermore, the welfare ranking of these two regimes might depend on the currency in which the tradable goods are priced (producer-currency pricing vs. local-currency pricing).