Foreign Exchange Intervention and Monetary Policy: A Tale of Two Agencies with Conflicting Objectives

Abstract

In several industrial countries, the government is responsible for foreign exchange intervention while the central bank is given operational independence in conducting domestic monetary policy. We model the interaction between the two agencies when their views differ and generate empirical implications using lattice-theoretic techniques. Japanese data from 2001–2004 support the model's predictions with respect to central bank behavior. The evidence is less conclusive as to whether the massive intervention of 2001–2004 by the Ministry of Finance caused the Bank of Japan to raise the monetary target.