Parity Conditions In International Markets

Download or read book Parity Conditions in International Markets written by Marc L. Lipson and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This note reviews the four central parity conditions that underlie most theories regarding the relationship between exchange rates, inflation, and interest rates. The concepts are illustrated through a unified example exploring the relation between the US dollar and the Norwegian krone. The note presents both an intuitive understanding of the relations as well as precise mathematical formulas frequently employed in analysis.ExcerptUVA-F-1572Rev. Oct. 18, 2019Parity Conditions in International MarketsGlobal firms are not the only ones affected by global markets. Even firms with only domestic operations and financing can be dramatically affected by changes in the international landscape associated with, among other things, exchange rate changes, global price changes, and capital market fluctuations.This note presents an overview of the theoretical frameworks that underlie most thinking and discussion about the relations between exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation. All the relations described in this note are based on one premise--that markets will move in response to profit-seeking activities in such a manner as to reach a point where profits are eliminated. When markets are at this zero-profit point and there are no incentives to act, the markets are in equilibrium and deemed to be in "parity." Hence, these basic relations are called parity conditions.Throughout this note, we will consider a single pair of currencies, the US dollar (USD) and the Norwegian krone (NOK). The discussion in this note assumes a familiarity with basic currency terminology and markets; however, a review of these topics is provided in the Appendix. All exchange rates express the relation between two currencies, and both interest and inflation rates are associated with specific currencies. We will introduce notation as concepts are covered. At this point, however, we note that every exchange rate states the value of one currency (we will refer to this as the quoted currency) in terms of another (we will refer to this as the basis currency). We will subscript interest and inflation rates with the letters q and b to indicate whether the rate is for the quoted or basis currencies, respectively.