Ben Bernanke Quotes

We believe in fair exchange rates and Japan doesn't practice that. They have massive U.S. dollar reserves, and they use them to intervene regularly.

If, when Money is rais'd [inflation or devaluation], Goods keep the Prices they had before. Then all Goods exported are sold for a lesser Value abroad, and all Goods imported are sold dearer.

The IMF and other multilateral institutions do not appear to have prevented nations from manipulating the value of their own currencies.

When a population saves a lot, the funds are invested outside the country as well as inside. If the Japanese invest in the United States, it pushes their exchange rate down and makes their manufacturing more competitive.

The prices of all imports would rise if the dollar depreciates.

Although economists have studied the sensitivity of import and export volumes to changes in the exchange rate, there is still much uncertainty about just how much the dollar must change to bring about any given reduction in our trade deficit.

If a currency is to become a growing, an increasing reserve currency, there has to be not only a demand for it there has to be a supply of it.

If inflation-adjusted interest rates decline in a given country, its currency is likely to decline.

Foreign trade clearly has been a reason why inflation has been low.

The more competitive value of the dollar turned around the trade deficit.

Hegemony of the dollar.

All Nations endeavor to get the [foreign] Exchange as much as they can on their side.

Currency pegs force a common policy on countries…

When governments manipulate exchange rates to affect currency markets, they undermine the honest efforts of countries that wish to compete fairly in the global marketplace. Supply and demand are distorted by artificial prices conveyed through contrived exchange rates. Businesses fail as legitimately earned profits become currency losses.

The global 'currency wars' are likely here to stay due to the fine line between legitimate monetary balancing and sometimes self-serving trade manipulation. But these artificial mechanisms lack tangible or lasting value.

Having a proper understanding of countries' external positions - current accounts, stock positions, and currencies - is critical to highlight policymakers' shared responsibility to tackle external imbalances before they become too risky.

Most economists use 'fixed' and 'pegged' as interchangeable or nearly interchangeable terms for exchange rates.

Leaders often associate strong currencies with national strength and thus view declining currencies as insults to their prowess.

Were we to find ourselves in a world in which there was a very significant amount of dollarization, … it would be in the political interests of certain parties in other countries whose policies were less than perfect …, to blame us as the root of their problem.

By manipulating its money values, a government could win large markets overseas for its exporters and thus create satisfaction at home with expanding production and employment.

When a nation devalues its currency, it, in effect, increases its tariffs.

It is not repeated large Emissions [printing] of a base Paper-Currency, but our Imports exceeding our Exports, that occasions Silver to be ship'd off in Ballance

Some Countries have rais'd Money in the Denomination, when others have lower'd it; …. Some have prohibited the Export of Money under the severest Penalties, when others have by Law allowed it to be exported; Some thinking to add to the Money, have obliged Traders to bring home Bullion, in proportion to the Goods they imported. Most Countries have try'd some or all of these Measures, and others of the same Nature, and have tryed contrary Measures at one time, from what they us'd immediatly before, … that since the Method used had not the effect design'd, a contrary would: Yet is has not been found, that any of them have preserv'd or increased Money; but on the contrair.

Without international economics getting done, foreign policy doesn’t get done.

Many of the worst crises occur when there is a financial collapse in a country with pegged exchange rates. Both successful and unsuccessful defenses of a pegged exchange rate require large expenditure of foreign exchange reserves that could be used for investment or consumption. Both also require strong deflationary measures that severely reduce income, wealth, and living standards.