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Nonlinearity in Deviations from Uncovered Interest Parity: AnExplanation of the Forward Bias Puzzle*We provide empirical evidence that deviations from the uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) condition display significant nonlinearities, consistent with theories based on transactions costs or limits to speculation. This evidence suggests that the forward bias documented in the literature may be less indicative of major market inefficiencies than previously thought. Monte Carlo experiments allow us to reconcile these results with the large empirical literature on the forward bias puzzle since we show that, if the true process of UIP deviations were of the nonlinear form we consider, estimation of conventional spot-forward regressions would generate the anomalies documented in previous research.JEL Classification: F31

A major puzzle in international finance is the well-documented inability of models based on monetary fundamentals to produce better out-of-sample forecasts of the nominal exchange rate than a naive random walk. While this literature has generally employed statistical measures of forecast accuracy, we investigate whether there is any economic value to the predictive power of monetary fundamentals for the exchange rate. We find that, in the context of a simple asset allocation problem, the economic value of exchange rate forecasts from a fundamentals model can be greater than the economic value of random walk forecasts across a range of horizons.JEL classification: F31; F37.

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Using novel real-time data on a broad set of economic fundamentals for …ve major US dollar exchange rates over the recent ‡oat, we employ a predictive procedure that allows the relationship between exchange rates and fundamentals to evolve over time in a very general fashion. Our key …ndings are that: (i) the well-documented weak out-of-sample predictive ability of exchange rate models may be caused by poor performance of modelselection criteria, rather than lack of information content in the fundamentals; (ii) the di¢ culty of selecting the best predictive model is largely due to frequent shifts in the set of fundamentals driving exchange rates, re ‡ecting swings in market expectations over time. However, the strength of the link between exchange rates and fundamentals is di¤erent across currencies.JEL classi…cation: F31.

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This paper tests the expectations hypothesis (EH) using U.S. monthly data for bond yields spanning the 1952-2003 sample period and ranging in maturity from one month to 10 years. We apply the Lagrange multiplier test developed by Bekaert and Hodrick (2001) and extend it to increase the test power by introducing economic variables as conditioning information and by using more than two bond yields in the model and testing the EH jointly on more than one pair of yields. While the conventional bivariate procedure provides mixed results, the more powerful testing procedures suggest rejection of the EH throughout the maturity spectrum examined.

A large literature suggests that standard exchange rate models cannot outperform a random walk forecast and that the forward rate is not an optimal predictor of the spot rate. However, there is evidence that the term structure of forward premia contains valuable information for forecasting future spot exchange rates and that exchange rate dynamics display nonlinearities. This paper proposes a termstructure forecasting model of exchange rates based on a regime-switching vector equilibrium correction model which is novel in this context. Our model significantly outperforms both a random walk and a linear term-structure vector equilibrium correction model for four major dollar rates across a range of horizons.