Inflation, openness and exchange rate regimes

This paper further tests Kydland and Prescott's (1977) predictions on dynamic-inconsistency problems. The two big advantages of fixing the exchange rate are the reduction of transaction costs and exchange rate risk, which can discourage trade and investment plus the provision of a credible nominal anchor for monetary policy. Therefore, generalizing Romer's(1993) arguments, if the openness-inflation relation arises from the dynamic inconsistency of discretionary monetary policy, the relationship should be weaker in countries that have fixed exchange-rate regime dummy has a significant and negative correlation with openness after controlling for income per capita and after including both year and country dummies.