Renminbi's misalignment: A meta-analysis

This paper presents the results of a meta-regression analysis of empirical estimates of renminbi misalignments. Seventeen articles and 130 observations dealing with empirical estimates of the misalignment of Chinese currency are collected. This meta-analysis shows that real exchange rate measures and econometric methodologies have a significant negative impact, whereas data characteristics, dissemination procedures and the underlying theoretical exchange rate models all have significant positive impacts on measures of the misalignment of the Chinese yuan. However, this research shows that empirical methodology induces larger values on the supposed misalignment of Chinese currency than the theoretical model of the real equilibrium exchange rate. Therefore, just one empirical estimate is not sufficient for a full understanding of the misalignment of the renminbi. Instead, a correct evaluation of renminbi misalignment should combine all the theoretical models of real equilibrium exchange rates with various econometric methods.