Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/214628 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics No. 238
Publisher: 
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Law and Economics, Darmstadt
Abstract: 
During recent years, central banks have increased the levels of their international reserves at an unprecedented pace. In this paper, we introduce new country-specific reserve data and examine determinants of the composition of international reserves. Using a dataset of 36 countries (and the euro area) for the years from 1996 to 2016, we identify currency pegs and trade patterns as determinants of currency compositions. Our results emphasize the importance of transaction motives for the composition of currency reserves. The euro crisis appears to have been a setback for the euro, which temporarily seemed to challenge the US dollar as the most important international reserve currency and potentially impacted the determination of international reserve compositions.
Subjects: 
International reserves
central banks
euro crisis
JEL: 
E58
F31
G01
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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