4.4. Robustness checks
We have not found any speci"cation in which combinations of macroeconomic
variables have stronger e!ects than individual variables. Combining
other macroeconomic variables with measures of reserves, for example, usually
reduces the signi"cance of the reserves.
We construct a composite variable measuring foreign debt net of foreign
exchange reserves. The result for this variable is weaker than that for reserves,
presumably because while the total level of foreign exchange reserves has
a strong e!ect, total debt has a weak e!ect, so by putting them together we are
constructing a weaker variable that is only marginally signi"cant in the exchange
rate regression.
We also control for the size of rescue packages o!ered to various countries
between July 1997 and October 1998. The total amount of funds pledged, in U.S.
dollars, was $42.3 billion to Indonesia, $58.2 billion to Korea, $17.2 billion to
Thailand, $22.6 billion to Russia, and $41.0 billion to Brazil (The World Bank,
1999, p. 91, Table 3.2). A bigger rescue package (in terms of funds pledged) is
actually correlated with more depreciation, but this could be an endogenous
outcome in the sense that more money was pledged to countries more likely to