THE IMPACT OF MARKET LIBERALIZATION ON FIRMS' EXCHANGE RATE EXPOSURE

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of market liberalization programs on firms' exchange‐rate exposure. We consider, in particular, the effects of the timing of the three liberalization events through which the government of Taiwan carried out explicit policies to gradually open its foreign exchange and stock markets. Although we cannot corroborate that most exporting firms are individually exposed to exchange‐rate risk, we cannot, however, reject that the exporting firms are jointly exposed to exchange‐rate risk in all sub‐periods. Furthermore, we find that Taiwanese exporting firms are greatly affected by timing of the three liberalization events.