Analysis of the Distribution of Exchange-Rates near the 2008 Global Financial Crisis

Abstract

We search for indicators that might have predicted the 2008 financial crisis, by analyzing the standardized normalized distribution of exchange-rates. We find that this distribution was close to normal during the crisis, but had an exceptionally high kurtosis in the second quarter of 2006, indicating the beginning of long-term USD weakness. Somewhat nearer to the crisis, we can also see suggestive fluctuations in some exchange-rates. Further, we analyze stock-market indices across the crisis, and show that they responded more sensitively than exchange-rates, and that the distribution of stock-market indices also has an exceptional value of kurtosis at Q2 2006, suggesting that the kurtosis of the distribution of exchange-rates might have provided as an early indicator of the crisis.