Dr. Michael Hutchison is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) where he researches and teaches international finance and open economy macroeconomics, and serves on the CAFIN steering committee. He is also Principal of California International Economic Consultants, a consulting firm specializing in statistical and economic research for financial institutions. His research focuses on the international financial markets and the global financial crisis, price determination of CDS and NDF markets, and the response of emerging markets to Federal Reserve tapering.
In a recently published paper with Reuven Glick, Group Vice President, International Research, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, they analyzes the asset market linkages between China and East Asia and how these have changed after the global financial crisis. They find that there are stronger linkages in equity markets than in bond markets. This is consistent with the greater development and liberalization of equity markets relative to bond markets in China. In another recently published paper, with Vladyslav Sushko, economist, Bank for International Settlements, they identify a significant impact of macro-economic surprises on market perceptions of the risk of large dollar/yen exchange rate movements measured by foreign exchange options. In a paper with Joshua Aizenman, Research Associate, NBER, and Mahir Binici, economist, Central Bank of Turkey, they investigate the impact of credit rating changes on sovereign spreads in the European Union. They find that a credit rating upgrade decreases CDS spreads by about 45 basis points, on average, for EU countries. However, the association between credit rating changes and spreads shifted markedly between the pre-crisis and crisis periods.
Previously, Prof. Hutchison has held full-time positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (1983-85), the Bank for International Settlements (1989-1991) and the Copenhagen Business School (1995-97). He has also held visiting scholar positions conducting financial market research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Swedish Riksbank, the Bank of Japan, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and other institutions.
