Macroeconomics + Economy 2009 Update 18th Edition by Campbell McConnell, Sean Masaki Flynn,Stanley Brue

Exercise 5

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES-THE YEN FOR DOLLARS The Federal Reserve System Web site, www.federalreserve.gov/releases/H10/hist/ , provides historical foreignexchange- rate data for a wide variety of currencies. Look at the data for the Japanese yen from 1995 to the present. Assume that you were in Tokyo every New Year's from January 1, 2000, to this year and bought a bento (box lunch) for 1000 yen each year. Convert this amount to dollars using the yendollar exchange rate for each January since 2000, and plot the dollar price of the bento over time. Has the dollar appreciated or depreciated against the yen What was the least amount in dollars that your box lunch cost The most