What drives fluctuations in exchange rate growth in emerging markets – A multi-level dynamic factor approach

•We use a dynamic hierarchical factor model.•We investigate the driving forces of exchange rates in emerging market countries.•Idiosyncratic factor is the most important driver.•Common factor became more important after the Great Recession.•US monetary policy and Chinese economic growth have greater impacts. Historically, exchange rates in many emerging economies have been volatile. We use a dynamic hierarchical factor model to investigate the driving forces behind these fluctuations in exchange rate growth and find that in recent years, especially since the Great Recession, the common (world) factor has become more important. We also find that, since 2009, US monetary policy and Chinese economic growth have had much greater effects on emerging market exchange rate growth fluctuations. The historical decomposition indicates that 18.8% and 23% of the variations in the world factor after 2009 can be explained by US monetary policy shock and Chinese industrial production shock, respectively.