The thesis is composed of four chapters on international finance and macroeconomics. The first chapter investigates the drivers of invoicing currency choice in Chinese trade using transaction-level data in 2015. The study discovers novel factors facilitating Renminbi invoicing, namely industry labor intensity and the link of foreign direct investment. Moreover, insurance-included price, processing trade and geographical distance encourage invoicing in a vehicle currency, especially the US dollar. The second chapter examines how non-US economies can maintain monetary autonomy against the dollar-driven global financial cycle. It supports the trilemma that flexible exchange rate is the main absorber of US monetary policy spillovers, and macroprudential policies are feasible complements. The third chapter studies the amplifying role of policy uncertainty in monetary policy responses to oil price shocks in advanced economies. Policy response to rising oil prices is smaller under higher uncertainty, with similar macroeconomic responses and more volatile term structure, underlying the need for transparent policy communication. The final chapter looks into the growth outcomes of real currency depreciation for developing countries, and examines driving forces using novel measures of trade adjustment and valuation effects. From the episode study, growth are found to be varied, and are dependent on fiscal position, external liability valuation, domestic credit cycle, and most importantly, the strength of import expenditure switching.