Working Paper

An Analysis of the Literature on International Unconventional Monetary Policy

Abstract: This paper critically evaluates the literature on international unconventional monetary policies. We begin by reviewing the theories of how such heterogeneous policies could work. Empirically, event studies provide compelling evidence that international asset purchase announcements have strongly influenced international bond yields, exchange rates, and equity prices in the desired manner and curtailed market perceptions of extreme events. Calibrated modeling and vector autoregressive (VAR) exercises imply that these policies significantly improved macroeconomic outcomes, raising output and prices. Central bankers give a measured, positive assessment to most unconventional monetary policy. Despite qualified successes, we recommend that central banks reserve these policies for financial crises and/or times when the zero bound constrains conventional monetary policy.

Keywords: unconventional monetary policy; effective lower bound; quantitative easing; event study;

JEL Classification: E51; E58; E61; F31; G12;

https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2016.021

Status: Published in Journal of Economic Literature

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Part of Series: Working Papers

Publication Date: 2016-11-28

Number: 2016-21

Note: Previous title [updated October 2018]: A Survey of the Empirical Literature on U.S. Unconventional Monetary Policy

Note: Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20201493

Related Works

• Working Paper Revision: An Analysis of the Literature on International Unconventional Monetary Policy