Working Paper
The Optimal Degree of Monetary-Discretion in a New Keynesian Model with Private Information
Fujiwara, Ippei; Waki, Yuichiro; Dennis, Richard (2017-07-01)
This paper considers the optimal degree of monetary-discretion when the central bank conducts policy based on its private information about the state of the economy and is unable to commit. Society seeks to maximize social welfare by imposing restrictions on the central bank's actions over time, and the central bank takes these restrictions and the New Keynesian Phillips curve as constraints. By solving a dynamic mechanism design problem we find that it is optimal to grant ?constrained discretion? to the central bank by imposing both upper and lower bounds on permissible inflation, and that ...
Globalization Institute Working Papers , Paper 320

Journal Article
Policy applications of a global macroeconomic model
Lopez, Jose A.; Dennis, Richard (2004)
In this Economic Letter, we summarize the key components of the GVAR model and discuss its usefulness for monetary policy applications and for credit risk management issues faced by financial institutions and their government supervisors. We argue that while the GVAR model is probably useful for credit risk management and could potentially have some use for bank supervision, it is unlikely to be as useful for monetary policy applications.
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Finance and macroeconomics
Rudebusch, Glenn D.; Dennis, Richard (2003)
This Economic Letter summarizes papers presented at the conference "Finance and Macroeconomics" held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on February 28 and March 1, 2003, under the joint sponsorship of the Bank and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The papers are listed at the end and are available at http://www.frbsf.org/economics/conferences/0303/index.html.
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
The “inflation” in inflation targeting
Dennis, Richard (2010)
Many central banks conduct monetary policy according to an inflation-targeting framework. Central to such a framework is the principle that monetary policy decisions are formulated in the context of an explicitly announced numerical target or range for some measure of inflation. Obviously, if an inflation-targeting framework is to be operational, then the important question of what measure of inflation to target cannot be avoided. There is unlikely to be a single answer to the question of which measure is best. And, indeed, inflation-targeting countries have varied significantly in the ...
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Monetary policy and asset markets: conference summary
Dennis, Richard (2008)
This Economic Letter summarizes the papers presented at a conference on "Monetary Policy and Asset Markets" held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on February 22, 2008. ; One of the papers focused on extracting information on policy changes from the interest rate term structure and on whether investors value those policy changes or view them as an additional source of risk to be hedged. Another paper examined the extent to which subjective expectations may explain certain asset price puzzles. A third paper looked at the housing sector, quantifying the factors that drive residential ...
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Labor markets and the macroeconomy: conference summary
Williams, John C.; Dennis, Richard (2006)
This Economic Letter summarizes the papers presented at a conference on "Labor Markets and the Macroeconomy" held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on March 3 and 4, 2006.
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Time-inconsistent monetary policies: recent research
Dennis, Richard (2003)
This Economic Letter looks at time-inconsistency, describing why the same mechanisms that can lead to higher average inflation also can hamper policymakers' efforts to keep inflation stable.
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Interest rates and monetary policy: conference summary
Wu, Tao; Dennis, Richard (2004)
This Economic Letter summarizes the papers presented at a conference on "Interest Rates and Monetary Policy" held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on March 19 and 20, 2004, under the joint sponsorship of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The papers are listed at the end and are available at http://www.frbsf.org/economics/conferences/0403/index.html
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
New Keynesian models and their fit to the data
Dennis, Richard (2004)
In this Economic Letter, we discuss the basic properties of hybrid New Keynesian models and examine the extent to which they successfully explain U.S. macroeconomic data.
FRBSF Economic Letter

Journal Article
Fiscal and monetary policy: conference summary
Williams, John; Dennis, Richard (2005)
This Economic Letter summarizes the papers presented at a conference on "Fiscal and Monetary Policy" held at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on March 4 and 5, 2005.
FRBSF Economic Letter