Search Results
Journal Article
Real output and unit labor costs as predictors of inflation
Granger-causality tests used here find that: [1] unit labor costs add no predictive power to inflation forecasts; and [2] the gap between actual and potential output does help predict inflation, but only in the short run.
Journal Article
The bond rate and actual future inflation
Working Paper
Deficits and long-term interest rates: an empirical note
This note examines whether long-term nominal interest rates are cointegrated with budget deficits over the period 1959 to 1990. A key finding of this note is that long-term rates are cointegrated with deficits if a one-year ahead inflation forecast series is used to measure long-term expected inflation. However, the evidence favoring cointegration between deficits and interest rates weakens and almost disappears when inflation forecasts over longer horizons (2 to 4 years) are used. This result indicates that a one-year ahead inflation forecast series does not adequately measure long-term ...
Working Paper
The Taylor principle, interest rate smoothing and Fed policy in the 1970s and 1980s
Using real time estimates of output gaps or Greenbook forecasts of the unemployment rate, this article estimates Taylor-type policy rules that predict the actual behavior of the funds rate during two sample periods, 1968Q1 to 1979Q2 and 1979Q3 to 1994Q4. The inflation rate response coefficient is close to unity over the first sub-period and well above unity over the second, suggesting Fed policy violated the Taylor principle during the first period. The adjustment of the funds rate in response to fundamentals is not as rapid during the first period as it is during the second. Together these ...
Journal Article
Oil prices and consumer spending
Journal Article
An error-correction model of U.S. M2 demand
An error-correction model is used to study the long- and short-run determinants of U.S. demand for M2. The money demand function presented here exhibits parameter stability and predicts quite well the actual behavior of M2 growth in the 1980s.
Working Paper
The output gap, expected future inflation and inflation dynamics: another look
The empirical test of the output gap-based New Keynesian Phillips curve often has been implemented by estimating a hybrid specification that includes both lagged and future inflation and then by examining whether the estimated coefficient on future inflation is significantly larger than the one on lagged inflation. This article presents the evidence that indicates supply shocks significantly enter the hybrid specification. The results reported in previous research ? the output gap is irrelevant and expected future inflation is the major determinant of inflation ? arise if the hybrid ...
Briefing
Inflation expectations: their sources and effects
Shocks to the macroeconomy can affect the public's expectations about inflation. But if the Federal Reserve monitors those expectations carefully and vigilantly pursues price stability, it can establish credibility and keep inflation in check.
Journal Article
A forward-looking monetary policy reaction function
Working Paper
The bond rate and actual future inflation
The long-term bond rate is cointegrated with the actual one-period inflation rate during two sample periods, 1961Q1 to 1979Q3 and 1961Q1 to 1995Q4. This result indicates that in the long run the bond rate and actual inflation move together. The nature of short-run dynamic adjustments between these variables has, however, changed over time. In the pre-1979 period, when the bond rate rose above the one-period inflation rate, actual inflation accelerated. In the post-1979 period, however, the bond rate reverted back and actual inflation did not accelerate. Thus, the bond rate signaled future ...