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Working Paper
Managing Macroeconomic Fluctuations with Flexible Exchange Rate Targeting
We show that a monetary policy rule that uses the exchange rate to stabilize the economy can outperform a Taylor rule in managing macroeconomics fluctuations and in achieving higher welfare. The differences between the rules are driven by: (i) the paths of the nominal exchange rate and the interest rate under each rule and (ii) external habits in consumption, which leads to deviations from uncovered interest parity. These differences are larger in economies, which are very open, which are more exposed to foreign shocks, or in which domestic and foreign goods are highly substitutable.
Working Paper
Uncertainty Shocks, Monetary Policy and Long-Term Interest Rates
We study the relationship between monetary policy and long-term rates in a structural, general equilibrium model estimated on both macro and yields data from the United States. Regime shifts in the conditional variance of productivity shocks, or "uncertainty shocks", are an important model ingredient. First, they account for countercyclical movements in risk premia. Second, they induce changes in the demand for precautionary saving, which affects expected future real rates. Through changes in both risk-premia and expected future real rates, uncertainty shocks account for about 1/2 of the ...
Working Paper
Managing Macroeconomic Fluctuations with Flexible Exchange Rate Targeting
We show that a monetary policy rule that uses the exchange rate to stabilize the economy outperforms a Taylor rule in managing macroeconomics fluctuations and in achieving higher welfare. The differences between the rules are driven by: (i) the path of the nominal exchange rate and interest rate under each rule, and (ii) time variation in the risk premium, which leads to deviations from uncovered interest parity. These differences are larger in very open economies, more exposed to foreign shocks, and in which domestic and foreign goods are highly substitutable.
Working Paper
Measuring the Natural Rate of Interest : International Trends and Determinants
U.S. estimates of the natural rate of interest ? the real short-term interest rate that would prevail absent transitory disturbances ? have declined dramatically since the start of the global financial crisis. For example, estimates using the Laubach-Williams (2003) model indicate the natural rate in the United States fell to close to zero during the crisis and has remained there through the end of 2015. Explanations for this decline include shifts in demographics, a slowdown in trend productivity growth, and global factors affecting real interest rates. This paper applies the ...
Working Paper
Fiscal Stimulus Under Average Inflation Targeting
The stimulus effects of expansionary fiscal policy under average inflation targeting (AIT) depends on both monetary and fiscal policy regimes. AIT features an inflation makeup under the monetary regime, but not under the fiscal regime. In normal times, AIT amplifies the short-run fiscal multipliers under both regimes while mitigating the cumulative multiplies due to intertemporal substitution. In a zero-lower-bound (ZLB) period, AIT reduces fiscal multipliers under a monetary regime by shortening the duration of the ZLB through expected inflation makeup. Under the fiscal regime, AIT has a ...
Report
Deflationary shocks and monetary rules: an open-economy scenario analysis
The paper considers the macroeconomic transmission of demand and supply shocks in an open economy under alternative assumptions about whether the zero interest rate floor (ZIF) is binding. It uses a two-country general-equilibrium simulation model calibrated to the Japanese economy relative to the rest of the world. Negative demand shocks have more prolonged and conspicuous effects on the economy when the ZIF is binding than when it is not binding. Positive supply shocks can actually extend the period of time over which the ZIF may be expected to bind. Economies that are more open hit the ZIF ...
Discussion Paper
What Drives Forecaster Disagreement about Monetary Policy?
What can disagreement teach us about how private forecasters perceive the conduct of monetary policy? In a previous post, we showed that private forecasters disagree about both the short-term and the long-term evolution of key macroeconomic variables but that the shape of this disagreement differs across variables. In contrast to their views on other macroeconomic variables, private forecasters disagree substantially about the level of the federal funds rate that will prevail in the medium to long term but very little on the rate at shorter horizons. In this post, we explore the possible ...
Working Paper
A model of monetary policy shocks for financial crises and normal conditions
In late 2008, deteriorating economic conditions led the Federal Reserve to lower the federal funds rate to near zero and inject massive liquidity into the financial system through novel facilities. The combination of conventional and unconventional measures complicates the challenging task of characterizing the effects of monetary policy. We develop a novel method of identifying these effects that maintains the classic assumptions that a central bank reacts to output and the price level contemporaneously and may only affect these variables with a lag. A New-Keynesian DSGE model augmented with ...
Report
Monetary policy, financial conditions, and financial stability
We review a growing literature that incorporates endogenous risk premiums and risk taking in the conduct of monetary policy. Accommodative policy can create an intertemporal trade-off between improving current financial conditions and increasing future financial vulnerabilities. In the United States, structural and cyclical macroprudential tools to reduce vulnerabilities at banks are being implemented, but they may not be sufficient because activities can migrate and there are limited tools for nonbank intermediaries and for borrowers. While monetary policy itself can influence ...
Working Paper
Managing Macroeconomic Fluctuations with Flexible Exchange Rate Targeting
We show that a monetary policy rule that uses the exchange rate to stabilize the economy can outperform a Taylor rule in managing macroeconomics fluctuations and in achieving higher welfare. The differences between the rules are driven by: (i) the paths of the nominal exchange rate and the interest rate under each rule and (ii) time variation in the risk premium, which leads to deviations from uncovered interest parity. These differences are larger in economies, which are very open, which are more exposed to foreign shocks, or in which domestic and foreign goods are highly substitutable.