Monetary policy and stock valuation: structural VAR identification and size effects

This paper examines the relationship between the US monetary policy and stock valuation using a structural VAR framework that allows for the simultaneous interaction between the federal funds rate and stock market developments based on the assumption of long-run monetary neutrality. The results confirm a strong, negative and significant monetary policy tightening effect on real stock prices. Furthermore, we provide evidence consistent with a delayed response of small stocks to monetary policy shocks relative to large stocks.     

Dissecting Real Exchange Rate Fluctuations in China

This article uses a structural VAR model to investigate the sources of real exchange rate fluctuations in China over the period 1995Q1–2015Q4, taking into account five different types of macroeconomic shocks including technology, government spending, monetary policy, foreign demand, and risk premium shocks. These shocks are identified using sign restrictions derived from predictions of an open economy general equilibrium model calibrated to China’s economy. We find that foreign demand shocks are the most important driving force of China’s real exchange rate, which explains approximately 20% to 40% of the variance in 20 quarters. It is in line with the findings in the literature which show real demand shocks are the key contributor to fluctuations in the real exchange rate. Nominal shocks such as monetary policy shocks and risk premium shocks play relatively important roles at the short-term horizons, but their effects decay rapidly.     

The great moderation of the term structure of UK interest rates

The conduct of monetary policy, the term structure of interest rates and the structure of the economy in the UK have changed over the post-WWII period. We model the interaction between the macroeconomy and financial markets using a time-varying VAR augmented with the factors from the yield curve. There is evidence of a great moderation in the dynamics of the yield curve, with the factors being persistent and volatile before the introduction of inflation targeting in 1992 but becoming stable afterwards. The introduction of time-variation in the Factor Augmented VAR improves the fit of the model and results in expectation hypothesis consistent yields that are close to actual yields, even at long maturities. Monetary policy shocks had a significant impact on the volatility of inflation, output and the policy rate over the pre-inflation targeting era, but their contribution has been negligible under the current regime. Shocks to the level of the yield curve accounted for a large fraction of inflation variability only before 1992.     

Monetary policy matters: Evidence from new shocks data

The evidence suggests that monetary policy post 1988 became more forward-looking, invalidating the identifying assumptions in conventional methods of measuring monetary policy's effects, leading to spurious and unlikely results for this period. We propose a new identification scheme that uses factors extracted from Fed Funds futures to measure exogenous changes in policy. Using this shock series in a VAR, we recover the contractionary effect of monetary tightening on output. Moreover, we find that as much as half of the variability in output was driven by monetary policy shocks, and that there is a mild price puzzle.     

Realized and Optimal Monetary Policy Rules in an Estimated Markov‐Switching DSGE Model of the United Kingdom

This paper investigates underlying changes in the UK economy over the past 35 years using a small open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. Using Bayesian analysis, we find UK monetary policy, nominal price rigidity and exogenous shocks, are all subject to regime shifts. A model incorporating these changes is used to estimate the realized monetary policy and derive the optimal monetary policy rule for the United Kingdom. This allows us to assess the effectiveness of the realized policy in terms of stabilizing economic fluctuations, and, in turn, provide an indication of whether there is room for the monetary authorities to further improve their policies.     

Estimating monetary policy effects when interest rates are close to zero

Using a nonlinear structural VAR approach, we estimate the effects of exogenous monetary policy shocks in the presence of a zero lower bound constraint on nominal interest rates and examine the impact of such a constraint on the effectiveness of counter-cyclical monetary policies based on the data from Japan. We find that when interest rates are at zero, the output effect of exogenous shocks to monetary policy is cut in half if the central bank continues to target the interest rate. The conditional impulse response functions allow us to isolate the effect of monetary policy shocks operating through the interest rate channel when other possible channels of monetary transmission are present.     

Identifying the interdependence between US monetary policy and the stock market

We estimate the interdependence between US monetary policy and the S&P 500 using structural vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology. A solution is proposed to the simultaneity problem of identifying monetary and stock price shocks by using a combination of short-run and long-run restrictions that maintains the qualitative properties of a monetary policy shock found in the established literature [Christiano, L.J., Eichenbaum, M., Evans, C.L., 1999. Monetary policy shocks: what have we learned and to what end? In: Taylor, J.B., Woodford, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, vol. 1A. Elsevier, New York, pp. 65-148]. We find great interdependence between the interest rate setting and real stock prices. Real stock prices immediately fall by seven to nine percent due to a monetary policy shock that raises the federal funds rate by 100 basis points. A stock price shock increasing real stock prices by one percent leads to an increase in the interest rate of close to 4 basis points.     

中国货币政策目标制的选择——基于开放经济体的实证

本文使用开放经济下的新凯恩斯模型实证分析了开放经济体中不同的货币政策目标制。结果表明,面对国内利率政策、技术、国外通货膨胀、国外产出和国外实际利率冲击时,由灵活通货膨胀目标、资本自由流动和完全浮动的汇率构成的货币政策目标体系能够有效吸收冲击,减缓经济波动。相比而言,严格通胀目标制无法有效吸收国内外冲击,所以我国在开放经济下选择货币政策目标时,并不一定要选择严格通货膨胀目标,可以选择一些灵活通货膨胀目标的政策框架。此外,能够有效吸收各种冲击的灵活通胀目标、资本自由流动和完全浮动汇率制组成的目标体系也为我国货币政策和汇率制度改革提供了方向。     

Housing, consumption and monetary policy: How different are the US and the euro area?

This paper provides a systematic empirical analysis of the role of the housing market in the macroeconomy in the US and the euro area. First, it establishes some stylised facts concerning key variables in the housing market on the two sides of the Atlantic, such as real house prices, residential investment and mortgage debt. It then presents evidence from Structural Vector Autoregressions (SVAR) by focusing on the effects of monetary policy, credit supply and housing demand shocks on the housing market and the broader economy. The analysis shows that similarities outweigh differences as far as the housing market is concerned. The empirical evidence suggests a stronger role for housing in the transmission of monetary policy shocks in the US. The evidence is less clear-cut for housing demand shocks. Finally, credit supply shocks seem to matter more in the euro area.     

The role of house prices in the monetary policy transmission mechanism in small open economies

We analyse the role of house prices in the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Norway, Sweden and the UK, using structural VARs. A solution is proposed to the endogeneity problem of identifying shocks to interest rates and house prices by using a combination of short-run and long-run (neutrality) restrictions. By allowing the interest rate and house prices to react simultaneously to news, we find the role of house prices in the monetary transmission mechanism to increase considerably. In particular, house prices react immediately and strongly to a monetary policy shock. Furthermore, the fall in house prices enhances the negative response in output and consumer price inflation that has traditionally been found in the conventional literature. Moreover, we find that the interest rate responds systematically to a change in house prices. However, the strength and timing of response varies between the countries, suggesting that housing may play a different role in the monetary policy setting.     

Towards a measure of financial fragility

The paper proposes a measure of financial fragility that is based on economic welfare in a general equilibrium model calibrated against UK data. The model comprises a household sector, three active heterogeneous banks, a central bank/regulator, incomplete markets, and endogenous default. We address the impact of monetary and regulatory policy, credit and capital shocks in the real and financial sectors and how the response of the economy to shocks relates to our measure of financial fragility. Finally we use panel VAR techniques to investigate the relationships between the factors that characterise financial fragility in our model, i.e. banks’ probabilities of default and banks’ profits – to a proxy of welfare.      

Technology Shocks and Monetary Policy: Revisiting the Fed's Performance

Would the U.S. economy's dynamic response to permanent technology shocks have been different from the actual responses if monetary authorities' systematic response to these shocks had been optimal? To answer this question, we characterize the dynamic effects of permanent technology shocks and the way in which U.S. monetary authorities reacted to these shocks over the sample 1955(1)–2002(4) using a structural VAR. A sticky price–sticky wage model is developed and estimated to reproduce these responses. We then formally compare these responses with the outcome of the optimal monetary policy.     

The impact of monetary policy shocks on stock prices: Evidence from Canada and the United States

Using structural VAR models with short-run restrictions appropriate for Canada and the United States, we empirically examine whether trade and financial market openness matter for the impact on and transmission to stock prices of monetary policy shocks. We find that, in Canada, the immediate response of stock prices to a domestic contractionary monetary policy shock is small and the dynamic response is brief, whereas in the United States, the immediate response of stock prices to a similar shock is relatively large and the dynamic response is relatively prolonged. We find that these differences are largely driven by differences in financial market openness and hence different dynamic responses of monetary policy shocks between the two countries that we model in this paper.     

Evolving Macroeconomic Dynamics in a Small Open Economy: An Estimated Markov Switching DSGE Model for the UK

This paper investigates the possibility of shifts in the UK economy using a Markov switching open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. We find overwhelming evidence to reject the hypothesis that the deep structural parameters of the underlying structural model had stayed constant throughout the sample period and there is significant changes to the volatility of the structural shocks. Counterfactual experiments based on the model with the best empirical fit indicate that the change in the policy rule as well as changes to the volatility of the structural shocks over the sample period are crucial features in explaining UK’s macroeconomic performance.     

全球性因素对中国宏观经济及货币政策有效性的影响

本文首先对全球性因素与中国主要宏观经济变量之间的协同性进行了定量研究,并探讨了协同效应的历史演变,然后实证分析了1998-2011年全球性因素对我国货币政策有效性的影响及其动态变化。通过因子增强型向量自回归模型的实证分析,我们发现,世界经济与中国宏观经济之间呈现出一定的协同性。同时,全球性因素对各经济变量的解释力度随着时间的变化有着不同的表现,但没有证据表明它已成为系统更重要的因素。全球性因素引起了中国货币政策传导机制的部分改变,然而,全球性因素在中国不同经济变量响应货币冲击中有着不同的影响,由于全球性因素,某些经济变量对货币冲击的调整幅度和方向、持续性反应和时滞期发生了一定的变化。然而,全球性因素并没有使得我国的货币政策传导机制发生系统性、根本性的改变。     

The Impact of the Volatility of Monetary Policy Shocks

This paper studies the impact of the volatility of monetary policy using a structural vector auroregression (SVAR) model enriched along two dimensions. First, it allows for time‐varying variance of monetary policy shocks via a stochastic volatility specification. Second, it allows a dynamic interaction between the level of the endogenous variables in the VAR and the time‐varying volatility. The analysis establishes that the nominal interest rate, output growth, and inflation fall in reaction to an increase in the volatility of monetary policy. The analysis also develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model enriched with stochastic volatility to monetary policy that generates similar responses and provides a theoretical underpinning of these findings.     

The interest rate pass-through in the Euro area during the global financial crisis

This paper uses panel vector autoregressive (VAR) models for euro area member countries to explore the widening of retail bank interest rate spreads that emerged in the course of the global financial crisis. We find that the interest rate pass-through was generally complete on impact before the outbreak of the financial crisis, but became significantly distorted in the period thereafter, which hampered the effectiveness of monetary policy. Empirical evidence suggests that the decrease in the interest rate pass-through can be related to a change in the structural parameters characterizing the economies and a substantial increase in the average size of structural shocks. DSGE model simulations show that an increase in the frictions that banks are subject to can explain the decrease in the retail bank interest rate pass-through.     

Endogenous Growth and Real Effects of Monetary Policy: R&D and Physical Capital Complementarities

We study the real long-run effects of the structural stance of monetary policy and of inflation, in the context of a monetary growth model where R&D is complemented with physical capital accumulation. We look into the effects on a set of real macroeconomic variables that have been of interest to policymakers—the economic growth rate, real interest rate, physical investment rate, capital-to-labor ratio, R&D intensity, and velocity of money. These variables have been previously analyzed from the perspective of different, separated, strands of the theoretical and empirical literature. Additionally, we analyze the long-run relationship between inflation and both the effectiveness of real industrial-policy shocks and the market structure, assessed namely by average firm size. We present novel cross-country evidence on the empirical relationship between the latter and long-run inflation.