What Prompts the People＇s Bank of China to Change Its Monetary Policy Stance？ Evidence from a Discrete Choice Model

In the present paper, we model the policy stance of the People＇s Bank of China （PBC） as a latent variable, and the discrete changes in the reserve requirement ratio, policy interest rates, and the scale of open market operations are taken as signals of movement of this latent variable. We run a discrete choice regression that relates these observed indicators of policy stance to major trends of macroeconomic and financial developments, which are represented by common factors extracted from a large number of variables. The predicted value of the estimated model can then be interpreted as the implicit policy stance of the PBC. In a second step, we estimate how much of the variation in the PBC＇ s implicit stance can be explained by measures of its policy objectives on inflation, growth and financial stability. We find that deviations of CPI inflation from an implicit target and deviations of broad money growth from the announced targets, but not output gaps, figure significantly in the PBC＇s policy changes.     

宏观经济对利率期限结构的动态影响研究

本文通过结构VAR模型发现宏观经济冲击对各期限利率水平产生显著的影响,但不同类型的冲击产生的影响不同：与成熟市场相似,90％以上的利率曲线变化可以由水平、倾斜和曲度因素来解释,且更多表现为平行移动;利用脉冲反应和方差分解,发现价格水平对水平因素的影响最大,而货币政策变化是倾斜因素和曲度因素变化的主要原因,这既体现了央行货币政策操作的有效性,也表明现阶段银行间市场利率期限结构的信息敏感性。这与成熟市场的表现是非常相似的。     

Monetary policy and the yield curve at zero interest

In contrast to affine term structure models, Black’s (1995) model of interest rates as options has properties suitable to examine the yield curve when the short-term interest rate is near zero. We estimate a Black’s model with Japan’s data to extract market expectations about duration of zero interest. We find that expectations about duration have substantially varied, which contradicts with the assumption utilized in the literature. We also find a tight link between expectations about duration and survey measures of inflation expectations, which appears to be attributable to the Bank of Japan’s commitment conditional on inflation.     

宏观经济因素对我国股票市场波动影响的实证分析

股票市场的发展与一国的宏观经济因素存在密切的联系,本文选取工业增加值增长率,居民消费价格指数、利率、汇率、货币供应量、上证综合指数这6个变量建立VAR模型,并进行脉冲响应分析,对宏观经济因素对我国股票市场价格变动的影响进行定量分析。分析得出宏观经济因素与股票价格波之间存在长期稳定的均衡关系,并且货币政策只有很微弱的影响作用。     

Forecasting China's economic growth and inflation

Although macroeconomic forecasting forms an integral part of the policymaking process, there has been a serious lack of rigorous and systematic research in the evaluation of out-of-sample model-based forecasts of China's real GDP growth and CPI inflation. This paper fills this research gap by providing a replicable forecasting model that beats a host of other competing models when measured by root mean square errors, especially over long-run forecast horizons. The model is shown to be capable of predicting turning points and to be usable for policy analysis under different scenarios. We find that M2 supply, rather than interest rates, is a key variable for forecasting macroeconomic variables. Annual GDP growth for the next five years is predicted to be close to the 6.5% official target and a future GDP growth path is predicted to be of L-shape rather than U-shape.     

Endogenous monetary policy shifts and the term structure: Evidence from Japanese government bond yields

I construct a no-arbitrage term structure model with endogenous regime shifts and apply it to Japanese government bond (JGB) yields. This model subjects the short-term interest rate to monetary regime shifts, specifically a zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) and normal regimes, which depend on macroeconomic variables. The estimates show that under the ZIRP regime, the effect of deflation (inflation) on lowering (raising) bond yields amplifies on the long end of yield curves, compared with a case with positive interest rates under the normal regime. On the other hand, output gaps’ ability to raise bond yields weakens for all maturities.     

中国商业银行信用风险宏观压力测试

本文用Logit模型将贷款损失率转化为金融稳定性综合指标,并以此作为被解释变量,以CPI、GDP和利率等宏观经济因素作为被解释变量进行回归分析,并做出各宏观经济因素的预测模型。在此基础上,对下一期的相应经济数据进行预测,并对下一期经济分别受各项宏观经济变量极端可信冲击下进行压力测试。研究结果显示,以上三种宏观经济因素对贷款损失率影响显著,其系数的经济意义也与现实相符。此外,根据模型的回归结果显示,关于利率的研究部分准确验证了我国利率的产出经济效应和货币政策的时滞期。本文为政府降低贷款损失率,提高金融稳定性而进行系统的宏观经济调控提供定性和定量的参考建议。     

Can We Prevent Boom-Bust Cycles During Euro Area Accession?

Euro-area accession caused boom-bust cycles in several catching-up economies. Declining interest rates and easier financing conditions fuelled spending and borrowing from abroad. Over time inflation deteriorated external competitiveness, turning the boom into a bust. We ask whether such a scenario can be avoided using macroeconomic tools that are available in the period of joining a monetary union: central parity revaluation, fiscal tightening or increased taxation. We find that exchange rate revaluation is the most attractive option. It simultaneously trims the expansion of output and domestic demand, reduces the cost pressure and ranks first in terms of welfare.     

On the Sources of Inflation in Kenya: A Model‐Based Approach

We develop a semi‐structural new‐Keynesian open‐economy model – with separate food and non‐food inflation dynamics to study the sources of inflation in Kenya in recent years. To do so, we filter international and Kenyan data (on output, inflation and its components, exchange rates and interest rates) through the model to recover a model‐based decomposition of most variables into trends (or potential values) and temporary movements (or gaps) – including for the international and domestic relative price of food. We use the filtration exercise to recover the sequence of domestic and foreign macroeconomic shocks that account for business cycle dynamics in Kenya over the last few years, with a special emphasis on the various factors (international food prices, monetary policy) driving inflation. We find that while imported food price shocks have been an important source of inflation, both in 2008 and more recently, accommodating monetary policy has also played a role, most notably through its effect on the nominal exchange rate. We also discuss the implications of this exercise for the use of model‐based monetary policy analysis in sub‐Saharan African countries.     

Empirical modeling of Japan’s markup and inflation, 1976–2000

This paper aims to pursue an empirical model of Japan’s markup and inflation using historical time series data covering the last quarter of the 20th century. A multivariate cointegration analysis of Japan’s macroeconomic data indicates the existence of a long-run economic linkage, which is interpreted as an empirical representation of countercyclical markup. A set of variables in the cointegrated system, apart from markup and inflation, are judged to be weakly exogenous for parameters of interest, thereby allowing us to estimate a partial model given these exogenous variables. The model reduction is then conducted so as to achieve a parsimonious representation of countercyclical markup and inflation dynamics over the sample period of interest.     

Credibility of European economic convergence

Credibility of European Economic Convergence. — The authors analyze economic convergence and its relation to European real interest rate differentials using a clustering method on seven macroeconomic key variables for 1979–1995. The results indicate that monetary convergence has progressed considerably but that there is hardly any real convergence in the EU. They also perform pooled nominal and real interest rate regressions with the individual cluster indicators as explanatory variables. The authors find significant positive effects of external (current account) and internal (unemployment ratios, government finance) imbalances on real interest rates. They also group countries according to economic reputation and find that real indicators remain significant for the high-reputation countries.     

Explaining Interest Rate Spreads in Ghana*

Abstract: The question of the optimal spread between bank lending rates and rates that banks pay on deposits, which is fair to bankers, depositors and borrowers, has dogged economies for some time. In Ghana, there is widespread perception that the spread is too wide. Bankers, on the other hand justify the spread on the basis of economic variables that affect them. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying, in the case of Ghana, the short‐run response of the net interest margin of banks to changes in bank‐specific, industry‐specific and macroeconomic variables within the broad framework of Ho and Saunders (1981) . We find that increases in the following factors significantly increase net interest margin — bank market power (or concentration), bank size, staff costs, administrative costs, extent of bank risk aversion and the rate of inflation. On the other hand, increases in the following variables decrease net interest margin significantly — bank excess cash reserves, the central bank lending rate, management efficiency and the passage of time. To help reduce interest rate margins, we recommend that banks should not get too big, the central bank should consider lowering the capital adequacy ratio and banks should be required to pass on to borrowers the full extent of reductions or increases in the central bank lending rate. Continued efforts at keeping inflation at bay will also help.     

中国国债利率期限结构突变与动因分析——基于无套利宏观金融模型的视角

已有研究表明中国宏观经济和金融市场近20年来表现出区制转换和非线性特征,在此背景下国债市场是否也存在结构性变化,将关系到利率模型的稳定性和经济政策的效果。文章基于未知间断点的结构突变方法实证检验2002年到2015年间中国国债利率期限结构,并通过把新凯恩斯动态一般均衡框架嵌入仿射无套利期限结构模型中,解释突变的宏观动因。结果认为,受2005年金融市场一系列重大改革的累积和联动影响,中国国债利率期限结构于2005年11月发生了显著的结构变化;间断后由于市场风险水平降低,货币政策波动性减小,所以利率偏离预期假说的程度锐减;与货币政策相关的斜率因子风险价格的减小是突变的关键动因。     

The macroeconomic effects of monetary policy: Evidence from Japan

This study examines the macroeconomic effects of monetary policy in Japan. We apply the new identification strategy proposed by Bu et al. (2021) to the Japanese case and estimate monetary policy shocks that bridge periods of conventional and unconventional monetary policymaking. We show the macroeconomic effects of monetary policy; a contractionary monetary policy shock significantly decreases output and inflation rates even under the effective lower bound. However, because the shorter-term and longer-term nominal interest rates are already close to zero, the magnitude of monetary policy shocks on the macroeconomic variables is modest.     

A BVAR MODEL FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY

The paper develops a Bayesian vector autoregressive (BVAR) model of the South African economy for the period of 1970:1‐2000:4 and forecasts GDP, consumption, investment, short‐term and long term interest rates, and the CPI. We find that a tight prior produces relatively more accurate forecasts than a loose one. The out‐of‐sample‐forecast accuracy resulting from the BVAR model is compared with the same generated from the univariate and unrestricted VAR models. The BVAR model is found to produce the most accurate out of sample forecasts. The same is also capable of correctly predicting the direction of change in the chosen macroeconomic indicators.     

The Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment in the Netherlands

The rise in unemployment in the 1970s and its subsequent persistence have challenged the conventional wisdom embodied in the standard Phillips curve, namely that equilibrium unemployment is fairly constant over time. This paper attempts to explain the apparent non-constancy of equilibrium unemployment by developing and estimating a structural model in which equilibrium unemployment is endogenous and results from the interactions of wage bargaining and the price and employment determination of firms. We find that the three major determinants of equilibrium unemployment are tax rates, the replacement rate and the real interest rate. The rise in unemployment in the 1970s and early 1980s was mainly due to a rise in the first two factors. That equilibrium unemployment remained high when tax rates and the replacement rate were reduced in the 1980s and early 1990s is attributed to the rise in real interest rates during this period.     

Volatility transmission along the money market yield curve

Volatility Transmission along the Money Market Yield Curve. - The authors model the volatility of money market interest rates — and the transmission of volatility - along the money market yield curve in the UK, Germany, France and Spain. They find a significant volatility transmission from overnight to longer-term money market rates in France, Spain and the U.K. They also find that the countries with lower (higher) reserve requirements tend to have higher (lower) interbank interest rate volatility. However, reserve requirements generate a perverse seasonal effect at the end of the maintenance period.     

Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis: Policy Responses to External Shocks in Uruguay

The 2008 global economic crisis affected the Uruguayan economy through two main channels: collapse in global trade and drop in capital flows. In response to the crisis, the Uruguayan government increased public consumption and investment and expanded social benefits to unemployed workers. We apply a computable general equilibrium model linked to microsimulations to analyze the distributional impacts of these policies and assess their effectiveness. We find that an increase in public investment was the only policy effective in mitigating the negative impact of the crisis on extreme poverty. The other policies reinforced the negative impact of the crisis on the poor. All three policies are costly and have an important impact on macroeconomic variables and the structure of production and export, while they have only slight or negative results on poverty and household income. More focalized policies, such as direct cash transfers, might have better results in terms of cost‐benefit.     

Prepayment behaviors of Japanese residential mortgages

We investigate full prepayments of Japanese residential mortgages during a ten-year period from 1996 to 2005. This investigation is important because the amount of mortgages outstanding in Japan is huge, yet the study on their prepayments is very limited. This period from 1996 to 2005 was characterized by two distinct features of the evolution of interest rates that might have significant effects on mortgage refinancing. First, interest rate fluctuations were limited to a narrow range of a little over 1%. Surprisingly, full prepayments of Japanese mortgages were sensitive to small changes in interest rates. Second, long-term refinance rates did not fall well below the contract rates of most mortgages in our sample during the ten-year period, while short-term refinance rates did. With this interest rate relationship, if mortgagors ever refinanced, it was likely that they rolled over short-term mortgage rates several times until they repaid mortgages completely. Hence, we examine the sensitivity of full prepayments to short-term vs. long-term interest rates, mortgagors’ expectation of future course of interest rates (by the slope of yield curve), and that of interest rate volatility. Our analysis shows that short-term interest rates have a slightly greater explanatory power for full prepayments than long-term interest rates. In addition, our analysis confirms that full prepayments are sensitive to both the slope of yield curve and interest rate volatility. Other issues we look into are the patterns of full prepayments in relation to loan age and seasonality. We find that the pattern of full prepayments relative to loan age is comparable to that of mortgages in the U.S., and that the seasonal pattern of full prepayments is attributable to relevant institutional arrangements in Japan.     

International macroeconomic announcements and intraday euro exchange rate volatility

The short-run reaction of Euro returns volatility to a wide range of macroeconomic announcements is investigated using 5-min returns for spot Euro–Dollar, Euro–Sterling and Euro–Yen exchange rates. The marginal impact of each individual macroeconomic announcement on volatility is isolated whilst controlling for the distinct intraday volatility pattern, calendar effects, and a latent, longer run volatility factor simultaneously. Macroeconomic news announcements from the US are found to cause the vast majority of the statistically significant responses in volatility, with US monetary policy and real activity announcements causing the largest reactions of volatility across the three rates. ECB interest rate decisions are also important for all three rates, whilst UK Industrial Production and Japanese GDP cause large responses for the Euro–Sterling and Euro–Yen rates, respectively. Additionally, forward looking indicators and regional economic surveys, the release timing of which is such that they are the first indicators of macroeconomic performance that traders observe for a particular month, are also found to play a significant role.