The UK housing market and the monetary policy transmission mechanism: An SVAR approach

I estimate an eight variable structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model of the UK economy based upon that of Kim and Roubini [Kim, S., Roubini, N., 2000. Exchange rate anomalies in the industrial countries: a solution with a structural VAR approach. J. Monet. Econ. 45(3), 561–586] for the purpose of investigating the role of the housing market in the transmission of monetary policy. Retail sales fall by just under 0.4% following a temporary positive 100 basis points shock to short-term domestic interest rates; inflation is also lowered. House prices fall by 0.75%. House price shocks increase consumption, the price level and interest rates. Combining the central estimates for interest rate and house price shocks suggests that house price movements can explain about one-seventh of the fall in consumption following an interest rate shock. A counterfactual simulation comes to a similar figure.     

转型经济利率市场化与我国货币市场发展

由于经济转型独特的初始条件,利率市场化不单单表现为放松利率管制,期间还交叉了一个利率定价传导机制重构的过程。利率定价传导机制取决于一国的金融制度与结构,尤其与货币市场的发育密切相关。目前,由于利率定价传导机制尚未完全成型,相应的利率市场化进程应以完善利率定价传导机制为重点,并最终完成以放松利率管制为主要特征的利率市场化改革。     

Price uncertainty, saving, and welfare

We analyze how commodity price uncertainty affects saving behavior and welfare in a dynamic model with multiple commodities, portfolio hedging, and a preference structure that disentangles ordinal preferences, attitudes towards risk, and attitudes towards intertemporal substitution. We show that the effect of price uncertainty on savings boils down to knowing (1) hf degree of resistance to intertemporal substitution and (2) the effect that uncertainty has on the certainty-equivalent real interest rate. We also show that, if the certainty-equivalent real interest rate is lower with uncertainty, consumers' welfare is also lower.     

A New Keynesian model with staggered price and wage setting under learning

This paper provides a study of the implications for economic dynamics when the central bank sets its nominal interest rate target in response to variations in wage inflation. I provide results on the existence, uniqueness, and stability under learning of rational expectations equilibrium for alternative specifications of the manner in which monetary policy responds to economic shocks when nominal rigidities are present. Monopolistically competitive producers set prices via staggered price contracts, and households set nominal wages in the same fashion. In this setting, the conditions for determinacy and learnability of rational expectations equilibrium differ from a model where only prices are sticky. I find that when the central bank responds to wage and price inflation and to the output gap, a Taylor principle for wage and price inflation arises that is related to stability under learning dynamics. In other words, a moderate reaction of the interest rate to wage inflation helps to avoid instability under learning and indeterminacy.     

非市场因素变动对商品房交易定价的潜在影响分析

商品房投资的交易价格主要由影响市场供求的因素决定,但一些非市场因素对商品房售价存在潜在影响。本文在考虑现金流时间价值的基础上,以净现值(NPV)等于0为基准,分析了贷款利率、折现率、契税及出售时间等因素变化,对商品房出售价格的影响,为商品房投资者的投资选择和政府调控房价的政策选择提供参考。     

Real Balances, the Price Level and the Unit of Account

A bstract It is argued that Patinkin's introduction in his 1956 book of the stability analysis of the price level resulted in great measure from his reading of Wicksell's 1898 Interest and Prices. Both Patinkin and Wicksell based their treatments of the stability of the price level on what Patinkin used to call the "real balance effect." That effect, however, does not operate under Wicksell's assumption of a competitive "pure credit economy", where all transactions are carried out by bookkeeping transfers, and the unit of account is the same unit in which the accounts of banks are kept. In that case, Patinkin showed in the second (1965) edition of his book that the real balance effect–and, by that, the stability of the price level–would still be a feature of the system if profit maximizer banks held reserves, created by the central bank to settle temporary imbalances at the clearinghouse. According to Wicksell, on the other hand, a pure credit economy should consist of a central bank that attracts and remunerates deposits at the same interest rate charged for its loans, plus profit maximizer financial intermediaries that lend money for risky projects. The basic rate of interest set by the central bank decides, accordingly, the price level in such an economy. Wicksell's and Patinkin's approaches differ from the view put forward in the 1980s by the so-called "new monetary economics" that the key to price level stabilization is the separation of the function of money as the unit of account from its function as the medium of exchange in pure accounting systems of exchange.     

Price uncertainty and the effect of capital costs in a point in-point out inventory investment

This paper analyzes a point in-point out inventory investment under price uncertainty. The optimal quantity is determined by maximizing the expected value of the investor's risk preference function, which is a function of profit. Using an exponential risk preference function, the adjustment in the optimal quantity stemming from a change in the interest rate is investigated. The main conclusion is that the sign of the adjustment depends both on how profit is expressed and on the type of price distribution applied. Contrary to what is assumed in conventional managerial control practices, a rise in the interest rate might lead to an increase in the optimal quantity when present value serves as a measure of profit.     

Stochastic interest rates under rational inattention

This paper introduces state uncertainty due to information-processing constraints into the Vasicek model to examine the impacts of rational inattention. By exploiting the term structure of interest rates, we derive closed-form solutions for the subjective bond price and the corresponding bond yield and find that uncertainty induced by informational frictions plays vital roles in undervaluing the bond price and overestimating the bond yield. Furthermore, we clarify the applications of interest rate dynamics under rational inattention and generate the following results: (i) there is an ambiguous relationship between the investor’s channel capacity and option price; (ii) an increase in state uncertainty via a change in the degree of channel capacity is likely to accelerate investment.     

我国总体并购活动与宏观经济变量的关联性研究——对我国并购浪潮成因的分析

本文对我国总体并购活动与GDP增长率、货币供应量、利率、股价及汇率的关联性实证研究结果表明，并购周期与经济周期具有较强的相关性，具有长期均衡关系；货币供应量、利率、股价和汇率等与总体并购活动具有长期稳定的关系，但短期内，利率与并购活动显著地负相关；货币供应量对总体并购活动有微弱的正相关关系；股价指数和汇率对总体并购活动有负影响，且影响程度很弱。这说明，经济周期和利率是我国并购浪潮形成的主要原因。     

Can money matter for interest rate policy?

In this paper it is shown that money can matter for macroeconomic stability under interest rate policy when transactions frictions are non-negligible. We develop a sticky price model with a shopping time function, which induces the marginal utility of consumption to depend on the (predetermined) stock of money held at the beginning of the period. Equilibrium stability and uniqueness are then ensured by a passive interest rate policy, whereas activeness is associated with an explosive equilibrium. By reacting to changes in beginning-of-period real balances, the central bank can restore stability. Interest rates further depend on lagged real balances even if the central bank acts in an entirely forward-looking way, as under discretionary optimization. If the model is revised such that end-of-period money provides transaction services, money can in principle be neglected for a stabilizing interest rate policy. Discretionary monetary policy is, however, likely to be associated with equilibrium indeterminacy, which can be avoided if interest rates are set contingent on beginning-of-period real balances.     

Pricing catastrophe equity puts with counterparty risks under Markov-modulated,default-intensity processes

According to the observation of the catastrophic events with regime-switching phenomena and default rate varying with economic condition, we extend the results of Chang et al. (2011) and also take the default rate varying with economic condition into consideration by using the Markov-modulated reduced-form model. In order to value options under stochastic interest rates and a default intensity environment, we employ Girsanov’s theorem to obtain two different forward measures and to derive a pricing formula. We also conduct numerical analyses using Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate the influence of the recovery rate, the time to maturity, the frequency of catastrophic events, and the effect of counterparties’ default intensity on the catastrophe equity put price.     

House Prices, Housing Investment and Demography Forecasts from the LBS/Abbey National Model of the UK Housing Market

A new housing sector has been incorporated into the London Business School model. This article outlines the new housing model, summarizes the research which has gone into its construction, and presents a forecast of the UK housing market. Using the new housing model, we forecast a moderate recovery in the housing market in the later part of 1991 and 1992. This recovery is however short-lived and does not result in such high rates of house price increase as previous house price booms (Chart 1).
Cuts in interest rates following entry to the exchange rate mechanism of the EMS prompt a recovery in house prices from the middle of 1991. House price inflation then peaks with an increase in average UK house prices in 1992 of 11 per cent over the previous year. Increases in real personal disposable income are modest, by the standards of the 1980s, and for this reason the recovery does not develop the momentum of previous house price booms. House price inflation moderates again in 1993 falling back to around 7 per cent. Housing starts and housing investment recover only slightly from their present depressed levels.
the recovery in house prices is weaker than that foreseen in our April Forecast Release. This is because real personal disposable income is now forecast to grow more slowly during 1991. Sterling's membership of the ERM is followed by a fall in interest rates, but it is the timing of interest rate cuts rather than their magnitude which differs from the earlier forecast. The changed profile of interest rates has altered the house price forecast only marginally.     

A random walk through the Gibson paradox

Evidence to support the Gibson paradox is often given in the form of a simple correlation between the nominal interest rate and the log of price level, or in the form of a simple linear regression between these two variables. Authors then show, using standard procedures of statistical inference, that the price level possesses a significant coefficient. We argue that this class of evidence is spurious since the nominal interest rate and the price level (both integrated variables) do not form a cointegrated system.     

Optimal discretionary monetary policy in a micro-founded model with a zero lower bound on nominal interest rate

This paper investigates optimal discretionary monetary policy under the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate (ZLB) in the case of a distorted steady state due to monopoly and taxation. Solving a fully nonlinear micro-founded (FNL) model using a global method, I find that the central bank in a more distorted economy would cut the interest rate less aggressively under a particularly adverse demand shock. This occurs because inflation and nominal interest rates are higher on average, making the ZLB less likely to bind and causing the economy to escape from the ZLB sooner. However, the social planner would choose the optimal inflation rate of approximately zero. The result emerges because the unconditional benefit of avoiding the ZLB is not big enough to offset the cost of higher relative price dispersion when inflation is significantly positive. In addition, I show that the conventional linear-quadratic (LQ) method is inaccurate in the case of a sufficiently distorted steady state.     

A capital accumulation model of the workers' enterprise

This article formulates a capital accumulation model of the workers' enterprise in which the standard adjustment-costs theory of investment is introduced into Sertel's framework. The existence, uniqueness and local stability of the steady state are shown to be established under mild conditions and the long-run effects of changes in the price of output, the external wage rate and the interest rate on the volume of capital and the size of membership are examined.     

The effect of systematic risk factors on counterparty default and credit risk of interest rate swaps

This research investigates the effect of specific systematic risk factors on credit risk pricing and capital allocation of interest rate swaps. Because of the stochastic nature of uncertain future cash flows and interest rates, practitioners typically employ the Black-Scholes option pricing model in combination with a simulation analysis to establish capital requirements and estimate the shadow price of an interest rate swap. However, this practice of pricing swap risk excludes systematic risk factors that affect the risk shadow price, thereby underestimating the capital allocation required for financial institutions. This research demonstrates the effect of risk mispricing when simulation models ignore systematic risk factors such as model risk, convexity risk, and parameter risk on the pricing of interest rate swaps.     

外国超市投资中国市场的财务风险分析与管理

本文针对投资中国市场的外国超市在中国市场可能面临的主要财务风险结合中国的宏观经济环境进行了分析,着重分析了除所有投资都要面临的一般财务风险外,作为进入中国市场的外国超市,还将面临的由于不同的经济环境而产生的汇率风险、利率风险、价格制定风险和通货膨胀风险,并针对这四种风险提出了相应的解决措施。     

当前我国中长期国债利率的风险研究

自从2002年2月以来,我国债券市场上的利率风险逐步升温。这不仅导致目前我国债券收益率曲 线和基准利率失实,更重要的是将误导今后政府债券发行的定价及其他金融市场利率的确定。文章分析了 形成目前我国债市利率风险的原因及防范措施,希望能对其研究有所帮助。     

Wicksell on the Classical Theories of Money, Credit, Interest and the Price Level:

ABSTRACT Knut Wicksell occupies a significant place in the history of monetary economics as the developer of the "cumulative process" by which deviations between the market and "natural" rates of interest cause the price level to change persistently. A more accurate version of the same argument is a part of classical monetary analysis but there the process originates from a change in base money or central bank credit while Wicksell's version may be initiated by banks capriciously setting their lending rates. Wicksell's version arises from his difficulties in correctly interpreting the classical quantity theory of money and interest rate determination from Hume down to Marshall, but has not been so noted in the literature.     

Housing, credit, and real activity cycles: Characteristics and comovement

This paper describes the characteristics and comovement of cycles in house prices, residential investment, credit, interest rates, and real activity in advanced economies during the past 25 years. Stylized facts and regularities are uncovered using a dynamic generalized factor model and spectral techniques. House price cycles are found to lead credit and real activity over the long term, while in the short to medium term the relationship varies across countries. Interest rates tend to lag other cycles at all time horizons. Although global factors are important, the US business cycle, housing cycle and interest rate cycle generally lead the respective cycles in other countries over all time horizons, while the US credit cycle leads mainly over the long term.