Inflation Targeting and Inflation Uncertainty

This article empirically investigates the impact of inflation targeting on inflation uncertainty. We implement PARCH and GARCH methodologies to model conditional variance of inflation. We also investigate the relationship between level and volatility of inflation to analyze the validity of the Friedman hypothesis for IT countries. We find that most of the inflation targeting countries have significantly lower inflation variances after inflation targeting. In most of the IT countries, the relationship is consistent with the Friedman hypothesis.     

Inflation,oil price volatility and monetary policy

In a fully micro-founded New Keynesian framework, we characterize an analytical relationship between average inflation and oil price volatility by solving the rational expectations equilibrium of the model up to second order of accuracy. The model shows that higher oil price volatility induces higher levels of average inflation. We also show that when oil has low substitutability in the production function, the higher the weight the central bank assigns to inflation in the policy rule, the lower the level of average inflation is. The analytical solution further indicates that, for a given level of oil price volatility, average inflation is higher when marginal costs are convex in oil prices, the Phillips Curve is convex, and the degree of relative price dispersion is higher. The evolution of inflation during the 70s and 80s is consistent with the prediction of the model.     

Inflation and inflation volatility in Thailand

Quarterly data for Thailand are used in this article for the period 1965q3–2013q4 to investigate both the relationship between inflation and inflation volatility, and the impact of inflation volatility on economic growth. Inflation volatility is estimated by deploying the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) technique. A Granger causality test is then conducted to examine the causality between inflation and inflation volatility. The empirical results obtained are consistent with a number of theoretical propositions. First, the results are consistent with the Friedman–Ball proposition, which states that a rise in inflation raises inflation volatility. Second, there is evidence supporting the Holland proposition that inflation volatility lowers the rate of inflation. This is consistent with the view that central banks attempt to stabilize inflation with the rise in inflation volatility. Third, empirical results obtained by asymmetric GARCH models suggest that inflation shocks have an asymmetric impact on inflation volatility (i.e. a positive inflation shock has a larger impact on inflation volatility – as measured by the logarithm of the conditional variance of inflation – than a negative inflation shock). Fourth, inflation volatility has an adverse impact on economic growth. Finally, given the fixed/pegged or managed float exchange rate system, US inflation has been found to have a positive impact on inflation and its volatility in Thailand. This article discusses the implications of empirical findings on the design and enactment of monetary policy for price stability in Thailand.     

中国通货膨胀及其波动性关系的实证研究

本文利用GARCH模型生成中国通货膨胀波动性的衡量指标,并实证分析1983年1月至2010年4月中国的通货膨胀与通货膨胀波动性之间的关系。结果表明:在中国,通货膨胀率是通货膨胀波动性的Granger原因,通货膨胀对通货膨胀波动性有稳定的正向影响关系,同时相同强度的通货膨胀冲击远远大于通货紧缩冲击对通货膨胀波动性的影响。对中国而言,控制通货膨胀比追求经济增长更重要。     

国际石油价格与通货膨胀的溢出效应及动态相关性

国际石油价格大幅波动不可避免地给全球经济带来了一定程度的冲击和影响。文章采用向量自回归、多元GARCH-BEKK和DCC-GARCH模型对中美两国通货膨胀与国际石油价格之间的均值溢出效应、波动溢出效应及动态相关关系进行了实证检验。检验结果表明,国际石油价格与中国通货膨胀不存在任何方向的均值和波动溢出效应,美国通货膨胀与国际油价则存在双向显著的均值和波动溢出效应;中国通货膨胀与国际油价的动态相关关系显著弱于美国,不易受到国际油价的冲击和影响。从整体上看,当前中国通货膨胀与国际石油价格的关联性并不显著,但随着我国石油消费对进口依赖程度的不断提高,石油安全问题在可预见的未来将成为中国需要应对的一个现实挑战。因此,相关部门应及早采取有效措施,应对未来石油冲击对宏观经济的影响。     

货币增长不确定性与通货膨胀不确定性——“波动溢出”假说与实证检验

文章基于通货膨胀——通货膨胀不确定性关系的理论研究,提出货币增长不确定性向通货膨胀不确定性波动溢出的计量检验假说,并利用中国数据,运用多元GARCH模型进行实证检验。结果发现,存在货币增长不确定性显著向通货膨胀不确定性波动溢出的效应。这意味着,货币增长不确定性具有提供有关预测通货膨胀不确定性信息的能力。同时也表明,货币增长不确定性是通货膨胀不确定性的重要解释变量,其重要性不应被忽视。实证结论的政策含义是:减少货币增长不确定性是降低通货膨胀不确定性的重要途径,我国20世纪90年代中后期稳健的货币政策所带来的通货膨胀不确定性显著降低的现实支持了这个观点。     

Inflation and asset returns

Sustained inflation is detrimental to long-run growth and the financial system. A recent theoretical literature suggests that high inflation implies low real returns on assets. These low returns exacerbate informational frictions, interfering with the functioning of financial markets and the allocation of investment. We investigate the plausibility of an inverse relationship between inflation and real returns. Inflation and nominal equity returns are negatively correlated or uncorrelated for all low-to-moderate inflation economies examined. Safe nominal rates of return and inflation are only weakly positively correlated. However, for high inflation economies inflation and nominal returns are strongly positively correlated.     

Deficits, Money Growth and Inflation in Italy: 1875–1994

In this paper, we examine econometrically the "fiscal dominance" model of the Monetary History of Italy proposed by Spinelli and Fratianni (1996). We test the proposition that monetary policy is endogenous to fiscal policy, and that such an endogeneity creates a specificity in the process generating Italian inflation. We perform our econometric tests by estimating a small structural linear econometric model, addressing carefully the issues of data-congruency of the specification, non-stationarity, cointegration, and credibility of the over-identifying restrictions. Our econometric investigation is based on a sample of annual observations from 1875–1994 and exploits the structural break which occurred in 1975, when Baffi became Governor of the Bank of Italy and the lack of independence of the central bank was first perceived as a problem. Baffi started the slow evolution process leading to the independence of the central bank, which was institutionally ratified by his successor Ciampi, when, in 1981, the Bank of Italy interrupted his commitment to buy all the government bonds left unsold in the public tenders (the "divorce"). Our empirical analysis over the sample 1875–1975 confirms the existence of a link between government deficit and money growth, and of a long-run relationship between the quantity of money and the price level; the evidence also stresses the relevance of supply side factors in the determination of inflation. When the model estimated for the sample 1875–1975 is applied to the period 1975–1994, a clear structural break in the relation between government deficits and money growth emerges. (J.E.L.: E5, E6).     

过剩产能与通货膨胀的关系分析——基于包含随机波动的TVP模型考察

为了更准确的考察目前中国的过剩产能与通货膨胀的关系,本文构造了一个包含随机波动的TVP模型对中国通货膨胀与产出缺口间的关系进行了实证分析,实证结果表明:中国通货膨胀的随机波动程度有不断增强的趋势;产出缺口对通货膨胀的影响力度有不断减弱的趋势;改善经济发展的结构性矛盾、提高供给部门的效率是实现价格稳定下经济快速增长的根本途径.     

Inflation Volatility and Forecast Accuracy

We examine the statistical properties of inflation in a sample of inflation‐targeting (IT) and non‐IT countries. It is hard to distinguish in which monetary regime inflation is less volatile. Inflation became easier to forecast in both groups of countries after the introduction of IT. The improvement was greater for IT countries, but forecast errors remain smaller for non‐IT countries. Our analysis is based on a stochastic volatility model proposed by Stock and Watson and its novel modification. Forecasts from the modified model are generally superior to both simple benchmarks and the original Stock and Watson model.     

Inflation volatility: A Bayesian approach

The ongoing trend of high inflation across much of the world has reignited interest in inflation volatility with varying foci and methods. In this paper, we employ a Bayesian framework to estimate inflation volatility using a sample of G20 countries. Estimation results suggest persistent heterogeneity in price volatility across time and countries. Furthermore, we use the Bayesian estimates of volatility to conduct several empirical analyses on the implications of interdependence of economies, development status for uncertainty. Further analyses on the determinants of price volatility suggest that trade openness, COVID-19, and the Ukraine crisis have positive impacts on volatility. Additionally, the nature of the political institutions and the share of manufacturing in total national output are also found to affect volatility to some extent.     

Threshold Effects on the Relationship Between Inflation Rate and Economic Growth in Tunisia

Using an econometric technique suggested by Hansen [(2001). The new econometrics of structural change: Dating breaks in U.S. Labor productivity. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15, 117–128], this paper studies the inflation–economic growth nexus in the case of Tunisia for the 1993-01–2012-11 period. The results show that there is one inflation threshold value that does exist for Tunisia. This evidence strongly sustains the view that the relationship between inflation rate and economic growth is non-linear. The estimated threshold regression model suggests that a threshold value of inflation rate below 3.48% fosters economic growth. In addition, above this threshold level, there is a statistically significant negative relationship between inflation rate and economic growth. These results have important implications to policy-makers who should pay attention to the inflation phenomena. Therefore, a new policy that takes into account such a threshold should be set up.     

Inflation and economic growth: a multi-country empirical analysis

The world eocnomy is currently adjusting to a low inflation regime which has implicastions for the cross-country distribution of world growth opportunities. In contrast to previous related work which assumes unidirectional causality, this paper uses the Granger methodology to examine both the direction and pattern of causality between inflation and economic growth in 70 countries using annual data over the period 1960–89. Among the conclusions are that first, the relationship between inflation and growth is non-uniform across countries: 40% of countries studied reveal no causality, one-third exhibit unidirectional causality and about one-fifth of countries show bidirectional causality, second, a vast majority of countries which show either uni- or bi-directional causality beong to the industrial group, and third, the low world inflation regime will on balance redistribute real growth opportunities benefit away from the developing countries towards the industrialized countries.     

Inflation targeting in emerging economies: Panel evidence

This paper shows there is no evidence that the inflation targeting regime (IT) improves economic performance as measured by the behavior of inflation and output growth in developing countries. The control of common time effects results in less negative and less significant IT impacts on inflation, inflation volatility and output growth volatility than previously found in the literature. Additionally, our analysis shows robust evidence of lower output growth during IT adoption. On balance, although lower long-run mean inflation signals that the central banks of emerging economies with inflation targeting are more inflation-averse, the costs of disinflation have not been lower than under other monetary regimes.     

我国通胀对股票市场条件波动影响研究

将通胀引入标准GARCH模型,分别研究我国通胀率、通胀率变化和移动平均通胀率对股市条件波动的影响。实证结果表明通胀对我国股票市场条件波动几乎不存在影响,从而否定了通胀会使投资者预期经济变坏,更加厌恶风险,以致引起资产价格剧烈波动的假说。     

我国通货膨胀与货币供给和经济增长的关系研究

基于协整检验和VAR模型选取1984～2010年的年度数据研究了通货膨胀与货币供给和经济增长之间的关系,研究表明:货币供给和经济增长都会导致通货膨胀,但通货膨胀不会引发货币超发,且一定的通货膨胀对经济增长具有正向刺激作用;货币供应量扩张对通货膨胀有促进作用,但影响程度逐步减弱,经济增长也会促使物价水平的上涨,但影响程度明显小于货币供给水平的影响;经济增长对物价水平的影响小于货币供应量对物价水平的影响,即货币供应量诱发通货膨胀,抑制通货膨胀的最好途径是解决货币供给问题;经济系统中存在"通货膨胀螺旋"效应。     

Monetary Growth and Inflation in China: A Reexamination

Using the notion of cointegration theory and its implied vector error correction modeling strategy, this paper reexamines the relationship between monetary forces and inflation in mainland China. Contrary to most recent research in this area, these results based on unit root and cointegration tests indicate a reliable long-run relationship between the general price level and the money stock, as well as between inflation and monetary growth. Our findings also suggest a bi-directional or feedback relationship between inflation and monetary growth. J. Comp. Econom., December 1999, 27(4), pp. 669–685. School of Financial Studies and Law, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Pond Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB, United Kingdom.     

The Dynamics Between Inflation and Inflation Uncertainty: Evidence from India

This study examines the causal nexus between inflation and inflation uncertainty. In this regard, conventional Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models and Stochastic Volatility (SV) models are used to measure inflation uncertainty and Bai and Perron (Econometrica 66:47–78, 1998; J Appl Econom 18:1–22, 2003) test is used to identify structural breaks in inflation. The empirical evidence derived from the monthly data for the period from June 1961 to April 2011 suggests that the measure of inflation uncertainty obtained from SV model is more reliable than the measure obtained from GARCH model and also the causal nexus between inflation and inflation uncertainty seems to be significantly conditional upon the measure of uncertainty used. The structural break test identifies four episodes of inflation during the sample period, and the causality between inflation and its variability varies across different episodes. The inflation and its variance seem to be independent of each other during the first two regimes that cover the period from 1960 to 1980 and on the contrary, during the later period largely bidirectional causality is observed. Further, inflation seems to exert positive impact on inflation uncertainty, whereas inflation uncertainty has negative impact on inflation.

     

中国通货膨胀的动态特征研究

现有测度通胀惯性的常用模型是仅含自身滞后因子的自回归模型,该模型不能有效反映通胀预期和波动性对通胀惯性的影响。本文在自回归模型基础上,构建了一个包含通胀惯性、学习型预期和波动性特征的通胀动态模型。该动态模型从均值和波动项两个方面反映了我国通胀水平的动态变化趋势和特征。针对上述模型不能有效反映通胀状态体制变化的缺点,本文还引入Markov机制转换模型来测度我国通胀水平的状态转移特征。利用分位数回归方法下的自回归模型、本文构建的通胀动态模型以及Markov机制转化模型实证研究了我国通胀的动态特征。分析表明:我国通胀水平具有较强的惯性特征;通胀惯性的形成机理比较复杂,学习型预期只能部分解释通胀惯性;通胀水平的状态转移时间比较长;通胀水平与其波动性有着正向的关系。     

Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption

We present a model where agents can inflate the cost of goods needed to start an investment project and inflation variability increases monitoring costs. We show that inflation variability can lead to higher corruption and lower investment. We document a positive relationship between corruption and inflation variability in a sample of 75 countries. The effect is robust to the inclusion of country fixed effects, other controls, and 2SLS estimation. The results are economically significant: a one standard deviation increase in inflation variance from the median increases corruption by 12 percent of a standard deviation and reduces growth by 0.33 percentage points. Our paper highlights a new channel through which inflation reduces investment and growth, thus bridging the perception gap over the costs of inflation between economists and the public. We also find evidence that political competition reduces corruption and that corruption is pro-cyclical.