Estimating monetary policy reaction functions for emerging market economies: The case of Brazil

The paper investigates monetary policy in Brazil following a shift to a floating exchange rate alongside inflation targeting adoption. The benchmark reaction function reveals that the Central Bank behaves according to the Taylor principle by raising the overnight Selic policy interest rate more than the amount by which expected inflation exceeds the target. The investigation also considers a data-rich environment via an excess policy response containing information from a panel of 45 economic time series. The excess policy response carries a positive and significant coefficient in the reaction function including only an inflation gap variable.     

A portfolio model of capital flows to emerging markets

Since the crises of the late 1990's, most emerging market economies have built up substantial positive holdings of US dollar treasury bills, while at the same time experiencing a boom in FDI capital inflows. This paper develops a DSGE model of the interaction between an emerging market economy and an advanced economy which incorporates two-way capital flows between the economies. The novel aspect of the paper is to make use of new methods for analyzing portfolio choice in DSGE models. We compare a range of alternative financial market structures, in each case computing equilibrium portfolios. We find that an asymmetric configuration where the emerging economy holds nominal bonds and issues claims on capital (FDI) can achieve a considerable degree of international risk-sharing. This risk-sharing can be enhanced by a more stable monetary policy in the advanced economy.     

The business cycle implications of the euro adoption in Poland

This article analyses the macroeconomic impact of the loss of autonomous monetary policy after the euro adoption in Poland. Using a two-country Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model with sticky prices and wages, we find that the euro adoption will have a noticeable impact on the magnitude of economic fluctuations. In particular, the volatility of output, interest rate, consumption and employment is expected to increase while the volatility of inflation should decrease. Also, in order to quantify the effect of the euro adoption, we compute the welfare effect of this monetary policy change. Our findings suggest that the welfare cost is not large.     

Globalization, the output-inflation tradeoff and inflation

This paper provides comprehensive evidence on the relation between inflation and globalization, defined here as trade and financial openness, using a large cross-section of 91 countries over the period 1985-2004. We establish two main empirical regularities: both higher trade and financial openness (i) reduce central banks’ inflation bias, yielding lower average inflation and (ii) are associated with a larger output-inflation tradeoff. This evidence is at odds with the standard Barro-Gordon framework, which would require globalization to have a negative effect on the output-inflation tradeoff to yield lower equilibrium inflation, but it is consistent with a recent strand of new Keynesian models emphasizing the role of imperfect competition and nominal rigidities. Our findings also support the relevance of the time-inconsistency hypothesis, which underlies the theoretical models predicting a relation between globalization and inflation. For the OECD subsample, however, we do not find an effect of openness on inflation (the output-inflation tradeoff), suggesting that these countries have created an institutional framework for central banks that eliminates distortions due to the time-inconsistency problem.     

Optimal monetary policy for a small open economy

This paper focuses on the design of monetary policy rules for a small open economy. The model features optimizing behavior, general equilibrium and price stickiness. The real exchange rate is shown to affect the firm's real marginal cost, aggregate supply and aggregate demand. The welfare objective depends on the openness of the economy, and the optimal policy rule differs from that which obtains in a closed economy. The inflation versus output gap stabilization trade-off is caused by the real exchange rate. The implied optimal monetary policy regime is domestic inflation target coupled with controlled floating of the real exchange rate.     

Capital flows in a transitional economy and the sterilization dilemma: The hungarian experience, 1992–97

This paper evaluates Hungary's dilemma with sterilization in the context of the record of countries elsewhere that have experienced similar capital inflow episodes, e.g., Latin America and Asia. The study focuses on the short-run impact of sterilization on monetary policy. The empirical results indicate that sterilized interventions by the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) did not neutralize capital inflows until possibly the middle of 1995, following a change in government and, more significantly, a change in exchange rate regimes. Indeed, it appears that monetary policy was overly restrictive and that, for a time, the NBH overcompensated for the inflows of capital.     

An analysis of Turkey's accession to the European Union

We build a two‐country dynamic general equilibrium model to study whether European citizens would benefit from the eventual accession of Turkey to the European Union (EU). The results of the simulations show that Turkey's accession is welfare enhancing for Europeans, provided that Turkish total factor productivity (TFP) increases sufficiently after enlargement. In the benchmark model with no capital mobility, the Europeans are better off if the Turkish TFP increase bridges more than 21% of the initial TFP gap between Turkey and the EU. This figure increases to 33% when capital mobility is introduced.     

Investment-specific shocks and external balances in a small open economy model

Abstract.  We set up a standard small open economy business cycle model driven by government spending shocks, neutral productivity (TFP) shocks, and investment-specific shocks. The model is calibrated to quarterly Canadian data and its predicted moments and sample paths are compared with their Canadian counterparts. We find that the model captures the dynamics in investment and in the trade balance better than special cases of the model where either one of the productivity shocks is omitted. More specifically, the model matches the variance of the trade balance-output ratio, its correlation with output and its autocorrelation. It also matches the output-investment correlation.     

Impact of Central Bank Intervention during Periods of Speculative Pressure: Evidence from the European Monetary System

Abstract. This paper studies the effects of Banco de España and Banque de France interventions during the 1992–93 European Monetary System crises. In particular, a Markov Switching model is estimated where interventions influence the probabilities of transition between a calm and a turbulent regime. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of intervention on the expected rate of realignment. On balance, the results are consistent with the view that publicly known interventions but not secret interventions increased both the probability of switching to the turbulent regime as well as the expected realignment rate.     

Policy Measures to Alleviate Foreign Currency Liquidity Shortages under Aggregate Risk with Moral Hazard

During the recent global financial crisis, certain central banks introduced two innovative cross‐border operations to deal with the problems of foreign currency liquidity shortages: domestic liquidity operations using cross‐border collateral and operations that supply foreign currency among central banks based on standing swap lines. We show theoretically that central banks improve the efficiency of equilibrium under foreign currency liquidity shortages using these two innovative temporary policy measures.     

Currency substitution, portfolio diversification, and money demand

Abstract .  We extend the Thomas (1985) dynamic optimizing model of money demand and currency substitution to the case in which the individual has restricted or no access to foreign currency denominated bonds. In this case currency substitution decisions and asset substitution decisions are not separable. The results obtained suggest that the significance of an expected exchange rate depreciation term in the demand for domestic money provides a valid test for the presence of currency substitution. Applying this approach to six Latin-American countries, we find evidence of currency substitution in Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, but not in Brazil and Chile.