Why are the effects of money-supply shocks asymmetric? Convex aggregate supply or “pushing on a string”?

This paper examines whether the asymmetric effect of money on output is an international phenomenon and investigates the reasons for this asymmetry. Annual data from the 1950–1990 period for a panel of 38 countries strongly support asymmetry internationally: negative money-supply shocks are shown to have a stronger effect on output than positive shocks (whose effect is often statistically insignificant). Next, the paper distinguishes between two types of theories that are consistent with the observed output effects: the convex aggregate supply and the “pushing on a string” views, that predict that money shocks have different asymmetric effects on prices. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the effects of money on prices are shown to be symmetric. This finding is consistent with both theories being operative.     

货币流通速度和产出变动的动态一般均衡分析

结构冲击如何影响我国货币流通速度和产出变动的动态一般均衡分析结果表明：货币、制度冲击使货币流通速度和产出基本上同向变动。短期内，技术冲击使货币流通速度下降，表明我国狭义货币具有奢侈品特征。就货币流通速度的变动而言，制度和货币冲击具有持久的正向效应，制度冲击最重要，货币冲击次之，技术冲击不重要，没有长期影响。就产出的变动而言，货币冲击产生了持久的“Tobin效应”，制度、技术冲击具有显著、持久的正向效应。制度冲击最重要，技术冲击次之，货币冲击不重要。     

货币流通速度和产出变动的动态一般均衡分析

结构冲击如何影响我国货币流通速度和产出变动的动态一般均衡分析结果表明:货币、制度冲击使货币流通速度和产出基本上同向变动。短期内,技术冲击使货币流通速度下降,表明我国狭义货币具有奢侈品特征。就货币流通速度的变动而言,制度和货币冲击具有持久的正向效应,制度冲击最重要,货币冲击次之,技术冲击不重要,没有长期影响。就产出的变动而言,货币冲击产生了持久的"Tobin效应",制度、技术冲击具有显著、持久的正向效应。制度冲击最重要,技术冲击次之,货币冲击不重要。     

Foreign output and price shocks and macroeconomic activity in Korea

This paper examines the effects of foreign output and price shocks on output and the price level in Korea. The framework is a nine variable VAR model which includes output, price level, interest rate, real exchange rate, money supply, government expenditures, government debt, and foreign output and price variables. Foreign output and price effects are evaluated through computation of variance decompositions and impulse response functions. The variance decompositions indicate significant effects of foreign output on domestic output and significant effects of foreign prices on domestic output and the price level. The impulse response functions indicate positive short-run effects of foreign output on domestic output but insignificant effects on the price level while foreign price shocks have significant negative effects on output and significant positive effects on the price level for approximately two years. The results indicate the importance of including foreign shock variables when modeling the Korean economy.     

Nominal inertia and shock persistence in UK business cycles

A structural VAR methodology is used for UK data to identify and map out the effects of innovations in the money supply, employment, output, wages and prices. Moreover, bands of two standard errors are computed for the impulse response functions so that comment may be made on the significance of the dynamic responses of the variables to the simulated shocks. This allows conclusions to be drawn on the persistence of shocks. Results suggest that output variation is largely determined by aggregate demand shocks over the business cycle frequency. Importantly, evidence is also found of rigidities in the form of price inertia and nominal wage stickiness.     

Poole in the New Keynesian model

We study the properties of alternative central bank targeting procedures within the standard New Keynesian model. We find that Poole's famous insights concerning the output stabilization properties of money and interest rate targeting obtain when intertemporal substitution is low. And that output volatility rankings do not induce similar welfare rankings. Unlike the popular presumption, money targeting always fares better for money demand shocks. For fiscal shocks, money targeting does better for low and worse for high degree of intertemporal substitution. The opposite pattern obtains for supply shocks.     

Supply shocks and the interdependence of macroeconomic stability under flexible exchange rates

This paper analyzes the effects of a change in the monetary policy of a large economy on the macroeconomic stability of a small open economy with high dependence on imported intermediate goods. The analysis is carried out using the Taylor framework where the money supply rule is specified by the degree of monetary accommodation of price shocks. A supply shock to the large country is transmitted as both demand and supply shocks to the small country. A shift toward less monetary accommodation by the large country is shown to increase both price and output instability in the small country through the supply side linkage, while it may enhance price or output stability through the demand side linkage. Simulation results for Germany and Japan suggest that the supply side effect on price stability is important and that the effect on output stability depends crucially on the importance of trade in goods between the large country and the country in question.     

中国改革历程中的产出和价格波动:货币所扮演的角色

中国经济正在其改革历程中经历着经济增长和通货膨胀的周期性波动.关于货币在这些波动中所起的作用,经济学家有着不同的观点.该文运用基于交易方程式的结构化 VEC 模型,对这些观点进行了探讨.我们发现,在长期,货币对产出和价格的变化做出适应性调整,而并非这些变化的原因.而在短期,价格变动要归因于那些对货币和价格有持久影响而对真实产出没有持久影响的冲击.这些冲击对多数的货币波动负责,并且强烈地影响产出.     

中国改革历程中的产出和价格波动：货币所扮演的角色

中国经济正在其改革历程中经历着经济增长和通货膨胀的周期性波动。关于货币在这些波动中所起的作用，经济学家有着不同的观点。本文运用基于交易方程式的结构化VEC模型，对这些观点进行了探讨。我们发现，在长期，货币对产出和价格的变化做出适应性调整，而并非这些变化的原因。而在短期，价格变动要93因于那些对货币和价格有持久影响而对真实产出没有持久影响的冲击。这些冲击对多数的货币波动负责，并且强烈地影响产出。     

The effects of macroeconomic factors on South African agriculture

Significant research efforts have been devoted to understanding the effects of macroeconomic factors on the agriculture sector. Analysing the sources of volatility in the industry is critical for designing appropriate policies to stabilize agricultural markets, reduce poverty and increase economic growth. Agriculture is a competitive sector with prices that are more flexible than those in nonagricultural sectors. This article uses annual data over the 1957–2004 period and a vector error-correction model in investigating the dynamic effects of exchange rates, money supply and other macroeconomic variables on the agricultural sector in South Africa. Overall, real exchange rates, interest rates, inflation and money supply (M3) shocks have significant and persistent impacts on agricultural output, prices received by farmers and farm input prices. M3 and interest rate shocks tend to put agriculture in a cost-price squeeze. Agricultural price movements are a source of macroeconomic instability in the country. Real exchange rate shocks shift relative prices in favour of agriculture in the long-run, thereby, boosting farm incomes and accelerating poverty reduction in the country.     

Dynamics of money, output and price interaction — some Indian evidence

The present study is an attempt to model the dynamic interactions between money, output and prices in a structural vector autoregression framework. The primary concern of the paper is to examine the sources of variations and response of one variable to changes in others in a system of economic variables in the Indian context. Using quarterly data from 1970Q1 to 1990Q4, we find that structural factors, in addition to monetary factors, play an important role in generating and sustaining the process of inflation and fluctuations in economic activity. An increase in money/credit supply is found to increase output and prices in the short-run and prices in the long-run, while a non-accommodating monetary policy is ineffective in controlling inflation even at the cost of substantial output losses, thereby indicating relative rigidities in price movements. Another interesting finding is that the monetary authority responds differently to different price shocks, exercising its leverage in altering the quantity as well as the composition of aggregate money supply. Our findings also indicate that the economy is characterized by relatively large and infrequent shocks to ‘price/cost’-related factors. Finally, our analysis suggests that a simple monetary targeting without adequate ‘supply side’ measures may not be able to serve the objective of maintaining growth with price stability.     

The contemporaneous correlation between price shocks and output shocks

Until the 1990s, prices were believed to be procyclical. Several researchers have since presented evidence of counter-cyclical prices. This evidence proved robust, but its interpretation has varied. Some have argued that the contemporaneous correlation between output and prices reflects both the source of the current shock and the adjustment process from short-run to long-run equilibrium; the adjustment to the long run imparts a bias towards a negative price-output correlation. The issue of dynamics is addressed by estimating price shocks and output shocks. The sign of the correlation between these shocks does not reveal anything about the relative importance or frequency of demand versus supply shocks; however, some understanding is gained from the time-series of the product of the shocks. In periods when the product is negative, supply shocks must have been either relatively large or relatively important. In periods when the product is positive, demand shocks must have been either relatively large or relatively important. The data suggest that the economies of the USA, Canada and the UK were buffeted by both demand and supply shocks in about equal portions.     

理性预期学派货币中性理论在中国的实证检验

利用中国1994年以来的经济数据,通过建立ARIMA模型和二阶段OLS模型对理性预期学派货币中性理论进行了检验。实证结果显示,短期内中国预期的货币供给冲击与非预期的货币供给冲击对产出都有显著影响,且非预期的货币供给冲击对产出影响更明显;但从长期看,预期货币与非预期货币对产出的正负效应相互抵消,中国货币政策表现为长期渐近中性。     

Asymmetric information, financial intermediation, and business cycles

Summary. This incorporates a debt contracting problem with asymmetric information into a standard monetary business cycle model. The model incorporates a limited participation assumption in order to induce a liquidity effect of monetary shocks and propagate monetary disturbances. The model economy shows that a positive money supply shock generates a decrease in nominal interest rates and an increase in output level. Asymmetric information amplifies the response of capital to the money supply shock, but does not propagate them in other ways. When the monetary shock is an innovation in reserve requirements, it induces a persistent response of the economy. Received: March 20, 1998; revised version: 1 April 1998     

Is there Causal Relationship between Money Supply Growth and Inflation in China? Evidence from Quantity Theory of Money

This study examines the causal relationship between Chinese money supply growth and inflation, using the bootstrap Granger full‐sample causality test and sub‐sample rolling‐window estimation test to determine whether such a relationship in China supports the quantity theory of money. The result indicates that there is a unidirectional relationship from inflation to money supply growth. However, considering structural changes in two series, we find that short‐run relationships using full‐sample data are unstable, which suggests that full‐sample causality tests cannot be relied upon. Then, we use a time‐varying rolling‐window approach to revisit the dynamic causal relationship, and the results show that money supply growth has both positive and negative impacts on inflation in several sub‐periods, and in turn, inflation has the same effects on money supply growth for China. These findings are basically consistent with the modern quantity theory of money from the perspective of money supply and price level. When money supply growth does not outweigh output growth, inflation should not be curbed only by decreasing money supply. It notes that a stable money supply growth is critical to price level stability and economic development in China.     

Shocking the eurozone

In this paper, the monetary transmission mechanism within the European Monetary Union is investigated. The impulse response functions and forecast error variance decompositions of a structural vector error correction model (SVECM) are compared with those of a New Keynesian theoretical model. The identifying restrictions of the SVECM are directly derived from the theoretical model. Two permanent shocks are identified, one having only nominal, and one having only real effects. The three transitory shocks comprise a short-term interest-rate shock, an aggregate demand shock and a money demand shock. The main conclusions are that permanently reducing the inflation objective depresses output in the first year, but has no real effects in the long run. Regarding output variability, the results indicate that aggregate demand shocks are most important during the first year, after which aggregate supply shocks dominate.     

我国货币中性问题实证分析

运用合理预期下的货币中性假设模型对我国货币中性问题进行了实证分析,认为不论是预期的货币供给冲击,还是非预期的货币供给冲击,对产出的影响基本上都是显著的。因此,货币供给在推动我国的经济运行中起着关键性的作用,而且利用预期的货币政策调控经济运行得到了实证经验的支持。     

The Australian Business Cycle: Joe Palooka or Dead Cat Bounce?

We address the question of whether asymmetry in the business cycle and asymmetry in the persistence of negative versus positive shocks characterises Australian output growth. Using nonlinear time series models we provide some evidence consistent with the idea that Australian output growth is characterised by three distinct phases: contractions, high-growth recovery periods and 'normal' or moderate growth periods. This implies that Australian output fluctuations have a significant transitory component and is supportive of the 'output-gaps' view and 'plucking' model view of economic fluctuations. In contrast to recent evidence for the US and Canada however, we find that Australian GDP growth does not exhibit important asymmetries in the responses of output growth to positive and negative shocks.     

Managed Exchange Rates*

Managed exchange rates have become a tool of macroeconomic stabilization policy. Much of the previous emphasis on parametrically chosen exchange rate regimes has missed the advantages of a strategy of a variable target exchange rate when the central bank tries to maintain equilibrium output in the face of various shocks to the economy. Based on a standard IS-LM-AS macromodel, optimal combinations of exchange rate and money supply changes are found that insulate the economy against all stipulated shocks. However, these combinations vary from one shock to another; therefore recognition signals are necessary. Continuous information on some variables allows the central bank to identify shocks if they can be guaranteed to occur individually, but not otherwise. As a second-best strategy, ‘defensively managed exchange rates’ appear suitable. The paper also discusses some side effects and other practical difficulties of a managed exchange rate as an automatic stabilizer.     

Monetary Shocks and Real Exchange Rate Hysteresis: Evidence from the G-7 Countries

Long-run monetary neutrality specifies that nominal disturbances do not affect long-run real exchange rates. However, the "over depreciation" of the US dollar in the late 1980s, after its strong appreciation earlier in the decade, suggested to a number of observers that nominal disturbances alter long-run real exchange rates; that is, money supply shocks entail real exchange rate hysteresis. Using data from the G-7 countries and the post-1973 float, the paper measures the long-run effects of relative money supply disturbances on real US dollar exchange rates. Little evidence of hysteretic monetary policy effects is found.