A DEFENSE OF THE FOMC*

We defend the forecasting performance of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) against the criticism of Christina and David Romer (2008, American Economic Review 98, 230–235) by assuming that the FOMC’s forecasts depict a worst‐case scenario that it uses to design decisions that are robust to misspecification of the staff’s model. We use a simple macro model and a plausible loss function to illustrate how such an interpretation of the FOMC’s forecasts can explain the findings of Romer and Romer, including the pattern of differences between FOMC forecasts and forecasts published by the staff of the Federal Reserve System in the Greenbook.     

Evaluating FOMC forecast ranges: an interval data approach

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the U.S. Federal Reserve publishes the range of members’ forecasts for key macroeconomic variables, but not the distribution of forecasts within this range. To evaluate these projections, previous papers compare the midpoint of the range with the realized outcome. This paper proposes an alternative approach to forecast evaluation that takes account of the interval nature of projections. It is shown that using the conventional Mincer–Zarnowitz approach to evaluate FOMC forecasts misses important information contained in the width of the forecast interval. This additional information plays a minor role at short forecast horizons but turns out to be of sometimes crucial importance for longer-horizon forecasts. For 18-month-ahead forecasts, the variation of members’ projections contains information that is more relevant for explaining future inflation than information embodied in the midpoint. Likewise, when longer-range forecasts for real GDP growth and the unemployment rate are considered, the width of the forecast interval comprises information over and above the one given by the midpoint alone.     

SHORT-RUN MONETARY POLICY AND THE MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

This study investigates factors influencing monetary policy decisions of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) over the period 1960–1998. Competing perspectives regarding the process of monetary policy making exist, with some researchers contending the FOMC makes short-run policy decisions based solely on "objective" macroeconomic considerations and others arguing that political and other nonmacroeconomic considerations significantly influence monetary policy voting. Empirical studies support both views in varying degrees. This article presents a model of FOMC decision making which posits that (1) the current/prospective macroeconomic environment at the time of FOMC meetings is the most important consideration of monetary policy makers, and (2) nonmacroeconomic variables receive little attention unless macroeconomic conditions are difficult for policy makers to assess. Probit results support the implications of the model.     

Forecast combination for discrete choice models: predicting FOMC monetary policy decisions

This paper provides a methodology for combining forecasts based on several discrete choice models. This is achieved primarily by combining one-step-ahead probability forecasts associated with each model. The paper applies well-established scoring rules for qualitative response models in the context of forecast combination. Log scores, quadratic scores and Epstein scores are used to evaluate the forecasting accuracy of each model and to combine the probability forecasts. In addition to producing point forecasts, the effect of sampling variation is also assessed. This methodology is applied to forecast US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decisions regarding changes in the federal funds target rate. Several of the economic fundamentals influencing the FOMC’s decisions are integrated, or I(1), and are modeled in a similar fashion to Hu and Phillips (J Appl Econom 19(7):851– 867, 2004). The empirical results show that combining forecasted probabilities using scores generally outperforms both equal weight combination and forecasts based on multivariate models.     

Financial market effects of FOMC projections

I examine the impact of the forecasts released by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in the Summary of Economic Projections over the period of April 2011 through March 2019. I find that changes in the median FOMC federal funds rate forecast did impact asset prices, but forecasts of output and inflation did not have any effect, which may be surprising based on the literature regarding the “Fed information effect” channel. Further, the dispersion in the federal funds rate forecast does not affect asset prices though it does impact the degree of uncertainty regarding future monetary policy. Finally, I find that most of forward guidance can be summarized through the change in the median federal funds rate forecast for the end of the following year.     

On the accuracy of Federal Reserve forecasts of the budget deficit-output ratio

Monetary authorities, while unable to resolve fiscal imbalances, have to deal with their consequences in formulating monetary policy. This article asks whether the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is provided with accurate forecasts of the federal budget deficit-output ratio. We show that the forecasts made in the period 1982 to 2002 are unbiased with useful predictive information above that contained in time-series forecasts.     

The effect of FOMC statements on asset prices

Given their increased importance during recent years, FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) statements can have a significant impact on asset prices. To capture the effect of FOMC statements on asset prices, an indicator variable is created that takes into account the information content of policy statements. Results show that both ‘interest rate surprises’ and ‘FOMC statements’ affect the mean and the volatility of asset prices. The volatility impact is tent-shaped, jumping within the policy announcement interval and declining before and after the release. FOMC statements have a much more pronounced impact on stock returns, intermediate and long-term yields, while short-term rates are largely driven by target rate decisions. We also find that the evolution of the language of the FOMC statements does matter to market participants and, in particular, the ‘forward-looking’ language adopted in mid-2003 has reduced market volatility associated with ‘interest rate surprises’ on announcement days.     

Forecasting exchange rates using panel model and model averaging

We propose to produce accurate point and interval forecasts of exchange rates by combining a number of well known fundamental based panel models. Combination of each model utilizes a set of weights computed using a linear mixture of experts's framework, where weights are determined by log scores assigned to each model's predictive performance. As well as model uncertainty, we take potential structural break in the parameters of the models into consideration. In our application, to quarterly data for ten currencies (including the Euro) for the period 1990q1–2008q4, we show that the forecasts from ensemble models produce mean and interval forecasts that outperform equal weight, and to a lesser extent random walk benchmark models. The gain from combining forecasts is particularly pronounced for longer-horizon forecasts for central forecasts, but much less so for interval forecasts. Calculations of the probability of the exchange rate rising or falling using the combined or ensemble model show a good correspondence with known events and potentially provide a useful measure for uncertainty of whether the exchange rate is likely to rise or fall.     

Asymmetric Loss and the Rationality of Inflation Forecasts: Evidence from South Korea

We examine asymmetry in the loss functions of South Korean consumers' and the Bank of Korea's (BOK) inflation forecasts, and test the rationality of these forecasts under the assumption of a possible asymmetric loss function. Under an asymmetric loss function, we find evidence of asymmetry and support for rationality. We also examine whether the BOK's forecasts incorporate respective forecasts and consensus forecasts efficiently. They broadly use available information efficiently, and their results are robust to inflation‐targeting measures and the recent global financial crisis. However, our results suggest that the information efficiency of the BOK's forecasts for consumers was affected during the period 2007–2008.     

DSGE model-based forecasting of modelled and nonmodelled inflation variables in South Africa

Inflation forecasts are a key ingredient for monetary policy-making – especially in an inflation targeting country such as South Africa. Generally, a typical Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) only includes a core set of variables. As such, other variables, for example alternative measures of inflation that might be of interest to policy-makers, do not feature in the model. Given this, we implement a closed-economy New Keynesian DSGE model-based procedure which includes variables that do not explicitly appear in the model. We estimate such a model using an in-sample covering 1971Q2 to 1999Q4 and generate recursive forecasts over 2000Q1 to 2011Q4. The hybrid DSGE performs extremely well in forecasting inflation variables (both core and nonmodelled) in comparison with forecasts reported by other models such as AR(1). In addition, based on ex-ante forecasts over the period 2012Q1–2013Q4, we find that the DSGE model performs better than the AR(1) counterpart in forecasting actual GDP deflator inflation.     

On the accuracy of Blue Chip forecasts of interest rates and country risk premiums

We examine the accuracy of Blue Chip forecasts of short- and long-term interest rates and country risk premiums for the Eurozone and six other industrial countries for 1999–2008. In so doing, we utilize comparable random walk forecasts as benchmarks. Consistent with the efficient market hypothesis, the long-term interest rate forecasts fail to outperform the random walk. Our findings on the accuracy of short-term interest rate forecasts are, however, mixed. Further results reveal that Blue Chip is more (less) accurate in predicting country risk premiums associated with short-term (long-term) interest rates. Such evidence is reasonable since the short-term country risk premiums contain only the perceived default risk, while the long-term risk premiums, in addition, can contain the perceived inflation and exchange rate differentials.     

Sudden stops of international fund flows: Occurrence and magnitude

Using data of 65 economies from January 2000 (2008) to June 2015, we examine the covariates of sudden stops in fund equity and bond flows. Our results suggest that global, contagion and domestic factors are all related to the likelihood of sudden stops. For sudden stops in equity flows, global factors play a more important role in high‐income economies. For sudden stops in bond flows, global variables are the most important covariates in emerging economies, whereas domestic variables play a more important role in high‐income economies. We also find that global and contagion factors are correlated to the magnitude of sudden stops.     

THE POWER OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR

This article examines the influence exerted by the Federal Reserve chair on monetary policy decisions. We construct a voting model where the chair selects the proposal that is initially put to a vote but is subject to an acceptance constraint that incorporates the preferences of the median Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member and the probability of counterproposals. The model is estimated by maximum likelihood using real-time data from FOMC meetings. Results for all chairs in our sample show that the chair's proposal is the result of a compromise, reflecting a stable balance of power within the FOMC.     

BEN BERNANKE AND THE ZERO BOUND

From 2000 to 2003, when Ben Bernanke was a professor and then a Fed Governor, he wrote extensively about monetary policy at the zero bound on interest rates. He advocated aggressive stimulus policies, such as a money‐financed tax cut and an inflation target of 3%–4%. Yet, after U.S. interest rates hit zero in 2008, the Fed under Chairman Bernanke took more cautious actions. This paper asks when and why Bernanke changed his mind about zero‐bound policy. The answer, at one level, is that he was influenced by analysis from the Fed staff that was presented at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of June 2003. This answer raises another question: why did the staff's views influence Bernanke so strongly? I seek answers to this question in the social psychology literature on group decision‐making. (JEL E52, E58)     

‘Ex-ante’ Taylor rules – Newly discovered evidence from the G7 countries

This paper addresses the question of whether financial market participants apply the framework of Taylor-type rules in their forecasts for the G7 countries. To this end, we use the Consensus Economic Forecast poll providing us a unique data set of inflation rate, interest rate and growth rate forecasts for the time period 1989-2008. We provide empirical evidence that financial market participants incorporate Taylor-type rules in their forecasts. Thus, the paper uses ex-ante data for the estimation of Taylor rules. This is a new approach, because so far only ex-post (revised) or real-time data have been applied.     

Fertility choice and financial development

We study the consequences of broader access to credit and capital markets on household decisions over the number of children. A model of the net reproduction rate is estimated on data from 78 countries over the period 1995–2010. Liquidity constraints are approximated by private credit and household credit, while opportunities for financial investment are measured by domestic public debt. We use the Index of Financial Liberalisation (Abiad et al., 2009) as one of the instruments for financial variables. We find that improved access to credit increases fertility with an elasticity of around 30%, while the effect of the development of capital markets is negative (–10%). The regression model takes the role of social security into account. Quantile regression shows that our results are robust to outliers and parameter heterogeneity.     

Reactions of real yields and inflation expectations to forward guidance in the United States

We study the impact of forward policy rate guidance by the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) used as an unconventional monetary policy tool at the zero lower bound of the policy rate on real and breakeven US Treasury yield curves. We find that explicit FOMC policy rate guidance announcements led to a significant reduction in real yields at horizons of 2 to 5 years ahead. By contrast, long-term breakeven inflation rates were little affected, suggesting that inflation expectations have remained well anchored, and that explicit FOMC policy rate guidance has not adversely affected central bank credibility.     

中国寿险市场成长预测

近年来中国保险市场发展快速,其中以人寿保险市场的发展最为显着,而市场营收的成长更是惊人,2005～2008年平均复合成长率是23.9%。试用灰色预测理论GM(1,1)四期预测模型以及传统的回归模式对中国保险市场的人寿险销售量进行预测。研究发现,灰色预测模式适用于中国人寿险市场的预测,且以四期建构为最准确,结果的精确度均达90%以上,符合灰色理论强调少数据、小样本的预测特性;且GM(1,1)四期预测模型精确度高于传统的回归预测模式。