Effects of Monetary Policy during Financial Market Crises and Regime Changes: An Empirical Evaluation Using a Nonlinear Vector Autoregression Model

Using monthly data for Korea, this study examines nonlinear effects of monetary policy in association with financial market distress. The study uses a nonlinear vector autoregression model and finds that monetary policy becomes ineffective for addressing huge demand contractions in times of financial market turmoil or severe economic downturn, implying a structural change from a non‐Keynesian to a Keynesian regime, such as a liquidity trap. Monetary contractions have stronger output effects than monetary expansions, particularly in times of financial distress. We found no evidence in favor of asymmetric effects of monetary shocks of different sizes. Finally, we also found financial shocks to have stronger effects on the real economy in times of financial distress than in normal times. The results have important policy implications for periods of financial turmoil or economic crisis.     

The Optimal Monetary and Macroprudential Policies for the South African Economy

We investigate the optimal design and effectiveness of monetary and macroprudential policies in promoting macroeconomic (price) and financial stability for the South African economy. We develop a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model featuring a housing market, a banking sector and the role of macroprudential and monetary policies. Based on the parameter estimates from the estimation, we conduct an optimal rule analysis and an efficient policy frontier analysis, and compare the dynamics of the model under different policy regimes. We find that a policy regime that combines a standard monetary policy rule and a macroprudential policy rule delivers a more stable economic system with price and financial stability. A policy regime that combines an augmented monetary policy (policy rate reacts to financial conditions) with macroprudential policy is better at attenuating the effects of financial shocks, but at a much higher cost of price instability. Our findings suggest that monetary policy should focus solely on its primary objective of price stability and let macroprudential policy facilitate financial stability on its own.     

金融冲击、货币政策与宏观审慎政策—基于动态随机一般均衡模型的分析

通过建立包含房地产市场金融冲击的NK-DSGE模型,考察了我国货币政策与宏观审慎政策的效果。通过比较不同政策机制下金融冲击的脉冲响应函数可以发现,宏观审慎政策的引入缓和了金融冲击的效应,并且可以同时实现稳定物价和稳定金融系统的目的。社会福利分析的结果表明：(1)金融冲击下,仅对产出缺口和通胀做出反应的政策具有最低的社会福利水平;(2)如果货币政策考虑信贷市场,并同时使用反周期性宏观审慎政策,那么社会福利将得到明显的提高。这意味着金融冲击下,政府应该积极行使对信贷市场做出反应的货币政策以及反周期性宏观审慎政策相结合的政策机制。当前,在房地产市场整体不景气的背景下,我国政府积极利用金融冲击对房地产市场进行调控。因此,采用对信贷市场做出反应的货币政策以及反周期性宏观审慎政策将具有相对较好的政策效果。     

Interest Rates, Leverage, and Money

The current mainstream approach to monetary policy is based on the New Keynesian model and is expressed in terms of a short-term nominal interest, such as the federal funds rate in the United States. It ignores the role of leverage and also downplays the role of money in basic monetary theory and monetary policy analysis. But as the federal funds rate has reached the zero lower bound and the Federal Reserve is in a liquidity trap, the issue is whether there is a useful role of leverage and monetary aggregates in monetary policy and business cycle analysis. We address these issues and argue that there is a need for financial stability policies to manage the leverage cycle and reduce the procyclicality of the financial system. We also argue that in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and Great Contraction there is a need to get away from the New Keynesian thinking and back toward a quantity theory approach to monetary policy, based on properly measured monetary aggregates, such as the new Center for Financial Stability Divisia monetary aggregates.     

影子银行对货币政策的影响——基于内生货币理论视角

影子银行的迅速发展使其成为我国金融体系的重要组成部分,由于其具有一些与传统银行类似的功能,继而对我国货币政策调控的有效性提出了挑战;后凯恩斯货币理论认为货币本质上属于一种债权-债务关系,是非中性的交易媒介,而央行是否能够有效的控制货币供应量呢?本文基于内生货币理论的视角,重新诠释影子银行对我国货币政策的影响,以期对货币政策的制定提供有益借鉴。     

A New Keynesian model for analysing monetary policy in Mainland China

This paper adopts a four-equation New Keynesian model to evaluate the appropriateness of China's monetary policy framework. Our simulation results show that a hybrid rule that uses both interest rate and quantity of money as instruments outperforms the rules using one instrument alone at the current stage of economic and financial market development. Our analysis also shows that a sharp appreciation of the renminbi exchange rate, though effective in containing inflation pressures, would be quite disruptive to growth.     

Financial Market Turmoil： Implications for Monetary Policy Transmission in China

The recent financial market turmoil has initiated another search for insightful understanding of the interactions between the financial market and monetary policy. This paper explores these interactions in terms of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in China. We argue that evolving financial development, enhanced by the expansion of the financial market, has altered the conventional channel for monetary transmission in China. Analyzing marked changes in the financial landscape and taking into account policy regime shifts in China, the paper provides clear evidence showing that the financial market has become a new and important channel for transmission of monetary policy in China.     

Will the Sarb always Succeed in Fighting Inflation with Contractionary Policy?

The conventional view is that a monetary policy shock has both supply‐side and demand‐side effects, at least in the short run. Barth and Ramey show that the supply‐side effect of a monetary policy shock may be greater than the demand‐side effect. We argue that it is crucial for monetary authorities to understand whether an increase in expected future inflation is due to supply shocks or demand shocks before applying contractionary policy to forestall inflation. We estimate a standard New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with the cost channel of monetary policy for the South African economy to show that whether the South African Reserve Bank should apply contractionary policy to fight inflation depends critically on the nature of the disturbance. If an increase in expected future inflation is mainly due to supply shocks, the South African Reserve Bank should not apply contractionary policy to fight inflation, as this would lead to a persistent increase in inflation and a greater loss in output. Our estimation results also show that with a moderate level of cost‐channel effect and nominal rigidities, a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with the cost channel of monetary policy is able to mimic the price puzzle produced by an estimated vector autoregressive model.     

G20机制下的国际货币政策协调实践及策略选择

通过分析此次国际金融危机期间各国采取的货币政策协调措施及其实施效果,提出了G20机制下货币政策国际协调的策略,即完善G20框架下的互评机制、提高其决策的有效性、建立G20机制下的多层次货币政策国际协调框架和以G20为中心的全球金融治理架构。最后提出中国如何利用G20机制参与国际货币政策协调的政策建议。     

Monetary policy,cash holding and corporate investment: Evidence from China

This paper uses 13,766 firm-year observations between 2003 and 2013 from China to investigate the effects of monetary policy on corporate investment and the mitigating effects of cash holding. We find that tightening monetary policy reduces corporate investment while cash holdings mitigate such adverse effects. The cash mitigating role is especially significant for financially constrained firms, non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and those firms located in a less developed financial market. Cash holding also improves investment efficiency when monetary policy is tightening and tightening monetary policy enhances the ‘cash-cash flow’ sensitivity. Our empirical evidence calls for a critical evaluation on the monetary policies implemented in China which are less effective for state-owned enterprises. It also calls for a necessity for local government to further develop regional financial markets to protect vulnerable businesses, such as non-SOEs and financially constrained firms, from external shocks in order to maintain their sustainable growth and competitive advantages.     

ZONE‐TARGETING MONETARY POLICY PREFERENCES AND FINANCIAL MARKET CONDITIONS: A FLEXIBLE NON‐LINEAR POLICY REACTION FUNCTION OF THE SARB MONETARY POLICY

We estimate a flexible model of the monetary policy reaction function of the South African Reserve Bank based on a representation of the policymaker's preferences that capture asymmetries and zone‐targeting behaviours. We augment the analysis to allow for responses to financial market conditions over and above inflation and output stabilisation to address the current debate on the importance of financial asset prices in monetary policy decision making. The empirical results show that the monetary authorities' response to inflation is zone symmetric. Secondly, the monetary authorities' response to output is asymmetric with increased reaction during business cycle downturns relative to upturns. Thirdly, the monetary authorities pay close attention to the financial conditions index by placing an equal weight on financial market booms and recessions.     

数量型还是价格型货币政策比较——基于利率市场化角度的分析

利率市场化进程中,数量型还是价格型货币政策合适?文章考虑金融市场上的金融加速器特征,将其引入DSGE模型,通过校准、模拟,从宏观经济波动幅度、不同货币政策下冲击效应以及福利损失函数三方面综合分析了利率市场化过程中数量型和价格型货币政策有效性问题。研究结果显示,随着存款利率的上升,在熨平经济波动方面,价格型货币政策更有优势;在促进经济增长方面,数量型货币政策更有优势;对央行损失而言,价格型货币政策的损失更小。因此,中央银行应根据需要灵活的运用数量型和货币型搭配使用,做好数量型向价格型转变。     

Is There a Bank Lending Channel in Southern African Banking Systems?

Abstract: Macroeconomic models currently used by policymakers generally assume that the functioning of financial markets can be fully summarized by financial prices, because the Modigliani and Miller (1958) theorem holds. However, the assumption that this theorem holds is questionable. This paper argues that there are frictions in the market which traditional models based on the Modigliani and Miller theorem fail to take into account in explaining how monetary policy and other shocks are transmitted to the economy and points to new directions. A comprehensive macroeconomic model should incorporate financial market interactions to enhance the understanding of the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy and other shocks. If market dynamics are not taken into account, macroeconomic models used by policymakers may point to wrong policy choices. Motivated by the lack of assessment of the recently launched financial reforms, deregulation, consolidations, financial innovations and joint payment systems, the paper assesses the process of monetary transmission mechanism by investigating evidence of a bank lending channel in SADC during the period 1990–2006 using data from the banking sector. Data from a panel of banks is used to identify shifts in the loan supply curve in response to changes in monetary policy using a vector autoregression (VAR) model. Although the results are mixed the paper generally reports the existence of a bank‐lending channel in all SADC countries in the sample. The take‐off point for monetary policy effects differs from one country to another.     

Federal Reserve Communications and Emerging Equity Markets

Work on the impact of U.S. monetary policy on emerging financial markets mostly focuses on official target rate announcements; empirical evidence using data on informal communication channels, such as speeches, is scant. Employing a unique data set covering formal and informal communication channels in a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model framework, we provide comprehensive evidence on the effects of U.S. monetary policy on 17 emerging equity market returns over the period 1998–2009. We find, first, that both monetary policy actions and communications have a significant impact on market returns. Second, target rate change surprises are an important driver of emerging market returns. However, informal communications—particularly when taking into account their higher frequency—have a larger (cumulative) influence on returns than do target rate surprises. Third, during the recent financial crisis, central bank communication played an even more pronounced role. Finally, American emerging markets react more to communications than do non‐American markets.     

金融货币政策对经济影响分析--以美国金融危机为例

在金融危机中,美国财政部和美联储出台了一系列危机救助的货币政策。本文主要依据传统货币政策传导理论,对危机救助中货币政策工具的选择和采取何种路径对金融市场影响进行分析,以确定这些货币政策工具的有效性。     

Influence of the Banks' Money Mediation Behavior on the Monetary Policy: A Study of Korean Case

Abstract

This paper analyses how financial institutions' arbitrary intermediation behaviors, including adjustments in bank lending and deposit rates, influence monetary policy transmission channels. For the analysis, we develop a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (NK DSGE) model with parameters estimated to fit the Korean conditions. The role of banks is subsequently examined by classifying monetary policy transmission channels (real rate channel, nominal debt channel, financial accelerating channel, and banking attenuator channel). A notable part of this analysis is the inclusion of the banking sector in the model specifically with the intent to study transmissions from the financial sector to the real economy. This paper follows this line of inquiry with recent research in mind. Empirical analysis verifies the existence of the banking attenuator effect in Korea, which means banks act to reduce the effect of monetary policies. This indicates that if financial intermediaries strengthen arbitrary adjustment behaviors of lending and deposit rates, the effect of the monetary policy intended to relieve volatility in the business cycle may not be as high as expected.     

凯恩斯经济学的反思:全球金融危机视角

凯恩斯主义经济学的基本特征是经济危机必然性的证明和国家干预的系统分析。2008年国际金融危机以来各国政府的应对政策实质上仍然是凯恩斯主义的国家干预,不可能改变资本主义市场经济体制的核心,但政策选择表现出明显的时代特点。此次国际金融危机将促使凯恩斯主义与新自由主义经济学加速融合,并会对未来国家干预的方式和重点会产生显著影响。     

The Stock Market,Monetary Policy,and Economic Development

In this article, we examine the impact of financial market development on the level of economic development. In particular, we explore this issue in a setting where individuals face idiosyncratic risk. Incomplete information also provides a transaction role for money so that monetary policy can be studied. While an active banking sector promotes risk sharing, we incorporate a market for equity by allowing individuals to trade capital across generations. In this manner, each asset and financial market in our model fulfills a distinct economic function. Consistent with recent empirical work, we find that the impact of access to a stock market may be indeterminate—the economy may respond with significant gains in capital accumulation and risk sharing, or there may be relatively little impact. We also show that the effects of monetary policy vary across the level of financial development. In economies with small stock markets, increasing the amount of liquidity will cause capital accumulation to decline. By comparison, in advanced economies, capital accumulation improves.     

Financial Development,Financial Structure,and the Growth Effect of Monetary Policy: International Evidence

This paper investigates how financial development and financial structure affect the growth effect of monetary policy using panel data from 49 countries over the period 1980–2014. We find robust evidence that financial development has a significantly negative impact on the growth effect of monetary policy. We also find that the growth effect of monetary policy tends to be more pronounced as the financial structure of a country becomes more market-based. These results not only add interesting new evidence to the recent literature on the growth effects of monetary policy, but also provide some important insights into the financial determinants of monetary policy effects on economic growth, which have largely been ignored in the previous literature.     

Impacts of household loan regulation on financial stability: evidence from Korea

The paper examines whether banking regulations and monetary policy contributed to controlling the fragility of household debt in Korea. The results show that housing loan regulations such as debt to income regulation contributed to a lower household debt delinquency ratio. Lowering the target interest rate provided additional stabilisation of the delinquency ratio. It is recommended that the government adopt an appropriate mix of regulation and monetary policy to control household financial fragility. The financial supervisory services need to be involved in managing debt to income regulation and minimising financial instability and financial market distortions. Further, the monetary authority has to adopt a more effective position in controlling the real lending interest rate and the delinquency ratio of household loans. Such a policy mix will improve effectiveness in controlling financial fragility, especially at a time of financial crisis.