Can exchange rate rules be better than interest rate rules?

We develop a New Keynesian small open economy model to compare the welfare performances of two classes of monetary policy rules: exchange rate rules and interest rate rules. The expected lifetime utility of the representative household is used as the welfare criterion. The model is solved using second-order approximation methods. We find that under benchmark parameterization, an exchange rate rule delivers lower standard deviations of GDP and inflation compared to an interest rate rule, when the economy has a high degree of openness. However, despite that, an exchange rate rule is welfare inferior to an interest rate rule since it delivers lower mean terms of trade, which leads to lower mean consumption and higher mean labor hours. On the other hand, when the elasticity of substitution for export is high, an exchange rate rule is welfare superior to an interest rate rule, regardless of the degree of openness, as the differences in mean terms of trade for the two classes of rules become smaller.     

The case for price level or inflation targeting—What happened to monetary policy effectiveness during the Japanese disinflation?

This paper examines whether price level or inflation targeting would have been appropriate policy choices for Japan during its disinflation and deflation period. We employ Markov switching and structural vector autoregressions, together with structural IS equations, to investigate monetary policy effectiveness during the Japanese disinflation. We find evidence of regime switching in the mid-1990s in a model including the nominal policy interest rate. When monetary policy shocks are identified by using the McCallum rule for monetary base, a monetary expansion is found to have a statistically significant impact on prices. Moreover, a lower real ex ante interest rate can still stimulate the economy despite the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates.     

The Effects of Central Banks’ Rate Change Patterns on Financial Market Variables

This study examines whether different patterns of change to the benchmark interest rates of central banks are associated with their contributions to variances in the forecast errors of three financial market variables: the long-term interest rate, the foreign exchange rate, and the stock market index. On average, the central bank’s interest rate accounts for approximately 20% of the variance in each variable. We find that the total range of changes is more important than the frequency of changes. The panel regression shows that the range and frequency of policy rate changes is positively associated with the volatility of long-term interest rates but no association with the volatility of stock prices and exchange rates. These results suggest that small and frequent adjustments of policy rates are desirable for reducing the volatility of interest rates. The panel VAR represents interest rate channel is a more important than exchange rate and stock price channel.     

The role of credibility in the cyclical properties of macroeconomic policies in emerging economies

Optimal stabilization policy is countercyclical, aiming at keeping output close to its potential. However it has been traditionally argued that emerging countries are unable to adopt countercyclical monetary and fiscal policies. Here we argue that the cyclical properties of macroeconomic policies depend critically on policy credibility. We test this proposition by making use of recent panel data for eleven emerging market economies and time series data for Chile. The evidence supports that countries with higher credibility, as reflected by lower country risk levels, are able to conduct countercyclical fiscal and monetary policies. Conversely, countries with less credible policies (and, therefore, with higher country risk spreads) contribute to larger cyclical fluctuations by applying procyclical policies. For Chile we find that both monetary and fiscal policies have been largely countercyclical after 1993. JEL no. E43, E52, E62     

Monetary Policy in Illiquid Markets: Options for a Small Open Economy

Two impediments to effective monetary policy operation include illiquidity in bond markets and the zero bound of interest rates. Under these conditions alternative means of enacting monetary policy may be required. This paper empirically explores policy options implemented through equity and currency markets that will generate similar inflation responses at different time horizons. In terms of GDP loss the least costly means of achieving a particular long run inflation outcome is via the current monetary policy arrangements. Currency market alternatives are volatile but less expensive than the equity market in terms of output loss for short term inflation horizons.

DSGE模型框架下我国货币政策规则的比较分析

货币政策规则是中央银行为了保持通货膨胀和产出稳定并使经济更快发展所使用的货币政策的指导原则。目前,通行于各个国家的货币政策规则主要有利率规则和货币供应量规则。过去一段时间以来,西方发达国家都已逐渐从货币供应量规则过渡到利率规则,而在我国不管是应用方面还是理论研究方面,对于哪一个货币政策规则更适合我国始终都还没有定论。因此,本文试图在DSGE模型的框架下,对我国的货币政策规则进行比较分析。结果得出,相比于货币供应量规则,利率规则下:(1)货币政策更有效;(2)技术冲击所引起的通货膨胀和产出波动更小;(3)技术冲击对通货膨胀和产出的影响更短暂。因此,研究得出,我国更适合使用利率的货币政策规则。     

利率结构、利率变化和利率政策的有效性

长期以来,人们一直在致力于寻找一套能够完全解释利率结构和变化的理论,但至今仍未能统一人们对利率的认识。基于利率理论演变的简要回顾,重点对中西方利率政策有效性的研究现状进行系统梳理,以期对我国利率政策有效性的理论研究和实践工作提供一些借鉴。     

Bank cooperation and banking policy in a monetary union: A political-economy perspective on EMU

Why do large European banks lobby for monetary union? We show in a game-theoretic model that montary union can trigger a change in the structure of the market for international banking transactions with asymmetric effects on profits: large banks are induced to cooperate internationally and gain from European Monetary Union (EMU), while small banks are likely to lose. Monetary union can be interpreted as a device for large banks to push small banks out of the market for cross-border financial services.     

完善我国民间借贷监管的思考

民间借贷在我国有悠久的历史,在古代就有钱庄、票号等民间融资机构,随着改革开放的不断深入,民间借贷在我国的资本市场上快速发展,为"三农"问题的解决和中小企业的发展起到了重要的作用,但同时,民间借贷还存在着大量的问题,今年的"吴英"案将社会对民间借贷的讨论推向了高潮。民间借贷冲击了正常的金融秩序,影响了国家的宏观调控,在发生信用问题的时候容易与黑恶势力相联系,引发社会问题,与高利贷甚至是洗钱犯罪有着密切的联系等等,这些充分暴露出了民间借贷的监管中还存在着大量的不完善的地方。民间借贷市场需要规制,引导其健康发展。本文对民间借贷市场存在的问题进行分析,参考国外的民间借贷监管经验提出一些建议。     

The origin and diffusion of shocks to regional interest rates in the United States, 1880-2002

This paper is about the behavior of regional interest rates in the United States from 1880 to 2002. The main concern is with the shocks to regional rates. Where did they originate? How did they diffuse? How did the pattern change over time? We show that in the late nineteenth century the main source of shocks to rates on the periphery were shocks originating on the periphery itself. This pattern continued through World War I and the Great Depression. After World War II, however, the importance of disturbances on the periphery diminished and shocks to rates in the Eastern financial centers became the main source of fluctuations in all regions.     

Macroeconomic stabilization through monetary and fiscal policy coordination: Implications for European Monetary Union

In a two-country model, we consider the implications of monetary and fiscal policy coordination for macroeconomic stabilization. We show that the optimal regime is one of monetary and fiscal policy coordination under flexible exchange rates. In the context of the European Community, this suggests that the desire to fix exchange rates may not be costless. In addition, we show that fiscal coordination requires a relatively high degree of flexibility in fiscal policy. This result suggests that limits on the flexibility of fiscal policies, as suggested in the Delors Report, may hinder macroeconomic stabilization.     

Fiscal Leadership and Coordination in the EMU

We analyze the role of fiscal-monetary policy interactions and fiscal coordination in EMU under the assumption of strategic wage setting in unionized labour markets. We find that production subsidies and real wage distortions are strategic complements. The literature on macroeconomic stabilisation policies and policy games usually neglects this point and reaches overoptimistic conclusions about the desirable effects of accommodating fiscal policies. Central bank preferences also affect the desirability of fiscal coordination in a monetary union. In fact, contrary to Beetsma and Bovenberg (1998), we find that fiscal coordination improves outcomes in the case of a conservative central banker, whereas it leads to worse outcomes with a populist one.

The RMB/US Dollar Exchange Rate——An International Political Economy Perspective

I. IntroductionOn July 21, 2005, China unexpectedly appreciated the RMB by 2 percent, and declared themoving of the RMB exchang rate regime into a managed floating regime, with reference toa basket of currencies. This brought respite to the long, ongoing debate over RMB’sappreciation. Due to the fact that the exchange rate is always considered a technical matter,best left to economists to handle, the mainstream approach of the RMB discussion is theeconomic approach. Although reviewing d…     

Global Implications of Monetary and Fiscal Policy Rules in the EMU

In order to analyze successful strategies for economic policy in a global environment both international interdependencies and the strategic behavior of global players must be considered. We use a global model of the world economy (the MSG2 Model) to show the effects of dynamic policy optimization in the presence of various supply and demand shocks to different world regions. We show that fixed rules are generally superior for supply shocks, while demand shocks call for more active or discretionary policies.     

日本货币金融政策的演变

日本战后至70年代初主要的货币政策是配合道奇的“超平衡预算”而采取的金融缓和政策。70年代至90年代初日本政府主要采用的是扩张性货币政策。长时期地维持较低的官定利率政策是日本产生“泡沫经济”的重要政策原因。进入90年代后，日本政府由于急于解决“泡沫经济”问题，又错误地使用了过猛的紧缩性货币政策，再加上对严重的“不良债权”问题解决不力，导致在经济增长方面出现“停滞”局面，在货币政策方面出现极端的“零利率政策”，日本政府不可避免地陷入了在经济衰退中同时面对政府宏观调控政策全面重建的“世纪难题”之中。     

利率规则的福利成本及对我国货币政策的启示——基于新凯恩斯DSGE模型的分析

文章建立了一个新凯恩斯框架下的DSGE模型来分析当期型、前瞻型和后顾型三种利率规则的福利效应。福利的测度为代表性家庭的终身效用,计算出了不同利率规则下的福利成本,其主要发现有：名义利率对通货膨胀的反应系数越大则福利成本越小;名义利率对产出变化的反应系数越大则福利成本越大;利率平滑在三种利率规则下对福利成本分别有着不同的影响。这些结果为我国的货币政策提供了借鉴。