Monetary Policy and the Zero Bound to Interest Rates: A Review1

Abstract.  This paper reviews the literature on what the zero bound to nominal interest rates implies for the conduct of monetary policy. The aim is to evaluate the risks of hitting the zero bound; and to evaluate policies that are said to be able to reduce that risk, or policies that are proposed as means of helping the economy escape if it is in a zero bound 'trap'. I conclude that policies aimed at 'cure' are arguably more uncertain tools than those aimed at 'prevention', so prevention is a less risky strategy for policymakers. But since the risks of hitting the zero bound seem quite small anyway, and the risks of encountering a deflationary spiral smaller still, it is conceivable that inflation objectives that typify modern monetary regimes already have more than enough insurance built into them to deal with the zero bound problem.     

从居民层面看我国货币政策利率传导的制约因素

1997年以来，我国货币当局采取了以频繁运用利率杠杆为显著特点的货币政策，以达到拉动国内有效需求的目的。本文拟运用实证分析方法，针对我国货币政策在居民层面的传导效果，分析影响政策效果的制约因素，并在此基础上提出完善我国利率传导机制的措施。     

参数不稳定下利差在宏观经济与货币政策中的应用

本文在参数不稳定的情况下考察利差对通货膨胀、经济增长的信息作用,并分析包含利差的混合货币政策规则。基于贝叶斯区制转移模型（MSBVAR）的分析发现：期限利差和信用利差对通货膨胀、经济增长有影响,宏观经济波动使得利差的信息作用存在参数不稳定性,在经济下行时对经济增长有负向信号作用。信用利差对通胀的预测作用比期限利差对通胀的预测作用更强。期限利差和信用利差都在货币政策规则中有参数不稳定性的信息作用。     

我国货币政策利率传导渠道的体制转换特征——利率市场化改革进程中的考察

本文考察了我国利率市场化改革进程中货币政策利率传导渠道效应的体制转换特征。实证结果表明:1978年第一季度至2009年第二季度期间我国货币政策传导的管制利率渠道发生了两次体制转换,转换之后贷款基准利率调整对产出和物价水平的效应都降低了。1996年1月至2009年7月期间我国货币政策传导市场利率渠道发生了一次体制转换,转换之后同业拆借利率变动平抑产出和物价波动的效果都更强劲、更持续。这意味着我国的利率市场化改革取得了阶段性成果,也意味着我国利率调控由直接方式逐渐转向主要依靠间接方式不仅是必要的,也是可行的。     

Distributional Effects of Monetary and Fiscal Policy: Impacts on Unemployment Rates Disaggregated By Race and Gender

A bstract . The use of vectorautoregression techniques provides empirical verification that monetary and fiscal policies do not have equal impacts on unemployment rates disaggregated by race and gender. In general, it was found that white males benefited from macro-policies more than any other category. However, black females were also shown to benefit significantly. Results were reported from both the 1970s and 1980s and indicate that these differential unemployment rate responses became magnified during the 1980s. The results for white males are consistent with a number of theories that have been offered by several writers, but the results for black females might seem, at first, to be difficult to explain. However, a close inspection of educational attainment scotes for black women over recent decades reveals a potential source of this finding.     

我国货币政策:面临的问题与政策建议

一、当前我国货币政策面临的问题与挑战 从长期来看,我国金融形势和货币政策方面存在一些慢性紧缩因素,需要逐步加以解决. (一)经济增长速度放慢,物价指数再次下降,货币政策的法定目标受到越来越大的压力和挑战     

基于市场利率波动测度的货币政策操作风险研究

在货币政策操作过程中,中央银行对宏观经济形势的认识偏差,货币政策工具及政策调控时机的选择不当,以及政策信息的披露不及时等,都有可能误导公众预期,增加市场不确定性,从而引致货币政策操作风险。文章通过利用中国货币市场上同业拆借和债券回购的利率数据进行实证,结果表明,中央银行政策操作透明度不高以及对宏观经济形势进行判断的前瞻性不足,是引致我国货币政策操作风险的重要原因。     

The Monetary Policy Committee: an end-of-term evaluation

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has controlled interest rates since June 1997. By comparing the MPC's record with that of the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) and evaluating the degree of volatility in the financial markets, this paper concludes that in many respects the MPC succeeded in its task. However, whilst the lack of 'groupthink' and the record compared with the SMPC are commendable, increased financial market volatility suggests the MPC could have done better.     

Monetary Policy Indeterminacy and Identification Failures in the U.S.: Results from A Robust Test

We propose a novel identification‐robust test for the null hypothesis that an estimated New Keynesian model has a reduced form consistent with the unique stable solution against the alternative of sunspot‐driven multiple equilibria. Our strategy is designed to handle identification failures as well as the misspecification of the relevant propagation mechanisms. We invert a likelihood ratio test for the cross‐equation restrictions (CER) that the New Keynesian system places on its reduced‐form solution under determinacy. If the CER are not rejected, sunspot‐driven expectations can be ruled out from the model equilibrium and we accept the structural model. Otherwise, we move to a second‐step and invert an Anderson and Rubin‐type test for the orthogonality restrictions (OR) implied by the system of structural Euler equations. The hypothesis of indeterminacy and the structural model are accepted if the OR are not rejected. We investigate the finite‐sample performance of the suggested identification‐robust two‐step testing strategy by some Monte Carlo experiments and then apply it to a New Keynesian AD/AS model estimated with actual US data. In spite of some evidence of weak identification as for the ‘Great Moderation’ period, our results offer formal support to the hypothesis of a switch from indeterminacy to a scenario consistent with uniqueness occurring in the late 1970s. Our identification‐robust full‐information confidence set for the structural parameters computed on the ‘Great Moderation’ regime turns out to be more precise than the intervals previously reported in the literature through ‘limited‐information’ methods. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国货币政策产业效应的非对称性研究——来自制造业的实证

货币政策影响实体经济的主要传导途径有三个:利率途径、汇率途径和信贷途径。制造业中,不同的行业对这三种传导途径的反应速度和深度均不同,所以统一的货币政策对不同产业往往带来不同的影响,这种影响既包括产量也包括价格,被称为货币政策产业效应的非对称性。本文利用向量自回归和脉冲响应函数证实了我国货币政策对制造业中各产业存在的这种非对称性,提出并检验了造成这种产业效应非对称性的原因。     

货币政策透明度:基于中央银行视角的文献解读

货币政策透明度是指非对称信息在政策制定者与其他经济主体之间的披露程度,包括中央银行对政策相关信息的披露程度以及公众对政策信息的理解程度二层内涵;在实践中,政策制定者选择多大程度的透明度主要取决于实际的经济环境和政策目标,从纯经济学的角度来讲,政策有效性是决定是否要提高货币政策透明度的唯一原因;而从实践中来看,无论是透明还是隐秘的货币政策,都有可能实现比较理想的调控结果。     

Monetary Policy Rules, Policy Preferences, and Uncertainty: Recent Empirical Evidence

We survey recent empirical evidence on monetary policy rules, and find that the emphasis in the political economy literature on institutional design (e.g. central bank independence and inflation targeting) is exaggerated. Formal institutional reform seems neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the observation of shifts in monetary policy rules. However, there is no doubt that in some cases (e.g. the UK following the start of inflation targeting in 1992, and Bank of England Independence in 1997), a major shift in monetary policy conduct is detectable. We also highlight the problems in explicitly testing the predictions of the political economy literature. Semi-structural modelling approaches, such as time-varying VAR models may be more useful in understanding policy rules, and the interaction between policy shifts and changes in the transmission mechanism.     

Briefing Paper: The Interdependence of Fiscal and Monetary Policy under Economic and Monetary Union

This article explores the implications of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for the conduct of fiscal policy. Under EMU, where the European Central Bank is successful in controlling inflation, the loss of seigniorage revenues causes a potential problem for public sector deficits. To prevent the debt-income ratio from spiralling upwards, a primary budget surplus is ultimately required. EMU has usually been considered as a strong central monetary authority which forces fiscal discipline on lax national governments. But this is not the only possibility. Because the debt ratio can be reduced by surprise inflation, the price expectations of the private sector are important. Once these are taken into account, EMU can be examined in a 'game' framework in which the reputation of the authorities and the existence or otherwise of cooperation between the fiscal and monetary authorities becomes a critical factor.
The paper finds that where the authorities enjoy reputation and cooperate, a one-off reduction in public spending will lead to a permanent decline in the real interest rate and crowd in extra private spending (consumption and investment). Without reputation the cut in government spending has to be sustained. Where there is neither reputation nor cooperation, the outcome depends on the structure of the European economy and whether fiscal policy can effect the terms of trade between countries. If the terms of trade remain unchanged, the outturn is similar to the case of cooperation without reputation, but where the terms of trade can be improved in one country, there is no incentive to cut public spending. In this case the outturn is higher inflation with private spending crowded out.     

不确定情况下的关税、货币政策

关税问题是国际经济学研究中的一个重要领域，无论在理论分析，还是在实际操作中都具有相当重要的意义。本文在“新开放经济宏观经济学”的随机模型中，分析了关税的不确定性对两国间期望汇率和期望消费水平的影响，重点研究了关税变动的福利效应；并在此基础上，比较分析了不同的关税、货币政策组合对福利水平的影响。     

Mean Reversion of Interest Rates in the Eurocurrency Market

One stylised fact to emerge from the empirical analysis of interest rates is that the unit-root hypothesis in nominal interest rates cannot be rejected. However, using the panel date unit-root test IM, Pesaran and Shin (1997), we find support for the mean-reverting property of Eurocurrency rates. Thus, neither a vector-error-correction model nor a vector autoregressive model in differences is appropriate for modelling Eurocurrency rates. Instead, conventional modelling strategies with level data are appropriate. Furthermore, the finding of stationary interest rates supports uncovered interest parity, and hence the convergence hypothesis of interest rates. This in turn suggests a limited role for a monetary authority to affect domestic interest rates.     

Identification in Structural Vector Autoregressive Models with Structural Changes,with an Application to US Monetary Policy

A growing line of research makes use of structural changes and different volatility regimes found in the data in a constructive manner to improve the identification of structural parameters in structural vector autoregressions (SVARs). A standard assumption made in the literature is that the reduced form unconditional error covariance matrix varies while the structural parameters remain constant. Under this hypothesis, it is possible to identify the SVAR without needing to resort to additional restrictions. With macroeconomic data, the assumption that the transmission mechanism of the shocks does not vary across volatility regimes is debatable. We derive novel necessary and sufficient rank conditions for local identification of SVARs, where both the error covariance matrix and the structural parameters are allowed to change across volatility regimes. Our approach generalizes the existing literature on ‘identification through changes in volatility’ to a broader framework and opens up interesting possibilities for practitioners. An empirical illustration focuses on a small monetary policy SVAR of the US economy and suggests that monetary policy has become more effective at stabilizing the economy since the 1980s.     

货币政策与金融形势指数FCI: 基于VAR的实证分析

为了探索资产价格在货币政策中的信息功能,经济学者们构造了金融形势指数FCI以反映未来产出与通货膨胀率的变化.常规的FCI指数包括真实短期利率、真实房地产价格指数、真实有效汇率指数和真实股权价格指数.鉴于中国货币政策的实践,本文拓展了FCI指数的概念,考察了加入真实货币供应量的FCI指数在中国货币政策传导中的信息角色.基于VAR模型的实证研究表明：FCI指数可以成为中国货币政策的重要参照系;包含真实货币供应量的FCI指数对CPI通胀率具有更好的预测力.     

Monetary Policy and Macroprudential Policy: New Evidence from a World Panel of Countries

The event of the recent financial crisis raises the question of whether policy makers could have done more or something different to prevent the build‐up of financial imbalances. This paper contributes to the field of regulatory impact by tackling the debate on whether central banks should ‘lean against the wind’, while in case the response is positive, how macroprudential policies should be combined with monetary policy. Using an augmented Taylor rule and a sample of 127 global economies, the results provide evidence on the importance of macroprudential issues for the implementation of an effective monetary policy. They also document that the type of adopted macroprudential instrument has a substantial effect on such effectiveness, with this policy mix being less ‘integrated’ when the monetary rule aims at primarily safeguarding inflation stability. The results survive robustness checks under alternative assets.