Competing macro-hypotheses in the United States: A Kalman filtering approach

The empirical validity of alternative views about the short-run determinants of real output growth in the United States is investigated. A nested framework is used to test the macro rational expectations (MRE) hypothesis directly against two competing hypotheses - the neo-Keynesian view that anticipated and unanticpated monetary policy both matter,and Friedman's (1977) proposition that increased inflation uncertainty reduces real output at least temporarily. The unobservable explanatory variables are obtained from time-varying-parameter models of inflation and money growth, which generate forecast errors and their conditional variances consistent with rational expectations under a continuously chaning policy regime. The empirical results strongly support Friedman's view. The MRE hypothesis must be rejected since both anticipated and unanticipated monetary changes matter. The results prove robust across different model specifications and estimation techniques.     

The effectiveness of monetary policy and output fluctuations: An asymmetric analysis

Previous studies have investigated asymmetries in the effects of monetary policy on the real economic activity by using either vector autoregressive (VAR)-based regime-switching models with smooth transition technique or Gaussian functions to parameterise the dynamic effects of structural shocks on the economy. These kinds of VAR models assume asymmetry as a short-run relationship between the series since the long-run neutrality hypothesis of money states that monetary policy can only affect productive capacity of the economy in the short run, but not in the long run. The recent theoretical literature shows that this hypothesis is not quite right. Thus, this paper examines the extent to which monetary policy has a long-run asymmetric effect on output in a number of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries by using a nonlinear hidden cointegration analysis within a likelihood-based panel framework. The findings indicate that there is a long-run relationship between the real interest rate as an indicator of monetary policy and the growth rate of real output in five countries out of nine under review. This gives support for the view that output has responded asymmetrically to the real interest rate changes. The economic implication of our results is that monetary policy affects positive and negative output fluctuations differently.     

宏观调控与实体经济

我国当前的宏观经济面临通货膨胀和经济增长下行的双重压力,两者都会在实体经济上反映出来。针对通货膨胀应该高度关注并采取适度的宏观调控政策,但不能反应过度。现阶段的主要矛盾已经转到经济增长下行问题。宏观经济学的精髓在于均衡,合适的宏观政策应该是在保持经济增长和控制通货膨胀之间找到均衡,选择一个合适的均衡点。我国近期根据宏观经济的走势实施稳健的货币政策和积极的财政政策,意味着将会释放出数量较大的流动性,而这些流动性应该重点流向实体经济。有效的宏观调控必须是以市场化改革所形成的经济体制为基础的。不能因为宏观调控而放慢市场化改革的步伐,尤其要支持实体经济领域民营经济的发展。     

Anticipated monetary and fiscal policy effects on output

This paper is a test of the LSW proposition. In a Sargent and Wallace model, two different formal money supply mechanisms are incorporated. One is based on the government budget restraint and the other on the Fed's reaction function. Neither is a pure feedback mechanism. The stochastic process of output is a function of the interaction of the monetary and fiscal policy parameters with the models' disturbances. Thus, the question of the LSW proposition comes down to an empirical issue. The models are then estimated by 3SLS. The results are not incompatible with the policy ineffectiveness proposition.     

Exchange Rate Depreciation,Wage Resistance and Inflation in Argentina (1882–2009)

This paper describes some of the main alternatives to the dominant neoclassical theories of inflation, according to which inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. The model develops a cost‐push approach, in which rising costs are mainly related to external constraints. Not only is inflation seen as resulting from balance of payments crises, but fiscal crises also are the result of the initial balance of payments crises within this framework. Fiscal deficits, and all other excess demand pressures, are absent, so that high levels of inflation are compatible with an economy that is below full employment, and stabilization is independent of fiscal adjustments. The model is then tested using a Vector Autoregression model and finds strong evidence for alternative theories of inflation over the monetarist theory. The empirical section tests both the long period (1882–2009) and the modern period (1990–2007) analyzing the impact of wages, the nominal exchange rate, the output gap and the monetary base on inflation. The results show that the exchange rate (external constraints) has been the primary cause of inflation. Wages are a causal factor in both models, and the monetary base and output gap show low causality in the long period, and ambiguous results for the modern period.     

Monetary policy and fiscal limits with no-default

This paper discusses monetary and fiscal policy interactions that stabilize government debt. Two distortions prevail in the model economy: income taxes and liquidity constraints. Possible obstructions to fiscal policy include a ceiling on the equilibrium debt-to-GDP ratio, zero or negative elasticity of tax revenues, and a political intolerance of raising tax rates. At the fiscal limit two mechanisms restore solvency: fiscal inflation, which reduces the real value of nominal debt, and open market operations, which diminish the size of government debt held by the private sector. Three regimes achieve this goal. In all regimes monetary policy is passive. In all regimes a muted tax response to government debt is consistent with equilibrium. The propensity of a fiscal authority to smooth output is found to determine what is an acceptable response (in the form of tax rate changes) to the level of government debt, while monetary policy determines the timing and magnitude of fiscal inflation. Impulse responses show that the inflation and tax hikes needed to offset a permanent shock to transfers are lowest under nominal interest rate pegs. In this regime, most of the reduction in the real value of government debt comes from open market purchases.     

The real balance effect and the non-neutrality of money in a simple model of a small open economy

The paper examines the implications of the real balance effect for the neutrality of money in a small open economy model which contains an explicit treatment of aggregate supply. Two specific results emerge. First, an unanticipated monetary expansion is neutral in both the long and short runs, whilst an anticipated increase in the money supply has real short-run effects. Secondly, the non-neutrality associated with an anticipated monetary expansion manifests itself in a fall in output and employment during the transition to the new steady-state.     

Stochastic and structural fiscal policy in a monetary stationary economy

In the framework of a monetary asset pricing model which is simple enough to generate closed form formulae for equilibrium price functions the interactions between output, fiscal policy, and asset markets is investigated. With money yielding liquidity services in the exchange process real stock prices are negatively correlated with anticipated (stochastic) fiscal policy changes, while the impact of unanticipated (structural) fiscal policy on the stock market depends qualitatively on the ‘business cycle’ of the economy. It is shown that the monetary character of the economy, more precisely the role of money in the exchange process, is critical for the relationship between fiscal policy and real share prices. Moreover, while contingent fiscal policy measures may be successful in stabilizing the real interest rate on money they are incapable of achieving a stable term structure of the real rate on stocks. In contrast, uncontingently higher public expenditures generally promote the volatility of the real rates on financial assets.     

Labor contracts,informational discrepancies and the role of monetary policy

This paper examines output stabilization and inflationary consequences of short-run monetary policy. The macroeconomic framework incorporates informational discrepancies between the monetary authority and economic agents who form long-term labor contracts. Economic agents are assumed to form rational expectations of the rate of inflation. One result of the analysis is that optimal monetary policy rules for stabilizing fluctuations in output and inflation are independent of the structure of the wage contracts and the degree of informational discrepancy. A second proposition shows that the monetary authority can actually make use of specific knowledge concerning the contract structure to reduce fluctuations in the rate of change in output. In particular, the monetary authority can reduce fluctuations in output below those occurring in a frictionless system by increasing fluctuations in the rate of inflation.     

货币政策无效性命题在中国的实证研究

本文采用两步OLS方法考察了中国货币政策对实际产出的影响 ,实证结果倾向于拒绝政策无效性命题 (PIP)。实证研究表明预期到的与未预期到的货币都影响产出 ,货币政策对产出在 1 0 %的显著水平上存在非对称性影响。笔者认为在中国预期到的货币政策影响产出 ,其原因是不完全的市场与价格刚性的存在。     

Impact of foreign prices and interest rates on canadian economy under alternative monetary and exchange rate regimes

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of U.S. short- and long-term monetary policy under both flexible and managed floating systems, using the new CANDIDE Model 2.0. We have also examined the role of domestic monetary policy in the Canadian economy under both fixed and flexible exchange rate systems. The following are some of the important findings of our study:

1. Our results support the traditional view that under the fixed exchange rate regime, monetary authorities cannot successfully pursue an independent monetary policy from its trading partners — an effort to increase money supply will be almost offset by increases in the balance of payments deficit. In contrast, in the flexible exchange rate regime, monetary policy is more effective in producing an increased growth in output and employment. However the increased output growth comes at the cost of higher prices induced by increased wages and a depreciation of the Canadian dollar.
2. Our results suggest that the impact of U.S. interest rates on investment, GNE, employment, productivity, and government debt is less severe in a pure floating exchange rate regime, compared to the managed floating system. However, the impact of U.S. interest rate policy on the Canadian inflation rate is worse in the case of flexible exchange rate regime. Even though real income and inflation are less favourable in both cases, our results indicate a trade-off between output growth and inflation.
3. Our results imply that under a pure floating monetary authorities can determine the long-run rate of inflation in Canada independent of others. However, the United States and Canadian economies are interrelated during the adjustment process, even under the flexible exchange rates, through the terms of trade and the wage-price spiral channels.

     

The Role of Fiscal Policy in the Eighties*

After surveying objections to using expansionary fiscal policy to raise output and employment. this article concludes that budget deficits do not necessarily lead to high interest rates and that crowding out is only moderate. even with non-accommodating monetary policy. The major constraint on the effectiveness of expansionary fiscal policy is the need to avoid devaluation. If real wages are rigid downwards. devaluation will lead to increases in inflationary pressure rather than increases in output. Because of this. and because of inflationary pressure from short-run Phillips curve effects. expansionary fiscal policy must be complemented by a prices and incomes policy.     

Endogenous monetary policy and the liquidity effect

We compare the transmission mechanism of exogenous and endogenous monetary policies in a calibrated small open economy model with nominal and real rigidities. Under an exogenous monetary policy rule it takes implausible values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution and the price adjustment costs to generate the liquidity and overshooting effects. Endogenous rules with strong feedback to inflation and output help to reproduce the response of the nominal interest and exchange rates to unanticipated monetary policy shocks that characterize the transmission mechanism of standard sticky price models. The liquidty and overshooting effects are always obtained when the model is augmented with a Taylor interest rate rule.JEL Classification: E32, E43Javier Andrés acknowledges support of CICYT grant SEC2002-0026. We thank the comments of two anonymous referees and the editor, Jordi Caballé, to an earlier version of the paper. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent the view of the Banco de España.     

Policy analysis with a macroeconomic model of Korea

This paper reports on a macroeconomic model of Korea. The model consists of markets for output, prices and labour, the balance of payments and money, and emphasizes in its structure the openness of the economy. A complete listing of the model equations and statistics of its performance are presented. The paper then discusses both the external and internal policy impacts on main domestic economic conditions, on the basis of the multipliers obtained for changes in fiscal, monetary, exchange rate policy instruments and changes in foreign economic activity and interest rates.     

Exchange rate devaluation,monetary policy and wages: A general equilibrium analysis for Chile

A range of devaluation, monetary and wage policy mixes are analysed for the Chilean economy using a 10 sector comparative static model built along neoclassical lines. The model, while focusing on the real side of the economy, also contains a simple monetary sector. Quantifying the short-run implications of each policy mix for key macroeconomic and sectoral variables enables judgements to be made about the effectiveness of each mix in reaching specified targets and their feasibility. Money wage flexibility downwards is crucial if balance of trade and employment targets are to be achieved with lower domestic inflation and a smaller nominal devaluation.     

The Bank Lending Channel and Monetary Policy Rules: Evidence from European Banks

There exist two main channels of the monetary transmission mechanism: the interest rate and the bank lending channel. This paper focuses on the latter, which is based on the central bank’s actions that affect loan supply and real spending. The supply of loans depends on the monetary policy indicator, which, in most studies, is the real short-term interest rate. The question investigated in this paper is how the operation of the bank lending channel changes when this short-term indicator is allowed to be endogenously determined by the target rate the central bank sets through a monetary rule. We examine the effect that a rule has on the bank lending channel in European banking institutions spanning the period 1999–2009. The expectations concerning inflation and output affect the decision of the central bank for the target rate, which, in turn, affect private sector’s expectations —commercial banks— by altering their loan supply.     

Optimal monetary policy for a small open economy

This paper focuses on the design of monetary policy rules for a small open economy. The model features optimizing behavior, general equilibrium and price stickiness. The real exchange rate is shown to affect the firm's real marginal cost, aggregate supply and aggregate demand. The welfare objective depends on the openness of the economy, and the optimal policy rule differs from that which obtains in a closed economy. The inflation versus output gap stabilization trade-off is caused by the real exchange rate. The implied optimal monetary policy regime is domestic inflation target coupled with controlled floating of the real exchange rate.     

Global slack hypothesis: evidence from China,India and Pakistan

It is widely believed that globalization has changed inflation process. The global resource capacity reduces responsiveness of inflation to domestic activity and increases responsiveness of inflation to global resource capacity. This global slack hypothesis is tested using different theoretical specifications, which also relate domestic output elasticity and foreign output elasticity to the degree of trade openness of an individual economy. The results reject this hypothesis. The global resource capacity does not drive domestic inflation. The impact of globalization has not increased in the inflation process, and the results yield important policy implications for monetary policy formulation. The global resource capacity does not affect ability of the central banks to stabilize inflation, real economic activity and also respond to the volatility of output growth.     

Monetary and Fiscal Policy Rules in the EMU

Abstract. This paper studies the design and effects of monetary and fiscal policy in the euro area. To do so, a stylized two‐region model of monetary and fiscal policy rules in the EMU is built. We analyse how monetary and fiscal rules affect the adjustment dynamics in the model. Both the effects on the individual countries and on the EMU aggregate economy are studied. Three aspects play an important role in the analysis: (i) the consequences of alternative monetary and fiscal policy rules, (ii) the consequences of asymmetries between EMU countries (asymmetries in macroeconomic shocks and macroeconomic structures), and (iii) the role of alternative degrees of backward‐ and forward‐looking behaviour in consumer decisions and inflation expectations.     

Aggregate demand shocks and economic growth

The traditional view of growth and fluctuations implies that aggregate demand shocks result in only transitory departures from trend or “normal” output, which is determined exclusively by aggregate supply factors. Using a simple dynamic framework for a less-developed economy, a series of models is developed to show that aggregate demand can have a permanent effect on economic growth. It is shown that even if the economy converges to some “normal” path, this path itself may be altered by large demand shocks, due to increasing returns and hysteresis effects in labor markets and balance of payments constraints. It is also shown that the economy may not converge to its “normal” path, in which case fiscal and monetary policy will have long-term effects on output and growth.