Unconventional monetary policy,liquidity trap,and asset prices

This article offers a fundamental critique of monetary policy implemented in the United States following the 2007–8 global financial crisis. It aims to show that the misunderstanding of the mainstream theoretical thinking underlying monetary policy actions led to the ineffectiveness of the policy response to the 2007–8 global financial crisis. The conventional view that monetary policy is the stabilization tool has serious flaws and is ineffective for bringing about economic recovery. The Federal Reserve’s experiment with the so-called unconventional monetary policy exposed the weakness of the conventional belief in understanding how banks operate, how the monetary authority can influence the yield curve, and how the monetary transmission mechanism works, resulting in prescribing an ineffective treatment to boost economic activity. In this regard, it is argued that the Federal Reserve’s decision to let long-term interest rates be market determined represents a significant self-imposed constraint, which limits policy options regarding monetary policy actions and the effective control of long-term interest rates. By limiting the setting of policy rates only to the overnight interest rate, the ability of the monetary authority to influence long-term interest rates is both weak and indirect.     

Limited asset markets participation, monetary policy and (inverted) aggregate demand logic

This paper incorporates limited asset markets participation in dynamic general equilibrium and develops a simple analytical framework for monetary policy analysis. Aggregate dynamics and stability properties of an otherwise standard business cycle model depend nonlinearly on the degree of asset market participation. While ‘moderate’ participation rates strengthen the role of monetary policy, low enough participation causes an inversion of results dictated by conventional wisdom. The slope of the ‘IS’ curve changes sign, the ‘Taylor principle’ is inverted, optimal welfare-maximizing discretionary monetary policy requires a passive policy rule and the effects and propagation of shocks are changed. However, a targeting rule implementing optimal policy under commitment delivers equilibrium determinacy regardless of the degree of asset market participation. Our results may justify Fed's behavior during the ‘Great Inflation’ period.     

Stock prices and money velocity: a multi-country analysis

What kind of information do stock prices offer for predicting velocity? This paper develops previous work by Milton Friedman for the US economy and shows that in a panel of 25 countries a wealth effect derived from the stock market has negatively influenced the ratio of nominal income to a broad definition of money. Taking quarterly data for the period 1961–1998, the relationship holds in Japan, the UK and Switzerland; in Italy a substitution effect (away from money) has also been operating. Overall, these empirical findings indicate the presence of systematic influences of stock price fluctuations on money velocity and suggest that the repercussions of asset inflation and deflation on the behavior of monetary aggregates should be monitored. First version received: July 1998/Final version received: November 2000     

Modeling US inflation dynamics: persistence and monetary policy regimes

This paper employs the recently developed structural stability test with multiple regime shifts and grid bootstrapping methods to model US inflation dynamics over the past half century. Our empirical results suggest that the persistence of inflation has witnessed significant declines over the most recent period of low inflation and this helps to embed a low inflation environment. The finding is robust to a variety of measures of the inflation series and offers new insight on understanding the stationarity issue of the US inflation series. The authors gratefully acknowledge the two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions, which have led to substantial improvements in the paper. They also wish to thank participants at the 3rd Symposium on Econometric Theory and Applications, and seminar participants at the University of Manchester and Renmin University of China, for useful comments, with particular thanks to Denise Osborn and Jushan Bai for their constructive suggestions. Chengsi Zhang acknowledges support from the China National Social Science Research Fund, Grant No. 08CJY048.     

货币政策对房价的影响：一个文献综述

通过文献资料法和比较分析法,评述有关货币政策对房价影响的研究方法与研究结论。研究成果：（1）房价与利率问题正日益受到各界关注;（2）房价与利率的关系,学者之间研究的结论不相同,有的学者认为利率对房价产生影响,有的学者认为利率对房价没有影响。研究启示：货币政策与房价的关系还需进一步研究,调控政策还需要不断地完善。     

试析人民币对外升值与对内贬值并存

Since 2002, RMB has shown a phenomenon which is the co-existence of the external appreciation and the domestic inflation. This new monetary phenomenon has been strengthened in the context that US dollar depreciates internationally and that domestic economy is overwhelmed with excessive liquidities. The new monetary phenomenon is the reflection of the real economy that continuing trade surplus, triggered robustly by the export-driven economy, which brings a huge amount of foreign exchange reserve and accelerates sequentially the expansion of domestic money supply. Furthermore, a refrained appreciation of RMB tends to deteriorate the domestic inflation, which is not simply a traditional concept of CPI but a broad inflation parameter including a variety of asset prices. It is sure that the new phenomenon is becoming a new challenge to the macroeconomic equilibrium as well as the decision maker of monetary policy. __________ Translated from Jingji yanjiu 经济研究 (Economic Research Journal), 2007, (9): 32–48     

中国资产价格与货币政策关系实证研究综述

国内学者对中国资产价格和货币政策的相关性进行了大量的实证研究,对货币政策的制定具有一定指导意义。这些研究成果在变量计量、研究方法等方面进行了大量探索,为该领域的理论研究做出了积极贡献。但是目前的成果也存在对中国资产结构、资产市场演变等研究背景考虑不足和成熟计量模型缺失等缺陷。     

US monetary policy shocks and the Chinese economy: a GVAR approach

Using a global vector auto regressive (GVAR) methodology, this article examines the impact of US monetary policy shocks on China’s major macroeconomic indicators. Our analysis reveals that a positive shock to the US money supply growth rate initially increases China’s inflation rate but after some time this effect completely disappears. This shock also raises China’s short-term interest rate and the Chinese currency appreciates against the US dollar. A positive shock to the US short-term interest rate increases China’s short-term interest rate but the real output growth and inflation rates decline and the Chinese currency appreciates.     

Globalization, Financial Volatility and Monetary Policy

Recently it has often been claimed that globalization eases the job of central banks as it helps to tame inflation. This is used to argue that central banks (particularly the ECB, referring to the objectives as laid down in the EU Treaty) could or should reduce their efforts in the fight against inflation in favor of supporting the general economic policies of the governments. This paper takes a critical look at this argument, pointing to the structural changes associated with globalization and to the corresponding increase in uncertainty by which the central banks are affected. As an example of this, the increase in financial volatility is analyzed and explained as the result of optimal portfolio allocation, and its implications for monetary policy are discussed.     

Neo-liberalism and New Labour policy: economic performance, historical comparisons and future prospects

The paper analyses19760/70s inflation, the replacement of Keynesianwith neo-liberal economic policy, and the post-1979 declinein inflation. It is shown that the fall in inflation is explainedby trends in import prices rather than by switches in economicpolicy. However, New Labour's conversion to neo-liberalism meansthat no alternative to it is on political offer, despite returnsto pre-Keynesian policy-making, the success of which will dependon price policies based on an understanding of the institutionalroots of inflation.     

混沌理论在我国货币政策制定和执行中的应用

我国货币政策环境可视作混沌的复杂系统。混沌理论表明,系统在时空上的复杂结构通常隐含着简单的决定性准则,一旦这样的准则被发现,管理当局则可以观察或者控制系统内部的复杂状况,以达到预期目标。运用于货币政策的混沌理论,是指将货币政策环境看作是具有高度复杂性和长期行为不可预测性的混沌系统,其中必然隐含着复杂系统内普遍适用的简单决定性准则。如果我们掌握并始终遵循这一准则,就可以观察并控制货币政策环境这一复杂混沌系统,使货币政策目标向预期的方向发展。     

Monetary policy as bad medicine: The volatile relationship between business cycles and asset prices

Austrian business cycle theory has become an important point of focus in controversial mainstream discussions regarding the role of asset prices in monetary policy. In this article, the relation between asset prices and the Austrian business cycle theory is examined. The analysis focuses on how central banking supports optimism, resulting in the redirection of entrepreneurial activity and knowledge via asset price bubbles. The crucial role of credit expansion for asset price booms is also analyzed. Following this analysis, the implications for monetary policy are deduced.

Is there an asymmetric effect of monetary policy over time? A Bayesian analysis using Austrian data.

The present paper assesses whether monetary policy effects are asymmetric over the business cycle by estimating a univariate model for GDP including additionally the first difference of the 3-month Austrian interest rate as a measure for monetary policy. The asymmetry of the effects is captured by allowing for state-dependent parameters where the latent state variable follows a Markov switching process. The model is estimated within a Bayesian framework using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation methods. Model selection and specification tests are performed by means of marginal likelihood. The results document significant negative effects of monetary policy during periods of below-average growth, while the effect seems insignificant during periods of normal or above-average growth. These results corroborate those derived in theoretical models assuming price rigidities and implying a convex supply curve. Additionally, the concern of using appropriate state-identifying restrictions is raised to obtain an unbiased posterior inference. Finally, the analysis concludes by assessing the robustness of the results with respect to alternative measures of monetary policy. First Version Received: December 2000/Final Version Received: May 2001     

Turkish monetary policy and components of aggregate demand: a VAR analysis with sign restrictions model

This article estimates the effects of monetary policy on components of aggregate demand using quarterly data on Turkish economy from 1987–2008 by means of structural Vector Autoregression (VAR) methodology. This study adopts Uhlig's (2005) sign restrictions on the impulse responses of main macroeconomic variables to identify monetary shock. This study finds that expansionary monetary policy stimulates output through consumption and investment in the short-run. However, expansionary monetary policy is ineffective in the long-run.     

宏观共同因子、特质因子以及货币政策对中国各线城市房价的影响——基于FAVAR模型

运用FAVAR模型,将中国各线城市房价分离出宏观共同因子和特质因子部分,研究了各因子及货币政策对房价的影响。研究发现:大城市的房价更易受宏观共同因子和地区特质因子的影响,且变动的持续性更大;共同因子可在很大程度上解释房价变动的持续性和波动性;共同因子对房价的影响较为持久,而地区特质因子只在短期内影响房价;利率和货币供应量可以有效地影响房价;相比利率,货币供应量对一线和二线城市房价水平的影响更大,对各线城市房价波动的影响更为持久;一线城市的房价水平及其波动对货币政策冲击的敏感度较高,二线城市的敏感度居中,三线城市的敏感度较低;未发现货币政策的"价格之谜"现象,表明本文模型设定的合理性较强。     

Decomposing household,professional and market forecasts on inflation: a dynamic factor model analysis

A dynamic factor model with stochastic volatility is used to investigate the relationships between three alternative measures of inflation expectations. The results show evidence of both a common time-varying trend and a common transitory component between inflation and short-term inflation expectations from households, professionals and markets. While the common time-varying trend has declined in both level and volatility since the early 1980s, it was found that consumer expectations are disproportionately influenced by the visibility of prices of select few goods. Roughly speaking, a 1% point increase in food and energy prices leads to about 1/3% point increase in consumer forecasts of inflation. In terms of policymaking, this finding suggests that stability in highly visible prices can moderate inflation in a meaningful way.     

A PANIC analysis on regional and sectoral inflation: the Spanish case

This article studies the stochastic properties of several inflation rates for the Spanish economy using the consumer price index (CPI) for the 17 regions and 12 groups of goods and services, and the producer price index (PPI) for 26 industrial sectors. To this end, we employ the panel analysis of nonstationarity in idiosyncratic and common components (PANIC) approach proposed by Bai and Ng (2004, 2010). This methodology enables us to decompose the observed inflation rate series into a common and an idiosyncratic component, thus allowing us to identify the exact source of nonstationarity. Our analysis provides strong evidence of the presence of a common stochastic trend driving the observed series forming the panel of CPI-based inflation rates for the regions. This, coupled with the presence of a jointly stationary idiosyncratic component, implies the existence of pairwise cointegration across the regional CPI-based inflation rates, which show a clear pattern of convergence over time. This gives an indication of increased geographical homogeneity in consumption patterns. The evidence for the panels of CPI-based inflation of groups of goods and services and PPI-based inflation of industrial sectors indicates the existence of four independent common stochastic trends. This, combined with jointly stationary idiosyncratic series, provides much weaker evidence of cross-cointegration for these two panels.     

Causes of Inflation in Europe, the United States and Japan: Some Lessons for Maintaining Price Stability in the EMU from a Structural VAR Approach

Price stability being among the primary goals of EMU monetary policy,it should be interesting to analyse thefactors that led to the disinflationarydevelopments of the last years. Using a structural VAR approach withlong-run identifying restrictions derived from an open-economy macromodel, various factors of inflation for Austria, Germany, Italy, the UnitedKingdom, the United States and Japan and the extent to which they havecontributed to inflation are analysed. These factors are energy price shocks, supply shocks, wage setting influences, demand and exchange rate disturbances and money supply surprises. The latter three are also used to calculate core inflation. Within a smaller model for aggregate EMU data, supply and demand influences are analysed. While supply and demand factors have generally contributed to the inflation decline, monetary policy, enhanced competition, low energy prices and moderate wage setting are featuring most prominent in the recent disinflation process.     

Interest rate rules, inflation and the Taylor principle: an analytical exploration

Summary. The purpose of this article is to characterize optimal interest rate rules in the framework of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, and notably to scrutinize the “Taylor principle”, according to which the nominal interest rate should respond more than one for one to inflation. This model yields explicit solutions for the optimal rule. We find that the elasticity of response depends on numerous factors, such as the degree of price rigidity, the autocorrelation of the underlying shocks, or which measure of inflation is used. In general the optimal elasticity of the interest rate with respect to inflation needs not be greater than one.Received: 6 November 2003, Revised: 17 August 2004 JEL Classification Numbers: E5, E52, E58.J.-P. Bénassy: I wish to thank Daniel Laskar and an anonymous referee for their perceptive comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Of course all remaining deficiencies are mine.     

Inflation expectations of Brazilian consumers: an analysis based on the FGV survey

ABSTRACT

An accurate assessment of inflation expectations is crucial for the management of monetary policies. However, expectations are not directly observed and are hence normally inferred either from the interest rate structure or from surveys of professional forecasters. Alternatively, a direct measure may be obtained from consumer surveys. The aim of this paper is to study the formation of inflation expectations in Brazil, using a novel dataset based on the FGV/IBRE consumer survey. Basing our model on the rational inattention hypothesis, we find that individual heterogeneity plays a very significant role in shaping individual expectations; also, Brazilians adjust expectations to current inflation and to a fixed reference value, while professional forecasts do not play a very relevant role.