Estimating the frequency of price re-optimization in Calvo-style models

This paper assesses the empirical performance Calvo style models of price re-optimization. We first show that versions of these models in which firms update non-re-optimized prices to lagged inflation account well for the statistical behavior of post-war U.S. inflation rates. We then investigate whether these models imply plausible degrees of inertia in price setting behavior by firms. They do, but only if we depart from two standard auxiliary assumptions: monopolistically competitive firms face a constant elasticity of demand, and capital is homogeneous and can be instantaneously reallocated after a shock. We develop a version of the model in which these assumptions are relaxed and show that it is consistent with the view that firms re-optimize prices, on average, once every two quarters.     

News about aggregate demand and the business cycle

The plausibility of expectations-driven cyclical fluctuations in an otherwise standard one-sector real business cycle model with variable capital utilization and mild increasing returns-to-scale in production is examined. Due to a dominating wealth effect, our model is able to generate qualitatively as well as quantitatively realistic aggregate fluctuations driven by news impulses to future consumption demand or government spending on goods and services. When the economy is subject to anticipated total factor productivity or investment-specific technology shocks, the relative strength of the intertemporal substitution effect needs to be enhanced for our model to exhibit positive macroeconomic co-movement and business cycle statistics that are consistent with the data.     

公众预期与货币政策有效性

现代货币政策理论特别强调预期在货币政策有效性发挥中的核心作用。在对有关经典预期理论进行探讨之后,借助标准的新凯恩斯模型分析了预期对货币政策操作结果的影响,认为公众预期会对货币政策有效性产生影响,使得政策结果偏离目。标水平,而且在把“Brainard不确定性”纳入分析框架之后,预期对货币政策有效性的影响程度将更大,即政策结果完全由预期决定,同时对预期形成的影响因素进行了有益的探讨。并在对全文总结的基础上,提出了一些建设性的启示。     

Financial integration and business cycles in a small open economy

The purpose of this study is to examine a dynamic, stochastic, general equilibrium framework with financial and informational frictions and foreign borrowing in the case of money growth and technology shocks for a small open economy and to analyze the implications of varying degrees of financial integration for aggregate fluctuations and propagation mechanisms in the economy. The existence of informational asymmetries among the agents in the model necessitates financial intermediation in the economy. Moreover, there is uncertainty involved in the production process which leads to collateralized borrowing by firms and, therefore, has to be taken into account in the design of the loan contracts between firms and financial intermediaries. It is shown that increasing financial integration amplifies the effect of a positive, temporary monetary shock on output, consumption, investment, labor demand and loans; whereas it has barely any implication for the impact of a positive, temporary technology shock on the economy.     

通货膨胀的惯性特征及其货币政策启示

通货膨胀惯性是指通货膨胀在受到随机扰动因素冲击后偏离其长期均衡水平的趋势会持续很久,通常用通胀自回归模型中滞后项系数之和来度量。混合的新凯恩斯主义菲利普斯曲线令人信服地解释了通货膨胀惯性的微观基础,即价格粘性和经济参与人的后视行为。高通货膨胀惯性会削弱货币政策调控的效果,提高中央银行反通胀的社会成本。中央银行承诺在较长时期内钉住一个稳定的名义锚(例如明确或隐性的通货膨胀目标制)则是降低通货膨胀惯性的有效途径。     

Taxes and stabilization in contemporary macroeconomic models

The role of proportional and procyclic labor income taxes for automatic stabilization with stochastic productivity is analyzed in a contemporary macroeconomic model based on imperfect competition. The importance of short-run nominal wage rigidity for the effectiveness of progressive taxes on labor income for stabilizing output and raising household welfare is examined in a model that yields complete analytical solutions with stochastic output shocks. Increasing the procyclicity of labor income tax rates raises welfare with and without rigid nominal wages in the model economy. With fully flexible prices and wages, a positive covariance between the distortionary tax rate and productivity reduces the volatility of production and employment. This effect disappears under nominal wage rigidity, although progressive taxation can still raise welfare by reducing the distortion caused by a proportional labor tax. With rigid nominal wages and flexible consumer goods prices, payroll taxes levied at rates that rise with output can serve as automatic stabilizers. JEL Code E62 · H20     

经济政策不确定性与企业杠杆率

本文从政策不确定性的视角探讨中国经济转型过程中企业杠杆率变动背后的逻辑。在基于2002—2016年A股上市公司的季度数据描述企业杠杆率结构性变化的经验事实以及理论分析的基础上,运用Baker et al. (2016) 构建的经济政策不确定性指数实证分析政策不确定性与企业杠杆率之间的关系。结果表明,经济政策不确定性对企业杠杆率具有显著的负向影响;这一负向效应在短期负债率、民营、小规模和制造业企业更为明显。进一步考虑经济转型的扩展分析发现,政策不确定性对企业杠杆率的负向影响会随着地区市场化水平的提高、民营化改革的推进和对外开放度的扩大而显著降低。本文的研究对深入理解企业杠杆率变化背后的逻辑以及科学地制定供给侧结构性改革相关政策具有现实意义。     

经济政策不确定性、声誉机制与信用评级

本文以2007-2019年我国企业债券为样本,采用有序Probit回归模型探讨经济政策不确定性对信用评级的影响,研究结果表明：(1)经济政策不确定性的增加会促使评级机构显著降低信用评级,这种影响因产权性质存在显著差异,而且在债券市场刚性兑付被打破后更为显著;(2)声誉机制对上述影响产生积极的调节效应,声誉受损或声誉水平较高的评级机构会更加谨慎地评估经济政策不确定性的影响效应。基于此,政府应合理管控政策的出台和调整以增强社会预期,监管机构要不断强化对评级机构的监管,促使评级机构提高信用评级的质量。     

Banks’ regulatory capital buffer and the business cycle: Evidence for Germany

This paper analyzes the effect of the business cycle on the regulatory capital buffers of German local banks in the period 1993–2004. The capital buffers are found to fluctuate countercyclically over the business cycle. The evidence supports that low-capitalized banks do not catch up with their well-capitalized peers over the observation period and they do not decrease risk-weighted assets during a recession. This finding suggests that their low capitalization does not force them to retreat from lending.     

模型不确定性条件下的货币政策决策分析

为什么中央银行在制定货币政策时往往是比较谨慎或保守的?从具体的货币政策规则的经验估计如泰勒规则看,这些货币政策比具体经济模型所要求的最优货币政策更为保守。本文从模型不确定性及决策者对不确定性态度变化的角度,运用美联储数据进行实证来解释这一现象。经过分析发现,若与降低利率的变动相比,央行更为关心产出缺口的稳定性,则央行对模型不确定呈厌恶或呈中性将会大大降低泰勒规则中的反应系数,随之产生较为保守的货币政策,若央行对不确定性呈偏好,则产生较为积极的货币政策。     

经济政策不确定性与企业贷款成本

基于大样本微观银行信贷数据,本文研究经济政策不确定性对企业的银行贷款成本的影响。研究发现,经济政策不确定性升高导致企业的银行贷款成本增加,且使得在中小型银行贷款的企业成本增加更多。异质性分析表明,经济政策不确定性升高对受政策因素影响较大的企业如小微企业、私营企业等的银行贷款成本的影响更为明显。进一步,对企业的银行贷款违约风险的研究发现,随着经济政策不确定性升高,企业的银行贷款违约风险反而降低。这表明,经济政策不确定性升高使得银行选择风险评级更低的贷款,符合谨慎性动机。本文研究结论表明,经济政策不确定性升高时,银行“自我保险”动机的增强使得企业的银行贷款成本增加,这在中小型银行中表现得更加明显,同时也更多地转嫁给中小企业。本文为经济政策不确定性对企业投资、宏观经济波动等的研究提供了微观解释机制,并揭示了政府经济政策的一致性、稳定性对维护金融稳定的重要作用。     

Entrepreneurial activity, risk, and the business cycle

This paper analyzes a model in which the risk associated with entrepreneurial activity implies that the amount of such activity is procyclical and results in amplification and intertemporal propagation of productivity shocks. In the model risk averse agents choose between a riskless project and a risky project with higher expected output (‘the entrepreneurial activity’). Agents who become entrepreneurs need to bear part of the project-specific risk for incentive reasons. More agents become entrepreneurs when productivity is high, because agents are more willing to bear risk and need to bear less risk for incentive reasons. Furthermore, cross-sectional heterogeneity can be countercyclical.     

Idiosyncratic production risk, growth and the business cycle

We introduce a neoclassical growth economy with idiosyncratic production risk and incomplete markets. Each agent is an entrepreneur operating her own technology with her own capital stock. The general equilibrium is characterized by a closed-form recursion in the CARA-normal case. Incomplete markets introduce a risk premium on private equity, which reduces the demand for investment. As compared to complete markets, the steady state can thus have both a lower capital stock due to investment risk, and a lower interest rate due to precautionary savings. Furthermore, the anticipation of high real interest rates in the future feeds back into high risk premia and low investment in the present, thus slowing down convergence to the steady state. Our results highlight the importance of private risk premia for capital accumulation and business cycles.     

消费金融公司、贷款准备金政策与总需求结构调整

消费金融公司的设立将有利于刺激居民消费,拉动内需。但是,在利率非市场化条件下,这也带来新的货币政策调控问题:中央银行如何对消费金融公司调控来实现政策目标。存款准备金政策对不吸收公众存款而发放无抵押担保的信用贷款的消费金融公司将无用武之地,而以贷款准备金政策(对贷款征收法定准备金)为工具的货币政策调控框架将会大展身手。文章构建了贷款准备金政策调控框架并用以分析其对需求结构的调节效应。     

经济政策不确定性与公司商业信用供给

基于中国经济政策不确定性指数,本文使用2003–2015年上市公司季度数据考察经济政策不确定性如何影响公司商业信用供给决策。结果表明,经济政策不确定性的提高会显著减少公司提供的商业信用,外部融资环境和内部经营不确定性是这一影响的重要渠道。进一步分析发现,社会信任水平、地区金融发展程度和公司市场地位可以有效缓解二者之间的负向关系。而且,经济政策不确定性的提高还会导致公司缩短商业信用的供给期限。本文研究结果为宏观经济政策不确定条件下公司商业信用供给决策中成本和收益的权衡提供了新的经验证据,有助于政策制定者理解经济政策不确定性如何影响微观经济实体的财务决策。     

经济政策不确定性、地区文化与保险需求

本文在拓展背景风险理论研究的基础上,揭示了经济政策不确定性对保险需求的影响及其受地区文化制约的理论机制。并利用2007-2017年中国30个地区的月度面板数据,检验了经济政策不确定性、地区文化与保险需求间的内在联系。结果发现:第一,经济政策不确定性会对保险需求产生显著正影响,且这种效应在地区人身险需求上表现更明显;第二,将地区文化指标集纳入经济政策不确定性与保险需求关系的研究框架,发现地区文化差异会对经济政策不确定性影响保险需求产生调节效应。因此政府需在充分重视经济政策波动和文化对经济活动的双重影响基础上,加强国内社会保障体系建设,建立更透明的信息传递渠道,培育人们主动抵抗风险的意识和文化习惯,调整保险供给结构,以减少不确定性对社会经济行为的负面冲击。     

不同货币总量的比较及其对中国的启示

官方公布的简单相加货币总量违背消费者行为理论。作为对简单相加总量的一种改进,学者们目前提出了迪维西亚货币总量、现金等价物货币总量、费雪货币存量指数和动量化货币。本文分析了各货币总量理论上的优缺点,并通过归纳和梳理相关文献,基于可测性、可控性、相关性三个原则,认为迪维西亚总量最适合作当前中国货币政策的中介目标,因而值得进一步深入研究。     

货币政策与宏观审慎政策的协调

本文在梳理学术文献和国际经验基础上,讨论了货币政策与宏观审慎政策之间的潜在冲突和协调机制。国际文献的初步结论是,为了同时实现价格稳定和金融稳定目标,大部分情况下需要货币政策与宏观审慎政策反向操作(由于政策的替代性),但有时也需要两者同向操作(由于政策的互补性),最优政策组合取决于宏观冲击的类别和风险的来源。本文认为,选择最优组合是一个复杂的理论和实证问题,除了冲击类别和风险来源外,不同的金融体制和经济周期阶段也会影响选择结果。因此,货币政策当局与宏观审慎当局之间需要建立有效的协调机制,并加强对货币政策和宏观审慎政策“溢出效应”的分析能力。基于上述理论,针对我国“双支柱”决策的现状和问题提出如下改革建议:一是从法律上明确中央银行的金融稳定职责。二是建立在同一框架内分析货币政策与宏观审慎政策的方法和工具。三是将金融监管部门的主要宏观审慎政策决策权集中至中央银行。四是建立货币政策与宏观审慎政策的协调流程与机制。     

Conceptualising social risk and business risk associated with private sector development projects

There are various definitions of social risk. For some, social risk pertains to social protection, and risk-taking is thought to enhance human welfare. For others, social risk is contrasted with empirical risk, where the perception of risk by lay members of society differs from that of experts in any given field. More recently, social risk has come to be associated with the potential future negative social impacts of corporate activities and private sector development on individuals and groups. This paper theorises the relationships between social risk and business risk in the context of private sector developments. Many business leaders continue to conflate social risk with their existing understandings of business risk, with social risk understood to be the risk to the business arising from the actions of community stakeholders. Conceiving of social risk in this way has implications for the discrete identification, prevention and mitigation of social and business risks and impacts, and has ramifications for corporate risk management strategies, as well as companies’ relationships with community stakeholders.     

基于关联网络的经济政策不确定性全球溢出效应研究

基于关联网络视角,本文采用溢出指数方法构建2003-2018年全球经济政策不确定性的溢出网络,分别从静态和动态两个方面考察各国经济政策不确定性的溢入、溢出水平,以及全球经济政策不确定性溢出网络的结构特征。研究发现,第一,经济政策不确定性具有显著的跨国传染效应,其溢出网络呈现明显的时变特征。第二,发达国家经济政策不确定性的溢入、溢出水平高于发展中国家。第三,经济政策不确定性总溢出指数在极端事件的冲击下明显攀升,而与极端事件高度相关的国家具有更强的溢出效应。同时,各个国家经济政策不确定性的溢入水平和溢出水平的波动幅度截然不同,溢出水平的波动幅度较大而溢入水平相对平稳。第四,中国与日本、澳大利亚保持着较强的双向溢出关系,而且中国对新兴经济体,尤其是金砖国家的溢出水平较高,并主要接受韩国和欧洲发达国家的溢出影响。