Money growth volatility and the demand for money in Germany: Friedman’s volatility hypothesis revisited

Money Growth Volatility and the Demand for Money in Germany: Friedman’s Volatility Hypothesis Revisited. — Recently, the Bundesbank claimed that monetary targeting has become considerably more difficult by the increased volatility of short-term money growth. The present paper investigates the impact of German money growth volatility on income velocity and money demand in view of Friedman’s money growth volatility hypothesis. Granger-causality tests provide some evidence for a velocity/volatility linkage. However, the estimation of volatility-augmented money demand functions reveals that — in contrast to Friedman’s hypothesis — increased money growth volatility lowered the demand for money.     

Money demand and monetary policy in Europe

Money Demand and Monetary Policy in Europe.—The European Central Bank will soon have to decide on her monetary strategy. This paper discusses properties of money demand functions and implications for monetary policy in a monetary targeting regime. Special attention is paid to different concepts of stability of money demand, to the length and variability of adjustment lags, and to the controllability of the money stock. At the European level, stable money demand functions are identified for M1 and M3. However, M3 appears to be less controllable than M1. Long and variable adjustment lags in the demand for M3 weaken the case for broad money as a monetary target. JEL no. E41, E52     

Why is Inflation in China a Monetary Phenomenon？

This paper proposes that inflation in China during the post‐reform era (1978 onwards) is always a monetary phenomenon. We construct a multivariate dynamic model based on Friedman's quantity theory of money and use the standard Granger causality test to show that money growth contains significant predictive power for inflation during the underlying period. The finding is robust to alternative measures of monetary aggregates and both closed and open economy frameworks. The baseline finding of the paper indicates that quantitative tools remain the most important policy instruments for China to manage its inflation effectively.     

我国开放条件下的货币政策操作规则

本文利用我国1994～2006年季度数据,分别对开放经济条件下的Taylor规则和McCal-lum规则进行了实证检验。结果表明,我国货币政策操作一直遵从McCallum规则,Tay-lor规则不适合我国国情。这意味着,如果经济结构不发生大的变化,就可以根据历史数据回归得到的McCallum规则的各种参数和通胀缺口、实际汇率、货币乘数、货币流通速度等变量的预期变化,测算出合理的基础货币增长率,这将为调控基础货币供给提供重要参照。     

Divisia monetary aggregates and money demand for Malaysia

Divisia M1 and M2 are constructed for Malaysia. Unlike M1, Divisia M2 shows significant differences in both level and growth rates from its simple sum counterpart. We also compare these Divisia measures to simple sum M1 and M2 in a money demand function. Using error correction models, we examine short-run dynamics between these monetary aggregates and money demand determinants such as inflation, domestic and foreign interest rates, financial wealth, and income. We find that Divisia M2 is the most appropriate monetary aggregate of the four candidates to track money demand in Malaysia and should be used when conducting monetary policy.     

从后凯恩斯主义货币内生理论谈货币政策的出路

文章以后凯恩斯主义货币内生论为理论依据,将货币“中性”与“非中性”之争和“内生”与“外生”之争纳入到一个框架下进行研究,以探求货币政策操作的“内生”逻辑。采用我国2001年第1季度至2013年第3季度的季度数据,构建联立方程模型,运用协整检验和系统估计方法分别考察货币政策操作的短期和长期效果以及货币内生创造机制的根源。实证结果表明,M2对名义GDP增长短期和长期均呈现中性;M2短期内会加剧CPI的波动率,但长期内和CPI增长率没有共同的趋势;存款与M2有共同的长期趋势,短期内二者呈现显著的正相关性而且显著性不会随着结构变化、滞后项和控制变量的加入而减弱;贷款与存款之间也存在长期的共同趋势,短期内贷款对存款的解释力度是高度显著且稳定的。以上四点主要结论对我国货币当局制定货币政策提供了重要的指导意义。     

An Evaluation of Friedman's Monetary Instability Hypothesis

In this article, I examine what I call Milton Friedman's Monetary Instability Hypothesis. Drawing on Friedman's work, I argue that there are two main components to this view. The first component is the idea that deviations between the public's demand for money and the supply of money are an important source of economic fluctuations. The second component of this view is that these deviations are primarily caused by fluctuations in the supply of money rather than the demand for money. Each of these components can be tested independently. To do so, I estimate an otherwise standard New Keynesian model, amended to include a money demand function consistent with Friedman's work and a money growth rule, for a period from 1875 to 1963. This structural model allows me to separately identify shocks to the money supply and shocks to money demand. I then use variance decompositions to assess the relative importance of shocks to the supply and demand for money. I find that shocks to the monetary base can account for up to 28% of the fluctuations in output whereas money demand shocks can account for less than 1% of such fluctuations. This provides support for Friedman's view.     

物价稳定、货币流通速度与宏观调控愿景把握

对欧美国家和我国曾经发生的货币流通速度陡升型通胀和货币流通速度陡降型通缩进行实证分析表明,现阶段我国货币流通速度似处于一个非渐变、非常规的特殊时期,相关不确定性因素一旦演变为确定性的组合,很可能产生经济运行中的某种临界转换点,并可能对我国货币政策和宏观政策调控带来挑战。应加强对货币流通速度的监测和对货币需求变化的研究预测,进而优化市场预期管理和宏观应急管理,提高应对货币流通速度突变型通胀、通缩的能力,以更好地追求与维护物价稳定和提高宏观调控水平。     

中美“宽松”货币政策、通胀预期与货币规则的探讨

2008年10月以来,中美两国均采取了不同程度的"宽松"货币政策来应对源于美国金融危机的全球经济衰退。本文的研究显示,2008年,中美两国货币供应量M1和M2增长率是相似的;2008年底到2009年8月,中国的M1和M2增长率分别为20.6%和21.4%,而美国的M1和M2增长率仅为3.36%和2.14%,中国的通胀预期是市场对"超级宽松"货币政策的合理反应。在过去的一年间,中国货币当局对美国金融危机的反应比美国的政策干预更为积极。而货币供应量的高增长孕育着价格上涨的风险,货币政策应当从被动协调美国的相机抉择转向遵循货币数量规则,抑制通胀预期,以实现宏观经济的稳定增长。     

Money,Velocity, and the Stock Market

This paper provides a study of the relationship between money growth variability, velocity, and the stock market, using recent advances in financial econometrics. We estimate a trivariate VARMA, GARCH-in-Mean, BEKK model to quantify the effects of financial market and money supply instability. We investigate the robustness of the results to different definitions of money using monthly Divisia indices for the United States from the Center for Financial Stability (CFS). Empirical evidence supports significance of financial market and money supply volatility, and we conclude that Friedman’s money supply volatility hypothesis is alive and well.     

The recent failure of U.S. monetary policy

Summary The very slow growth of the broad money supply has been a primary source of U.S. economic weakness in 1990 through 1992. The velocity link between M2 and the subsequent level of nominal GDP has not declined. But changes in bank reserves brought about by open market operations have had much less effect onM2 than the Fed anticipated for two reasons: (1) reserve requirements now apply to only a small fraction of totalM2; and (2) the new bank capital requirements limit some banks ability to lend. The Federal Reserve failed to appreciate the importance of these conditions and misjudged the strength of the monetary policy stimulus that it was providing.Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and President of the National Bureau of Economic Research.Sixth Tinbergen Lecture delivered on October 2, 1992, in The Hague for the Royal Netherlands Economic Association.     

Modelling the demand for broad money in the United States

The demand for money function occupies a central role in most theories of aggregate economic activity, especially in the formulation and execution of effective monetary policy. In this paper, estimates of the short- and long-run demand for broad money in the United States are obtained. The empirical evidence suggests that the relationship between the growth of money balances and its economic determinants is more stable than some have argued. Importantly, the out-of-sample forecasts presented here suggest that M2 growth in the 1980s is well predicted by an error-correction model that includes a variable representing the value of time and also uses real consumer spending as the short-run scale variable.     

Money and price relationship in China

This paper investigates the effectiveness monetary policy by Granger causality tests in the two regimes of inflation and deflation, respectively. The surplus lag rolling estimation is applied to deal with the problem of the frequent structural changes in the Chinese monetary system. We found that the monetary policies have become less effective in stabilizing the price level in the deflation era that started from 1998. There is also empirical evidence to suggest that money was endogenous in China during the inflation period. This implies that the People's Bank of China had difficulty exercising the power of money supply to reduce inflation if the endogeneity was the result of the market behaviour. However, if the endogeneity was due to the government inflation-targeting rule, then there is no evidence to suggest that this rule has been effective for M0, M1 and M2 instruments, except for the M0 instrument during the inflation period of April 1990 to March 1995. Although it was found that money ceased to be endogenous in the deflation periods, it does not support the proposal of utilizing the money supply as a policy instrument, as we found that money is impotent in influencing price in the deflation regime. Our findings provide some empirical evidence to support the Chinese government adopting alternative policy instruments such as an active fiscal policy in the era of deflation.     

The demand for M3 and inflation forecasts: An empirical analysis for Switzerland

The Demand for M3 and Inflation Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis for Switzerland. — This paper argues that money should continue to play an important role in monetary policy even if a central bank pursues a strategy based on inflation forecasts. Within the context of an error correction model, the paper delivers empirical evidence that both the growth rate of the monetary aggregate M3 and the size of excess M3 incorporate useful information with regard to future inflation in Switzerland. This evidence strongly suggests that money should remain an important indicator for monetary policy.     

The impact of demand management policies on black vs. white employment

This article uses vector autoregression analysis to examine the relative impacts on black and white employment growth of monetary and fiscal actions. It was found that the employment responses to anticipated policy actions, while significant, were generally short-lived, with the exception of the effects of anticipated money growth on white employment. The influences of unanticipated policy changes are of a longer duration. The predominant finding in which black employment growth responded differently from white employment growth was in response to a monetary shock. The black employment response was sharply negative while the white employment response was a gradual increase over nine quarters. The results indicate that this difference occurred only during the 1980s and not in the 1970s and suggests that the effects of bank failures and credit rationing during this period may have significantly hurt minority employment opportunities.     

On the choice of monetary policy rules for China: A Bayesian DSGE approach

Motivated by the institutional features of China's monetary policy, this paper aims at identifying the most data favored monetary policy rule for China within a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model framework. In a canonical New-Keynesian DSGE model, we carry out a positive analysis by employing Bayesian methods to estimate three main categories of monetary policy rules, namely a Taylor-type interest rate rule, a money growth rule and an expanded Taylor rule with money. Based on China's quarterly data from 1996Q2 to 2015Q4, our estimation shows that the expanded Taylor rule obtains the best empirical fit to the data. Moreover, impulse responses and forecast error variance decompositions demonstrate that monetary policy rules with or without money provide very different implications for the policy behavior. Our results ultimately suggest that money has so far been more closely targeted than nominal interest rate and still plays an important role as a monetary policy target in China. Furthermore, a conventional Taylor-type interest rate rule is not good enough yet to describe China's monetary policy behavior.     

货币市场基金影响货币流通速度吗

货币流通速度不仅受实体经济影响,而且受虚拟经济影响,本文运用实证分析方法探讨货币市场基金对货币流通速度是否产生影响,结果表明货币市场基金收益率变动是货币流通速度变动的格兰杰原因,两者正相关,可根据货币市场基金收益率和一年期国债收益率预测货币流通速度,货币政策实施效果受货币流通速度影响,管理者可通过调整货币市场基金政策稳定货币流通速度。     

论中美货币政策差异及其分配效应

本文通过对货币政策的分析,认为货币政策的增长效应是有限的,分配效应是具有破坏性的,其造成的社会财富的剥夺和转移恶化了收入分配。因此,货币主义的单一规则对总量管理仍然具有很强的指导意义。本文认为,货币供给的总量管理应该永远是稳健的,结构调整应更多地依靠利率和财政政策。美元的弱势和中国的强劲增长为人民币国际化打开了空间。中国应该抓住历史机遇,积极推进人民币自由化、国际化进程。     

Monetary Aggregates Targeting,Inflation Targeting and Inflation Stabilization in Ghana

The central bank of Ghana (BoG) has operated monetary aggregates targeting and inflation targeting since the 1980s, to ensure enhanced output growth, low unemployment and stable, low inflation. Under inflation targeting, the inflation rate averaged 13.26 per cent per annum between 2007 and 2015, compared with 29.22 per cent per annum under monetary aggregates targeting. The relatively lower inflation rates notwithstanding, an average inflation rate of 13.2 per cent per annum is far above the medium‐term target of 8 per cent. This paper has examined the effectiveness of monetary aggregates targeting and inflation targeting in keeping inflation at moderate levels. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was applied to the data covering the period 1970–2015. The results show that monetary targeting has steered inflation to moderate levels only in the short run while inflation targeting has maintained low inflation rates in both short run and long run. But neither regime has kept inflation at stable levels and within the target band, due to the sluggish transmission of broad money supply and prime rate changes to inflation. We implore the monetary authorities to strengthen the institutional setup for steering short‐term interest rates in Ghana. They should also enhance the BoG Act 2002 (Act 612), to develop secondary anchors and rules around output, money supply and fiscal deficit. Finally, the monetary policy committee should monetary policy credibility and transparency through strengthening its communication framework.     

DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF MONETARY POLICY SHOCKS IN MALAWI

This paper sets out to investigate the process through which monetary policy affects economic activity in Malawi. Using innovation accounting in a structural vector autoregressive model, it is established that monetary authorities in Malawi employ hybrid operating procedures and pursue both price stability and high growth and employment objectives. Two operating targets of monetary policy are identified, viz., bank rate and reserve money, and it is demonstrated that the former is a more effective measure of monetary policy than the latter. The study also illustrates that bank lending, exchange rates and aggregate money supply contain important additional information in the transmission process of monetary policy shocks in Malawi. Furthermore, it is shown that the floatation of the Malawi Kwacha in February 1994 had considerable effects on the country's monetary transmission process. In the post‐1994 period, the role of exchange rates became more conspicuous than before although its impact was weakened, and the importance of aggregate money supply and bank lending in transmitting monetary policy impulses was enhanced. Overall, the monetary transmission process evolved from a weak, blurred process to a somewhat strong, less ambiguous mechanism.