Inflationary expectations and monetary policy: evidence from Bangladesh

This article first estimates inflationary expectations using a Blanchard–Quah VAR model by decomposing the nominal interest rate into expected inflation and the ex ante real interest rate. Then I utilize this expected inflation along with other macroeconomic variables as inputs to the monetary policy function in a recursive VAR model to identify exogenous policy shocks. To calculate inflationary expectations, I assume that ex ante real interest rate shocks do not have a long-run effect on the nominal interest rate. This article finds that the public expects lower inflation for the future during periods of high inflation. Estimated results from the recursive VAR suggest that a contractionary policy shock increases the real interest rate, appreciates domestic currency, and lowers inflationary expectations and industrial output. However, I find a lagged policy response from Bangladesh Bank to higher inflationary expectations.     

Price and liquidity puzzles of a monetary shock: Evidence from indebted African economies

Price and liquidity puzzles have been identified as two major counterintuitive findings arising from monetary shocks. We investigate their presence in eleven African countries, using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model designed for indebted small open-economies. Our simulations reveal that the majority of African countries report a price puzzle whereas only three countries exhibit liquidity effect. In many of the sampled countries, a positive money growth shock drives interest rates up, but consumption and output fall in contrast to the conventional view. External debt increases in response to money growth shock, exchange rate appreciates and inflation falls. Money growth shocks are transmitted to the economy through the exchange rate channel when uncovered interest rate parity condition holds. Our findings therefore appear to suggest that monetary policy in Africa should prioritize foreign debt stabilization by reacting more to output gap than to inflation.     

Time-varying transmission effects of external shocks into inflation: how different is China from Korea?

This article examined the time-varying effects of external shocks that determine inflation on Chinese and Korean consumer price index (CPI) inflation, using data from the period 2010:1 to 2013:4. For this experimentation, we adopted the Kalman filter algorithm. Key findings include the following: first, the lagged CPI inflation is the main determinant of inflation rate in both China and Korea that is significant and has positive effects. Second, as expected, the effects of independent variables on CPI inflation rate have a considerable difference in China and Korea from the coefficients’ size and sign. Especially, China’s CPI inflation is mainly affected by domestic output growth, while Korea is more readily affected by external shocks. Third, we confirmed the time-varying effects. For instance, the positive effect of the output variable is decreasing in the Chinese inflation equation, but its negative effect is decreasing in the Korean inflation equation. Finally, we can guess Korea is a more import dependent economy than China and also the trends of estimated coefficients of China’s inflation are changing similarly to Korea. It has been proved from recent changes that there is a decreasing effect of output growth, but negatively and increasing effects of exchange rate and import dependence. Hence, those recent changes imply that this is caused by the change of the Chinese economy to be more trade dependent as well as we cannot deny the possibility of the external factors that play a role in CPI inflation, and its influence is gradually increasing in China.     

The effects of Japanese economic performance on Indonesia

This paper assesses how Japanese economic performance affects the Indonesian economy for the 1988 to 2004 period. The empirical evidence provided here suggests that Japanese growth appreciates the local currency in real terms, decreases the inflation and increases growth. As a side issue, we also documented that real exchange rate depreciation accelerates inflation and decreases growth in Indonesia.     

中国通货膨胀及其波动性关系的实证研究

本文利用GARCH模型生成中国通货膨胀波动性的衡量指标,并实证分析1983年1月至2010年4月中国的通货膨胀与通货膨胀波动性之间的关系。结果表明:在中国,通货膨胀率是通货膨胀波动性的Granger原因,通货膨胀对通货膨胀波动性有稳定的正向影响关系,同时相同强度的通货膨胀冲击远远大于通货紧缩冲击对通货膨胀波动性的影响。对中国而言,控制通货膨胀比追求经济增长更重要。     

On some neglected implications of the Fisher effect

Following the lead of Fama [American Economic Review 65 (1975) 269–282] and of other influential articles, such as Mishkin [Journal of Monetary Economics 30 (1992) 195–215], it has become standard to interpret the Fisher effect as the ability of short-term interest rate to predict future inflation. However, in this article we demonstrate that by restricting to zero the instantaneous response of expected inflation to an interest rate shock, one can identify a disturbance that economic agents, according to the Fisherian framework, should evaluate as transitory. An important implication of this result is that short-term nominal interest rates cannot be interpreted as predictors, at least not long-run predictors, of inflation. We illustrate this result with an empirical application to US postwar data.     

The time-varying effect of monetary policy in China

A sound understanding of monetary transmission mechanism is valuable because it helps the central bank to determine the proper course of monetary policy to balance growth and inflation. As China’s domestic financial markets deepen and develop further towards a market-based system, the country’s monetary policy instrument and transmission should continue to improve for managing economic conditions. Using a short-term key interest rate as standard monetary policy tool and time-varying parameter techniques, this study empirically demonstrates that China’s monetary policy framework is in the midst of transitioning to a market-based approach.     

RMB Appreciation,Output Growth,and Inflation

Following Dibooglu and Kutan(2005),we construct a structural VAR model to investigate the impact of RMB(the Chinese currency)appreciation on growth and inflation in China.The empirical results show that RMB appreciation has negative effects on output growth and inflation while neither effect is statistically significant.However,exchange rate shocks are important in the fluctuations of output growth and inflation.We also simulate the scenario of a sharp currency appreciation compared to the gradual approach adopted by the Chinese government.In the counterfactual analysis we find that a sharp appreciation would lead to more violent shocks in economic growth and inflation compared to the gradual approach.     

Macroeconomic policy uncertainty shocks on the Chinese economy: a GVAR analysis

This article studies the spillovers of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) from developed economies to China in terms of the source, extent and persistence by estimating a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model with both financial and trade variables acting as the transmission channels. Our findings confirm the existence of international transmissions of policy uncertainty, while the patterns differ markedly. The US EPU appears to be the most significant cause of the fall of export, industrial production, equity price and exchange rate, meanwhile, the EU EPU is also to be blamed for the depreciation of RMB. In contrast to industrial production, which shows the largest negative impact, Chinese inflation increases to a relatively smaller extent with the EPU shocks ranking as the US, Japanese and the EU. Regardless of the minor impact on a long-term interest rate, the short-term interest rate in China reacts positively to the European and US EPU shocks. Despite the independent national monetary policies, EPUs from the EU, Japan and the UK can decrease the Chinese monetary aggregate. In summary, the Chinese economy responds the most to the US EPU, especially to its inflation expectation disagreement component, whereas it responds the least to the UK EPU.     

通货膨胀目标区与非线性泰勒法则

本文采用STR、TV-STR模型,利用1991年1月至2010年3月的月度数据分析了我国货币政策反应函数,与现有中国货币政策反应函数的文献相比主要有以下几个结论:第一,我国货币政策反应函数存在着结构变化,先是在1997年11月突变,然后存在一个渐变过程.第二,1997年11月前后相应存在着两个通货膨胀目标区,分别为[14.109,16.123]和[0.985,2.902],且后一通货膨胀目标区要比前一通货膨胀目标区合理.第三,随着时间推移,我国货币政策反应函数的产出缺口反应系数,逐渐由负转正,利率平滑系数则逐渐变小,这反应了随着我国利率市场化的推进,我国的货币政策操作开始越来越多的使用利率这一价格工具.     

温和通货膨胀下的货币政策选择

2003年以来,我国摆脱了通货紧缩的阴影,进入了一个温和的通货膨胀时期.这一轮温和的通货膨胀主要源于货币信贷的过快增长,而基础货币投放过多主要源于外汇占款的快速增长.实证研究表明,我国通货膨胀率与M0、M1、M2以及贷款增长率之间都存在正相关关系.缓解和释放通货膨胀压力既需要运用数量型货币政策工具,更需要运用价格型货币政策工具.为了缓解通货膨胀压力,中国人民银行应该实行"双升"的货币政策,在调升人民币利率水平的同时调整人民币汇率,既升息又升值,但升息和升值的幅度不宜过大.     

Inflationary Expectations, Variable Output, and Exchange-Rate Dynamics

This paper develops a model of exchange-rate dynamics characterized by inflationary expectations held with perfect foresight, sticky wages, and sluggish output adjustment. In this framework monetary expansion initially lowers interest rates because of sluggish output and price adjustment but quite surprisingly produces exchange-rate overshooting or undershooting. Moreover, after its initial depreciation in the overshooting case, the domestic currency temporarily appreciates beyond its new long-run equilibrium level. In the undershooting case, the home currency temporarily appreciates away from its new long-run equilibrium level. Finally, the dynamic real exchange rate-real interest rate relationship at times becomes inverse.     

An interest-rate-spread-based measure of Turkish monetary policy

A coherent method to measure the effectiveness of a monetary policy improves the monetary authority’s management capacity and renders the possibility of applying sound policies prior to and during a crisis. The trend in employing complicated and ambiguity-bearing unconventional monetary tools in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis has increased the value of such a method. The aim of this article is to introduce a coherent and consistent monetary policy evaluation method for Turkey. Accordingly, we suggest that innovations in the spread between overnight interest rates and Treasury auction interest rates are informative for exchange rate, output, and prices. Empirical evidence for this identification reveals that positive innovation in spread (implying a tight monetary policy measure) decreases output temporarily, permanently decreases prices, and appreciates local currency. This result is also robust to alternative specifications.     

China as Number One: How about the Renminbi?

Using simulations projecting Chinese economic growth into the future, this paper first examines when China will overtake the USA to become the largest economy. Demographic changes that affect economic growth are taken into consideration in these projections. China is expected to become number one sometime in the mid-2020s, unless its growth rate of gross domestic product per worker declines dramatically, à la the lost decade of Japan. Next, the paper examines whether China becoming the number one economy will mean its currency, the renminbi (RMB), will become the international key currency. According to the basket currency regressions during the period that Chinese currency was gradually appreciating against the US dollar from July 2005 to August 2008, it is shown that the RMB has already acquired a strong influence on the Asian currencies. This shows that the RMB is fast gaining the status of a regional anchor currency for a possible regional joint float. As the Chinese government proceeds with internationalization of its currency, the RMB is expected to gain in the ranking of other aspects of international currency, such as the store of value and the medium of exchange.     

我国居民通胀预期的测度:基于银行间债券市场数据的方法

通胀预期测度是通胀预期管理的前提。文章基于通货膨胀持久性特征,在无套利假设下,将实际通胀率这一宏观变量纳入传统的因子模型中,并运用银行间债券市场收益率数据对我国居民通胀预期进行了估计,结果显示我国居民通胀预期并不完全满足理性预期假设,而是与实际通胀之间存在有规律的系统性偏差,短期实际利率的变动是造成偏差的主要原因。文章认为通过强化货币政策前瞻性可以消除这种偏差,从而抑制实际通货膨胀水平。     

Do currency undervaluations affect the impact of inflation on growth?

In this paper, we investigate how the level of currency undervaluations affects the effect of inflation on growth in a sample of 62 countries over the 1980–2015 period. While previous studies find a positive effect of an undervalued currency, we show that higher currency undervaluations reinforce the contractionary effect of inflation on growth. As an undervalued currency is associated with supplementary inflation pressures arising from a cost-push inflation phenomenon and economy overheating, growth is thus penalized. This result is shown to be robust to the exclusion of currency crises episodes from our sample, and dependent of the development level of countries. Specifically, it holds in the case of emerging countries, but not for developing economies. Consequently, policies based on undervaluations should not be encouraged for emerging economies as they tend to reinforce the contractionary effect of inflation on growth.     

我国商品房价格增长与宏观经济因素的关联性研究

文章基于我国商品房价格增长率、利率、工业增加值增速、通货膨胀率以及货币供给量增长率五个主要的宏观经济指标,利用多变量向量自回归(VAR)模型研究了我国商品房价格增长与宏观经济运行之间的相互关系。所得到的结果表明,我国通货膨胀率和货币供给量增长率能够显著影响商品房价格增长率,而利率和工业增加值增速对我国商品房价格增长率的影响作用较弱,因此,控制房地产行业的货币供给对限制房地产价格快速增长是一项行之有效的调控政策。     

美元贬值对中国通货膨胀的影响:传导途径及其效应

本文结合有向无环图方法(DAG)及结构向量自回归模型(SVAR),分别从成本推动渠道、资金输入渠道和货币扩张渠道就美元贬值对我国通货膨胀影响的传导途径及其效应进行了实证研究。分析表明,由成本推动渠道,美元贬值会迅速带动我国工业品出厂价格上涨,能源价格、食品价格和金属价格的传导效应都很显著,而推动我国居民消费价格走高则存在一定时滞,主要依赖食品价格传导。此外,国际大宗商品价格上涨对我国通货膨胀的影响更侧重于生产领域。由资金输入渠道,美国联邦基金利率走低和美元指数下滑会带动国内商品房销售价格和资本市场价格的结构性上升,进而拉动我国通货膨胀,其中以市场利率和短期资本流动传导尤为显著。由货币扩张渠道,美元贬值对我国工业品出厂价格的影响更为显著,货币扩张主要通过外汇占款和人民币升值预期对我国通货膨胀产生影响,且以对消费领域的影响较为明显。本文的研究显示,我国当前承受着较大的输入型通货膨胀压力。     

Currency interdependence and dollarization

This paper constructs a search model of currency interdependence, and uses it to examine how in dollarized economies the foreign currency reacts to various shocks to the domestic currency. Currency interdependence is generated by allowing sellers to take into account their outside option of trading with the domestic currency while bargaining with buyers holding the foreign currency. The shocks consist in movements in the domestic interest rate, domestic inflation and the domestic currency’s market power. We show that if the purchasing power of the domestic currency is low, any shock that increases its value, such as a higher domestic interest rate, translates into a depreciation of the foreign currency. However, the result is opposite when the purchasing power of the domestic currency is high. We show that when money is indivisible these shocks can drive in or out the foreign currency. When money is divisible, this currency substitution effect is more limited. We use our results to discuss the opportunity of various de-dollarization policies and show that some can be counterproductive.     

A model of exchange rate policy: evidence for the US dollar–Greek drachma rate 1975–87

This paper represents an attempt to model movements of the exchange rate between the US dollar and Greek drachma. A stuctural model is set up, and then a reduced-form error correction(EC) speicifcation is derived. On the basis of co-integration test, the results do not support the existence of al long-run equilibrium relationship between the exchange rate and price differential. Furthermore, the instrumental variable estimation of the EC model indicates that the monetary authorities have pursued a short-run anti-inflationary exchange rate poilicy that appreciates the exchange rate in the presence of wage inflation as an attempt to mitigate the depreciating pressures on the domestic currency and thus to ease the adjustment required on Greek producers.