Methodology of economic history as an approach to assessing monetary policy

Contribution to the panel session at the Hoover Institution conference on “Frameworks for Monetary Policy for the Next Century,” May 30, 2014.     

Hungary's entry into the euro area: Lessons for prospective members from a monetary policy perspective

This paper evaluates the conduct of monetary policy in Hungary using standard Taylor rules as well as extended rules that incorporate real exchange rate effects. Moreover, we explicitly consider the impact of future euro area entry by estimating instrument rules that permit an influence from Maastricht Treaty inflation requirements via the estimation of Markov switching models as well as by estimating a differential rule vis-à-vis the existing euro area. Lastly, the paper also considers the impact on policy rules from the large data revision that affects real exchange rate and output estimates. I find that interest rate setting behavior in Hungary does not resemble that of the euro area. Also, counterfactual experiments reveal that the potential macroeconomic costs of entry into the euro area sooner rather than later may be lower than if membership in the single currency area is delayed beyond 2008.     

The importance of rules-based monetary policy in practice

This paper draws on several actual policy experiences of the author to demonstrate why it is important to have a rules-based monetary policy. These experiences show that policy rules provide a needed “steady as you go” strategy and serve as an insurance against excessive intervention. They also show why in practice one must consider rules-based policy in the broader policy context in which the Federal Reserve operates.     

Learning about monetary policy rules when the cost-channel matters

We study how monetary policy may affect determinacy and expectational stability (E-stability) of rational expectations equilibrium when the cost channel of monetary policy matters. Focusing on instrumental Taylor-type rules and optimal target rules, we show that standard policies can induce indeterminacy and expectational instability when the cost channel is present. A naïve application of the traditional Taylor principle could be misleading, and expectations-based reaction function under discretion does not always induce determinate and E-stable equilibrium. This result contrasts with the findings of Bullard and Mitra [2002. Learning about monetary policy rules. Journal of Monetary Economics 49, 1105–1129] and Evans and Honkapohja [2003. Expectations and stability problem for optimal monetary policies. Review of Economic Studies 70, 807–824] for the standard new Keynesian model. The ability of the central bank to commit to an optimal policy is an antidote to these problems.     

Effect of monetary policy shocks on the racial unemployment rates in the US

This study analyzes the effect of monetary policy shocks on the unemployment rate of different racial groups in the US, using data from 1969Q2 to 2015Q4. Employing a narrative approach to identify monetary policy shocks and local projections, we find that although an expansionary monetary shock affects White workers positively and significantly, the effect on Black workers is larger, and for Hispanic workers it is not statistically different from zero. These results are robust when considering unconventional monetary policy measures in the specification, and when exploring the impact of monetary policy on different genders and age groups. We also highlight how recession affects the transmission channel of monetary policy to the labor market for White and Hispanic workers. Finally, further extensions suggest that the Fed’s monetary policy is effective in reducing the racial unemployment gap, particularly between Whites and Blacks, and during economic booms.     

Interest on reserves,policy rules and quantitative easing

Hundred percent reserve transaction banking system is proposed with tax-free interest on demand deposits and interest bearing reserves. To eliminate shadow banking arrangements, a 100% tax on net interest income is proposed for limited liability businesses. All financing of businesses would be mutual as currently most is. With this arrangement there would be no bank runs associated giving rise to a financial crisis.     

The design and communication of systematic monetary policy strategies

The efficacy of central bank communications is inextricably linked to the characteristics of the monetary policy framework. Therefore, this paper presents a set of fundamental principles regarding the joint design of monetary policy strategy and communications. The practical implications of these principles are illustrated by considering a number of significant policy challenges faced by central banks in the advanced economies.     

Inflation targeting and monetary policy in Canada: What is the impact on inflation uncertainty?

Inflation uncertainty has been demonstrated both theoretically and empirically to lower real output. This paper examines the impact of inflation targeting in Canada on inflation uncertainty, as well as persistence. Our results indicate that inflation targeting lowered inflation persistence, but actually increased uncertainty. Such an effect may be due to the failure of the previous formal target, the M1 money supply, to successfully combat inflation.     

Debt constraints and monetary policy

In the present paper we show how simple monetary policies can mitigate real effects of credit frictions. We consider stationary overlapping generations economies in which consumers are not equally efficient in producing capital and cannot commit to repay loans. The presence of money in itself does not mitigate the real effects of credit frictions. Equilibrium allocations are generally not Pareto optimal unless the returns on money and capital production are identical for more productive consumers. However, printing money and distributing it to young consumers increase their incomes allowing young more productive consumers to produce more capital. Consequently money printing increases output.     

Deviations from rules-based policy and their effects

Rules-based monetary policy evaluation has long been central to macroeconomics. Using the original Taylor rule, a modified Taylor rule with a higher output gap coefficient, and an estimated Taylor rule, we define rules-based and discretionary eras by smaller and larger policy rule deviations, the absolute value of the difference between the actual federal funds rate and the federal funds rate prescribed by the three rules. We use tests for multiple structural changes to identify the eras so that knowledge of subsequent economic outcomes cannot influence the choice of the dates. With the original Taylor rule, monetary policy in the U.S. is characterized by a rules-based era until 1974, a discretionary era from 1974 to 1985, a rules-based era from 1985 to 2000, and a discretionary era from 2001 to 2013. With the modified Taylor rule, the rules-based era extends further into the 1970s and there is an additional rules-based period starting in 2006. We calculate various loss functions and find that economic performance is uniformly better during rules-based eras than during discretionary eras, and that the original Taylor rule provides the largest loss during discretionary periods relative to loss during rules-based periods.     

On the informational role of term structure in the US monetary policy rule

This paper uses a structural approach based on the indirect inference principle to estimate a standard version of the new Keynesian monetary (NKM) model augmented with term structure using both revised and real-time data. The estimation results show that the term spread and policy inertia are both important determinants of the US estimated monetary policy rule whereas the persistence of shocks plays a small but significant role when revised and real-time data of output and inflation are both considered. More importantly, the relative importance of term spread and persistent shocks in the policy rule and the shock transmission mechanism drastically change when it is taken into account that real-time data are not well behaved.     

解读从紧的货币政策

2007年12月中央经济工作会议提出,2008年要实施稳健的财政政策和从紧的货币政策。文中根据从紧的货币政策的背景及内容,分析央行采取的从紧货币政策措施,并指出在实行从紧货币政策中应注意的问题。     

Designing monetary policy committees

We integrate monetary policy-making by committee into a New Keynesian model to assess the consequences of the committee׳s institutional characteristics for inflation, output, and welfare. Our analysis delivers the following results. First, we demonstrate that transparency about the committee׳s future composition is typically harmful. Second, we show that short terms for central bankers lead to effective inflation stabilization at the expense of comparably high output variability. Third, larger committees generally allow for more efficient stabilization of inflation but possibly for less efficient output stabilization. Fourth, large committees and short terms are therefore socially desirable if the weight on output stabilization in the social loss function is low. Fifth, we show that a central banker with random preferences may be preferable to a central banker who shares the preferences of society.     

Financial openness, financial frictions and optimal monetary policy

Increasing financial integration challenges the optimality of inward-looking strategies for optimal monetary policy. Those issues are analyzed in an open economy where foreign net lending, and the current account, are determined by a collateral constraint. Durables represent collateral. The current account features persistent imbalances, but can deliver a long run stationary equilibrium. The comparison between floating and managed exchange rate regimes shows that the impossible trinity is reversed: higher financial integration increases the persistence and volatility of the current account and calls for exchange rate stabilization. In this context, the Ramsey plan too prescribes stabilization of the exchange rate, alongside with domestic inflation.     

Asset market response to monetary policy news from SNB press releases

This paper analyses the effects of Swiss National Bank (SNB) communication on asset prices. It distinguishes between different monetary policy news contained in press releases following a monetary policy decision. Employing a latent variable approach and event-study methods, I find that medium- and long-term bond yields respond to changes in the communicated inflation and GDP forecasts as well as to the degree of pessimism expressed in press releases. Exchange rates mainly react to changes in the GDP forecast while stocks do not react to SNB communication on monetary policy announcement days. Additionally, short-term expectations about the future path of the policy rate are driven by the communicated inflation forecast. The results underline the role of qualitative news beyond quantitative forecasts in influencing market expectations and asset prices.     

Targeted monetary policy and agriculture business loans

This study examines the effect of a Targeted Easing (TE) policy, an unconventional monetary policy tool initiated by the Chinese central bank to reduce reserve requirement ratios of agricultural financial institutions. Utilizing a longitudinal sample of Chinese agriculture companies and a matching sample of industrial firms between 2012 and 2017, we find that the TE policy successfully achieves its intended policy goal to boost lending to the agriculture sector. Results from our difference-in-differences estimations indicate that loan levels of agriculture firms increases significantly more than that of matching nonagricultural firms under TE relative to the non-TE period. We also document heterogeneous TE effects and find that agricultural firms with smaller agency costs, larger financing constraints, and larger loan intensity levels benefit significantly more from a TE policy than their counterparts. In addition, the TE policy effect is more salient during a contractionary period than in an expansionary period.     

Trend growth and learning about monetary policy rules

The paper examines the effect of trend productivity growth on the determinacy and learnability of equilibria under alternative monetary policy rules. Under zero trend inflation we show that the economic structure is isomorphic to that of Bullard and Mitra (2002) and show that under a policy rule that responds to current period inflation and output a higher trend growth rate relaxes the conditions for determinacy and learnability. Results are mixed for other policy rules. Under the expectations-based rule, trend growth tightens the conditions for determinacy but it relaxes the conditions for learnability. Under the lagged-data-based rule, trend growth tightens the conditions for determinacy and learnability. Our analysis shows that lower (higher) trend growth has similar effects as higher (lower) trend inflation in the sense of making inflation more (less) forward-looking. Thus, our results complement previous studies on the role of high trend inflation as a cause of macroeconomic volatility in the U.S. in the 1970s, as this period was also characterized by productivity growth slowdown.     

Transmission lags and optimal monetary policy

The credibility problems of monetary policy are enlarged by transmission lags whenever the welfare criterion consists of arguments with differing transmission lags. If, as usually argued, prices react to monetary policy with a longer lag than output, the discretionary bias is substantially increased under a consumer welfare maximizing policy criterion (flexible inflation targeting) in the prototype New Keynesian model. Money growth targeting can significantly reduce the discretionary bias, but is not robust to other specifications of welfare with higher valuation of output stability.     

Time-varying impact of monetary policy shocks on US stock returns: The role of investor sentiment

This paper investigates how monetary policy shock affects the stock market of the United States (US) conditional on states of investor sentiment. In this regard, we use a recently developed estimator that uses high-frequency surprises as a proxy for the structural monetary policy shocks, which in turn is achieved by integrating the current short-term rate surprises, which are least affected by an information effect, into a vector autoregressive (VAR) model as an exogenous variable. When allowing for time-varying model parameters, we find that, compared to the low investor sentiment regime, the negative reaction of stock returns to contractionary monetary policy shocks is stronger in the state associated with relatively higher investor sentiment. Our results are robust to alternative sample period (which excludes the zero lower bound) and model specification and also have important implications for academicians, investors, and policymakers.     

Durable goods, inter-sectoral linkages and monetary policy

Durable goods pose a challenge for standard sticky-price models because the near constancy of their shadow value and their apparent price flexibility lead to perverse and counterfactual economic implications, such as the tendency of the durables and nondurables sectors to move in opposite directions following a monetary policy shock. This paper introduces input-output interactions and limited input mobility into an otherwise standard sticky-price model with durable and nondurable goods. The extended model generates substantial aggregate effects and positive sectoral comovement following a monetary policy shock, even when durable goods have flexible prices. The latter result is consistent with empirical evidence on the sectoral effects of monetary policy.