Can inflation targeting regimes be effective in developing countries? The Turkish experience

This paper examines the performance of Turkey's inflation targeting (IT) experience. We find the IT regime to be an effective framework. Our judgment is based on three broad conclusions supported by empirical analyses. First, fiscal stability is an effective tool for a successful monetary policy. Second, the overnight policy of the Central Bank of Turkey rate is a significant determinant of the changes in market lending rates, which is the preliminary step in the monetary transmission mechanism. Third, recent developments on the broader issue of the effectiveness of interest rate policy in controlling inflation through aggregate demand management and through other channels are encouraging. Based on our findings, we argue that the impact of policy rate changes on economic activity and inflation have become more predictable and changed in the direction in line with theory, improving the transmission capacity of monetary policy.     

Dual-track interest rates and the conduct of monetary policy in China

China has a dual-track interest-rate system: bank deposit and lending rates are regulated while money and bond rates are market-determined. The central bank also imposes an indicative target, which may not be binding at all times, for total credit in the banking system. We develop and calibrate a theoretical model to illustrate the conduct of monetary policy within the framework of dual-track interest rates and a juxtaposition of price- and quantity-based policy instruments. We show the transmission of monetary policy instruments to market interest rates, which, together with the indicative credit target in the banking system, ultimately are the means by which monetary policy affects the real economy. The model shows that market interest rates are most sensitive to changes in the benchmark deposit interest rates, significantly responsive to changes in the reserve requirements, but not particularly reactive to open market operations. These theoretical results are verified and supported by both linear and GARCH models using daily money and bond market data. Overall, the findings of this study help us to understand why the central bank conducts monetary policy in China the way it does, using a combination of price and quantitative instruments with differing degrees of potency in terms of their influence on the cost of credit.     

货币政策在民间借贷市场有效性研究

货币政策是我国宏观调控体系的重要组成部分,但是目前尚没有研究从民间借贷角度探讨其作用和影响。本文基于P2P网贷数据考察货币政策在民间借贷市场的有效性。利用2014年5月至2015年5月285家P2P平台的日交易数据,本文分析期间六次货币政策调整对于P2P网贷成交量和平均利率的影响。为确保结论稳健,本文同时使用面板数据和断点回归设计两种计量方法进行估计,结果显示：（一）货币政策在P2P市场的作用有限,六次积极的货币政策调整中,能够显著地影响P2P市场利率和成交量均不超过两次;（二）利率政策和准备金率政策的影响没有规律性差异。上述结论在不同模型设定和参数选择下均稳健。针对上述现象,本文从信贷市场分割的角度探讨了其形成原因。     

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.     

Money demand in the West African economic and monetary union - the problems of aggregation

Regional monetary integration, financial liberalisation andthe adoption of indirect policy instruments continue to changethe conditions for monetary policy in the West African Economicand Monetary Union (WAEMU). While the identification of a stablemoney demand relationship has become a crucial element for monetarypolicy, differences in economic behaviour between Côted'Ivoire and the remaining countries may induce instabilityat the aggregate level. This paper analyses the demand for moneyfor the entire WAEMU, the six smaller member countries, andCôte d'Ivoire. A stable aggregate money demand functionis identified and interpreted in light of the results for thesub-regional estimations.     

Twin Banking and Currency Crises and Monetary Policy

Currency crises are found to be strongly associated with banking crises. This paper constructs a twin banking and currency crisis model by introducing the banking sector into the currency crisis model and examining the case in which the exchange rate risk is located in the banking system. The model shows that an unanticipated shock caused by the shift of investors’ expectations and/or a negative productivity shock can trigger a twin banking and currency crisis. To achieve both financial stability and economic stability, the central bank uses multiple monetary policy instruments. In contrast to the conventional policy recommendation in response to a currency crisis, i.e., interest rate hike, we find that when the exchange rate risk is located in the banking sector, the monetary policy option to prevent a twin crisis is to lower the policy interest rate and the reserve requirement ratio and raise the interest rate on reserves. Our results show that the location of the exchange rate risk matters for the choice of an appropriate monetary policy response during a crisis.     

Direct Inflation Targeting and Nominal Convergence: The Czech Case

This study analyses the impact of direct inflation targeting (DIT) on monetary policy credibility in the Czech Republic, as evidenced by asset prices. It examines the effect of changes in the two-week repo rate (the official interest rate) on short and long–term market interest rates. It assumes the asymmetry of information and the existence of a stationary stochastic equilibrium with full knowledge of authorities reaction function. We find that at short maturities, the coefficients for changes in the official repo rate are lower in the DIT period than in the pre-crisis period. This implies that the hypothesis of no increase in the transparency of monetary policy with the introduction of DIT can be rejected. We find that bond yields and interest rate swap rates with maturities of 5 years and longer did not react significantly to official interest rate decisions in the DIT period. This is consistent with the hypothesis that monetary policy was credible both before and after introduction of DIT.     

The lending channel of monetary policy in Indonesia

This study evaluates the bank lending channel of monetary policy in Indonesia by using quarterly bank-level data over the period of 2005-2016. I find that the lending channel of monetary policy works for all banks, both large and small. The results suggest that higher capital buffers and better liquidity positions moderate the impact of changes in monetary policy on credit growth for large banks, while capital buffers and liquidity positions do not alter the strength of the lending channel for small banks. The findings indicate that the central bank can use prudential instruments affecting capital buffers and liquidity positions for managing the strength of adjustment in the monetary policy interest rate on bank credit growth.     

Examining monetary policy reaction in the People’s Republic of China – a Markov switching policy index approach

This paper estimates a monetary policy rule for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) using a standard OLS estimation and a Markov switching model. As the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) generally uses a battery of instruments in the conduct of its monetary policy, these models are estimated using a constructed monetary policy index (MPI) in place of the traditional interest rate. This allows for a better understanding of the role the PBOC has played in the PRC’s unprecedented economic growth and its relatively low inflation over the last twenty years. This paper will not only examine the unique characteristics of Chinese monetary policy but may also give a more general insight into the dynamics of monetary policy reactions in other emerging markets and economies in transition.     

The Monetary Transmission Mechanism, Non-residential Fixed Investment and Housing

We specify a vector autoregression (VAR) model for the U.S. for 1980–2008 to investigate the statistical causal relationships between private non-residential fixed investment, the effective Federal funds rate, personal consumption expenditures, nonfinancial corporate profits, and the nonfinancial corporate credit market debt to test the validity of macroeconomic relationships in a macro model. The VAR utilizes the Toda-Yamamote procedure to test for Granger causality. Our preliminary results show that the transmission mechanism does not work as expected; we find that fixed investment depends on the level of demand in the economy and profits but not on the interest rate. This casts doubt on the usual assumptions about how the monetary transmission mechanism is expected to work. The second part of the paper investigates the effects of the change in the monetary regime towards low and stable interest rates, a policy pursued by the U.S. Fed since the beginning of the 1990s. We find that the new monetary policy regime has the following effects: (1) our VAR model does not support the hypothesis that low interest rates lead to higher fixed nonresidential investment; (2) low interest rates led to a search for higher yields through increasing risk, and (3) they led to an increase in the demand for securitized assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, which eventually resulted in a housing bubble. The overall results therefore raise doubts about the effectiveness of low interest rates as a policy regime designed as a component of a counter-cyclical policy.     

The case for price level or inflation targeting—What happened to monetary policy effectiveness during the Japanese disinflation?

This paper examines whether price level or inflation targeting would have been appropriate policy choices for Japan during its disinflation and deflation period. We employ Markov switching and structural vector autoregressions, together with structural IS equations, to investigate monetary policy effectiveness during the Japanese disinflation. We find evidence of regime switching in the mid-1990s in a model including the nominal policy interest rate. When monetary policy shocks are identified by using the McCallum rule for monetary base, a monetary expansion is found to have a statistically significant impact on prices. Moreover, a lower real ex ante interest rate can still stimulate the economy despite the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates.     

数量型还是价格型货币政策比较——基于利率市场化角度的分析

利率市场化进程中,数量型还是价格型货币政策合适?文章考虑金融市场上的金融加速器特征,将其引入DSGE模型,通过校准、模拟,从宏观经济波动幅度、不同货币政策下冲击效应以及福利损失函数三方面综合分析了利率市场化过程中数量型和价格型货币政策有效性问题。研究结果显示,随着存款利率的上升,在熨平经济波动方面,价格型货币政策更有优势;在促进经济增长方面,数量型货币政策更有优势;对央行损失而言,价格型货币政策的损失更小。因此,中央银行应根据需要灵活的运用数量型和货币型搭配使用,做好数量型向价格型转变。     

Deposit market deregulation,implicit deposit rates,and monetary policy

Conclusion Previous analyses of the economic effects of deposit market deregulation generally have treated the gradual elimination of deposit rate ceilings and the effective removal of barriers to bank competition for deposits as separate issues. The key implication of the analysis utilized in this paper is that there are important interactions between these two forms of deposit market deregulation and their ultimate effects on market behavior and outcomes. One aspect of this interaction concerns the payment of implicit interest on deposit balances. Although implicit interest payments usually are viewed as a response to the imposition of ceilings on explicit deposit rates, the amount of implicit interest paid by banks in fact depends crucially upon the amount of monopoly power available to banks as a result of entry restrictions. Competition in deposit markets drives the implicit interest rate to 0 even if the explicit deposit rate is regulated, and the existence of imperfect competition in deposit markets makes the payment of positive implicit deposit interest a theoretical possibility even if the explicit deposit rate ceiling is removed.At a macroeconomic level, increased bank competition enhances the monetary and interest rate impacts of gradual relaxations of a binding deposit rate ceiling. If a ceiling on the explicit deposit rate is present, increased bank rivalry for deposits resulting from deregulation reduces monetary control whether the Fed targets a market interest rate or a reserve aggregate. When there is no ceiling on the explicit deposit rate, increased bank competition has ambiguous implications for monetary policy.The present trend in regulatory policy is pushing the U.S. financial system toward an environment in which explicit deposit rates are flexible, market determined variables and interbank rivalry for deposit funds is much more competitive. The thoretical analysis of this paper indicates that the likely results of these simultaneous developments are the demise of implicit deposit interest (marginal cost pricing of transactions services) and potential complications for the c onduct of monetary policy under either a reserve-oriented operating procedure or a procedure in which the Fed targets a market interest rate. However, the directions and magnitudes of the net impacts of those forms of deregulation ultimately are empirical issues that cannot be fully resolved.via a theoretical analysis.An earlier version of this paper was circulated by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board's Office of Policy and Economic Research as Invited Research Working Paper No. 59. The author is grateful for comments received from Donald Bisenius, Michael Bradley, Richard Brown, George Kanatas, Kenneth Kopecky, Byungkyu Lee, Randall Merris, Douglas Mitchell, Steve Peterson, Richard Startz, Richard Sweeney, Bill Witte, and participants in the Indiana University Money and Banking Seminar. Views expressed in this paper do not necessarily correspond to those of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Any errors are the author's alone.     

Autonomy and Effectiveness of Chinese Monetary Policy under the De Facto Fixed Exchange Rate System

This paper uses monthly data to examine the autonomy and effectiveness of monetary policy in China under the de facto fixed exchange rate arrangement in place from 1998 to 2005. The results obtained from Granger causality tests in a vector autoregression framework indicate that： （i） China actually conducted independent monetary policy during the fixed exchange rate period; and （ii） market-oriented policy measures are impotent in influencing real output and prices. The framework of the investigation into the autonomy of monetary policy adapts to the Chinese economic condition that primary loan and deposit rates are set by the central bank. Based on the empirical results, the present paper provides alternative strategies to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in China, including developing the financial system and solidifying microeconomic fundamentals instead of forcing the adaptation of a more flexible exchange rate regime.     

Monetary Policy and Risk-Based Asset Allocation

This paper focuses on the effects of the Fed’s monetary policy on stock and bond returns co-movement and their implications to risk-based asset allocation. Using a regime-switching model that controls for the economic effects of monetary policy we identify three co-movement regimes. We document that risk-based portfolio strategies poorly perform in the low correlation regime which features inflation shocks. We find outperformance evidence under the negative correlation regime with a high stock market risk and a very accommodating Fed policy. Less effectiveness is demonstrated under the positive correlation regime where bonds are regarded as risky assets and interest rate volatility is fueled by monetary policy.     

融资成本能评价新型货币政策工具的有效性吗

提升货币政策效果是近年来我国宏观经济调控改革中的重要任务,而如何正确评价货币政策有效性则是这一任务的前提条件。基于此,结合我国经济新变化,文章在经典的CC-LM模型中纳入了新型货币政策工具,从理论上分析了新型货币政策工具对信贷利率与实际产出的传导机制,并应用具有时变参数的TVP-SV-VAR模型进一步检验了理论分析的结论。理论研究与实证检验一致得出：第一,从对实际产出的影响来看,中期借贷便利为代表的新型货币投放方式是有效的;第二,中期借贷便利仅能降低短期信贷利率,而长期将提升信贷利率;第三,中期借贷便利与LPR报价市场的市场化程度提升可强化货币政策有效性。此外,实证研究还表明,依靠中期借贷便利方式投放基础货币会造成吉布逊谜团的现象,因此能否降低融资成本并不能作为评价货币政策有效性的指标。籍此,文章对如何优化新型货币政策有效性提出了富有建设性的政策建议。     

Monetary policy shocks and interest rates: Further evidence on the liquidity effect

Monetary Policy Shocks and Interest Rates: Further Evidence on the Liquidity Effect. — This essay tests whether innovations in monetary policy are inversely linked with changes in interest rates. Using Mishkin’s efficient markets framework and the measures of policy innovations constructed by Boschen and Mills and Bemanke and Mihov, we find strong evidence that expansionary monetary policy shocks lower interest rates. We argue that the failure of most studies to find a significant liquidity effect is due to the endogeneity of the monetary aggregates which are used to measure policy shocks.     

International monetary transmission in East Asia: Floaters,non-floaters,and capital controls

This paper analyzes the impacts of the United States (US) monetary shocks on East Asian countries using structural vector-autoregression (VAR) model. We find that the impacts of the US monetary shocks on East Asian domestic interest rates and exchange rates contradict conventional wisdom. The conventional exchange rate channel is unlikely to play much role in the transmission of the US monetary policy shocks to floaters in East Asian countries, excluding Japan. In these countries, the domestic interest rates respond strongly to the US interest rate changes, by giving up monetary autonomy, probably because of fear of floating. However, the domestic interest rate does not respond much in countries with fixed exchange rate regimes and capital account restrictions, such as China and Malaysia. This may suggest that the countries with fixed exchange rate regimes enjoy a higher degree of monetary autonomy, most likely with the help of capital account restrictions.     

Some Evidence on the Relevance of Bank Behaviour for the Lending Channel in The Netherlands

This paper studies the behaviour of Dutch banks. We test the adjustment of banks' balance sheets in times of monetary policy changes during the period 1957–1991. As a reaction to a policy change, banks basically have two alternatives to adjust their net money creation: (1) sell securities in public capital markets, and/or issue long-term liabilities, and (2) change domestic loan supply. If banks opt for the latter a lending channel may be relevant, even in a small open economy with a fixed exchange rate and a high degree of international capital mobility. We test for the effectiveness of both indirect and direct instruments of monetary policy. It turns out that in case of changes in the official interest rate, the volume of bank loans is not affected and that banks display a kind of buffer-stock behaviour by diminishing their publicly traded assets. In situations with quantity restrictions on the growth of net money creation, however, the volume of loans is affected significantly when the quantity restriction is withdrawn thereby fulfilling a necessary condition for the bank lending channel to be effective.     

Policy rate pass-through and the adjustment of retail interest rates: Empirical evidence from Malaysian financial institutions

The paper examines the interest rate pass-through from money market rates to various retail rates in Malaysia within the framework of an error-correction model. We estimate the short- and long-run interest rate pass-through and analyse the asymmetric behaviour of financial institutions under different monetary regimes. The results show that both deposit and lending rate pass-throughs are incomplete. However, pass-through and speed of adjustment vary across financial institutions and retail rates. This analysis also shows that interest rate adjustments are asymmetric, with more significant adjustments taking place under monetary easing than under monetary tightening. These results provide support for the existence of the interest rate channel of monetary policy in Malaysia. There is thus a need to conduct effective monetary operations to support efficient monetary transmission in Malaysia.