The Institutional Foundations of Monetary Commitment: A Comparative Analysis

This paper adopts an institutional perspective on the problem of designing governance structures for restraining monetary policy. This perspective broadens the standard literature on central bank independence in several dimensions. First, although it recognizes that an independent central bank is one important institutional arrangement, it also considers a much broader variety of institutional arrangements that have been used (historically and today) to restrain monetary policy. Second, it considers not only the formal or legal institutional arrangements governing monetary policy, but also the broader environment, or institutional endowment, in which those formal arrangements are embedded. Third, this paper is concerned with the problem of enforcement: given the institutional endowment in which formal monetary rules are implemented, how likely are they to stick? Broadening the perspective in these ways frames the issue as a matching problem. When it is recognized both that countries differ in the nature of their institutional endowments, and that there is an array of possible formal arrangements that can be adopted to govern monetary policy, the question then becomes how best to align the formal arrangements with the endowment in which they will be embedded. Case studies of diverse monetary policy-making institutions in Côte d'Ivoire, Argentina, Thailand and New Zealand are used to motivate and illustrate the analysis.     

Central Bank Independence and Budget Constraints for a Stable Euro

This paper looks at what economic theory and empirical evidence have to offer about the institutional conditions that are most likely to lead to a stable currency. Both theory and evidence suggest that an independent central bank with the explicit mandate to pursue price stability provides an effective solution to the time-inconsistency problem. The EMU institutional set-up is well-equipped to support a stability-oriented monetary policy. The ECB appears to be the most independent central bank in the world. An added protection of monetary policy from the influence of unsound budgetary policies enhances the prospects of price stability. The Maastricht Treaty and the Pact for Stability and Growth provide effective constraints against excessive deficits and encourage an environment of balanced budgets. The argument that both strong institutional arrangements and sound economic policy-making stem from a conservative attitude of the public is not dismissed altogether in this paper. We note, however, that this hypothesis is not formulated in a testable form and has ambiguous practical consequences. The hypothesis, nonetheless, serves as a useful reminder that the ECB should endeavor to draw its legitimacy not only from the text of the Treaty, but also from society as a whole.     

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.     

Designing Fiscal Institutions in a Monetary Union

This article explores the policy and wealth consequences of alternative institutional arrangements through which fiscal policy interacts with monetary policy in a monetary union such as the EMU. The central issue of the article is the design of the appropriate monetary and fiscal institutions through a comparison of alternative arrangements to distribute power over monetary and fiscal authorities between the central authority of the union and the individual members of the union and evaluating their performance. The main results of this article reveal that delegation of the fiscal policy to a council of country representatives and the monetary policy to a council of governors is the appropriate institutional design to reduce inflation bias and better stabilize regional, idiosyncratic supply and demand shocks in a monetary union.     

Multiple wage-bargaining systems in the single European currency area

Little attention in the EMU literature has been paid to theinteraction between central bank monetary rules and systemsof collective wage bargaining. Analytically and empirically,coordinated wage-bargaining systems respond with real wage restraintto non-accommodating monetary policy. Since wage determinationis dominated by collective bargaining in all the EMU memberstates and wage coordination within the member states has grownsince 1980, this is a topic of potential importance. In particular,the replacement of the Bundesbank, directly targeting Germaninflation, by a European Central Bank (ECB) targeting Europeaninflation will remove a major institutional support of wagerestraint in Germany. The consequences of this for EMU are workedout under two scenarios, that inflation expectations will begenerated by ECB monetary policy and that they will reflectGerman inflation outcomes. Possible institutional developmentsare discussed including government union bargains. The Bundesbankalso played a major role in maintaining fiscal rectitude: forunderlying structural reasons, therefore, it is possible thatGermany will move to a period of fiscal activism with wage restraintand low inflation purchased through social contract negotiations.     

The real effects of monetary policy in China: An empirical analysis

This paper examines whether institutional changes have affected the interaction between the real economy and monetary policy in China. We find evidence that structural changes in the financial and real sectors over the period of our study did influence the way in which monetary policy affected the real economy. There were an increasing influence of interest rates on output over 1984 to 1997 and non-state owned enterprises were increasingly reacting to monetary policy changes, suggesting that banking sector reforms were having effects, despite the fact that most credit was allocated to the loss-making State sector.     

THE CYCLICALITY OF MONETARY AND FISCAL POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE 1994

This paper uses a structural vector‐autoregression approach to discuss the cyclicality of fiscal and monetary policy in South Africa since 1994. There is substantial South African literature on this topic, but much disagreement remains. Though not undisputed, there is growing consensus that monetary policy has contributed to the remarkable stabilisation of the South African economy over this period. The evaluation of the role of fiscal policy in stabilisation has been less favourable and there is little evidence that a countercyclical fiscal stance was a priority over this period. This paper considers these issues in an empirical framework that addresses some of the shortcomings in the literature. Specifically, it constructs a structural model in contrast with the reduced form models typically used in the South African literature, incorporates the dynamic interaction between monetary and fiscal shocks on the demand side and supply shocks on the other, and avoids controversy over “neutral” base years and the size of fiscal elasticities. The model confirms the consensus on monetary policy, finding it to have been largely countercyclical since 1994. On fiscal policy, this paper finds evidence of pro‐cyclicality, especially in the more recent period, though the policy simulations suggest that the pro‐cyclicality of fiscal policy has had little destabilising impact on real output.     

Monetary Policy Committee Transparency: Measurement,Determinants, and Economic Effects

This paper studies monetary policy committee transparency (MPCT) based on a new index that measures central bankers’ educational and professional backgrounds as disclosed through central bank websites. Based on a novel cross-sectional data set covering 75 central banks, we investigate the determinants of MPCT as well as its economic consequences. We find that past inflation, institutional indicators, and monetary policy strategy are important determinants of MPCT. MPCT has a robust and significantly negative impact on inflation variability and inflation expectations, even after controlling for important macroeconomic variables and institutional transparency, as well as instrumenting MPCT in various ways. MPCT can be both a complement to and a substitute for institutional transparency.     

Monetary Policy Implementation in Japan: What They Say versus What They Do

Since the 1970s, many central banks – including the Bank of England, the Bank of France, the Bank of Korea and the Bank of Japan – have announced that they have ceased direct credit controls. Researchers have tended to accept 'what they say', without gathering empirical evidence on 'what they do'. The Bank of Japan announced that it was abandoning direct credit controls in 1982. Since then, the monetary policy literature on Japan has focussed on formal policy tools, such as interest rates. This paper presents empirical research on the actual implementation of monetary policy by the Japanese central bank. The emphasis is on the period in the mid- to late-1980s when monetary policy was stimulatory and real-estate-related lending expanded rapidly, and the period in the early 1990s, when asset prices fell, resulting in the subsequent banking crisis and recession. The paper first briefly surveys the literature. Empirical research is then presented in three parts. Secondary sources are accessed to gain information on the mechanism of monetary policy conduct. New field work is then presented, which uses primary sources to probe the details of monetary policy implementation. Finally, econometric evidence is gathered to test various hypotheses concerning monetary policy procedures. The research successfully establishes the details and nature of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy implementation during the 1980s and early 1990s. The findings suggest the need for a modification of the generally prevailing view, as well as the need for further research on the actual implementation of monetary policy in other countries.     

THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT AND INFLATION TARGETING

There is widespread consensus that a goal dependent, but instrument independent central bank solves the democratic deficit. However, the standard solution to the democratic deficit risks reintroducing the biases of political control over monetary policy through the power of politicians to change the monetary policy rule. This paper considers the problem as an instance of the paradox of power in the sphere of monetary policy and proposes a solution drawing on criteria for the rule of law and the principles of constitutional economics. Finally a normative test of inflation targeting is proposed, again drawing on the constitutional economics literature.     

Monetary analysis and the global financial cycle: An Asian central bank perspective

Emerging Asia has seen a transformation of its monetary policy environment over the past two decades. By far, the most relevant change has been the maturing of its financial systems and the growing relevance of the global financial cycle: financial inclusion has spread, financial markets have deepened and financial globalisation has linked domestic markets closer to international markets. One consequence of the maturing of the financial systems has been the weakening of the traditional case for the monetarist view of the roles of monetary aggregates in the conduct of monetary policy. In addition, the maturing of the financial systems has elevated concerns of financial stability, as both a source of shocks and a responsibility of central banks. These developments have been further complicated by monetary policy spillovers from the advanced economies. All this points to the need to consider alternatives to conventional inflation targeting frameworks. This paper lays out a policy framework based on a multi-pillar monetary policy approach as a potentially attractive alternative for EM Asia. The three pillars are based on economic, financial and exchange rate stability, respectively. This framework not only offers an alternative conceptual framework but also implies institutional reforms to ensure central banks take a longer term perspective when setting policy.     

金融排斥:货币政策失效的另一种解释

至今为止,关于货币政策有效性的研究一直存在争议并受到学者和政策调控部门的持续关注。各种学派在理论上对货币政策有效与否的争论并没有阻碍学者们对现实货币政策有效性的探讨,大量研究都集中在货币传导机制本身及其影响因素上。本文从金融排斥角度解读货币政策可能失效的原因,并指出忽视金融排斥存在的货币政策可能导致的问题,从而赋予金融包容政策新的职能。     

通胀目标制：功能机理、政策绩效与启示

通货膨胀目标制是20世纪90年代初西方发达国家兴起的一种货币政策框架。文章从理论阐释了通胀目标制的功能机理,运用48个国家的相关数据对通胀目标制的绩效进行了实证分析,实证结果表明:通货膨胀目标制有助于锚住通胀预期,降低通货膨胀,稳定产出,是一种比较成功的货币政策框架。这一结论对货币政策框架需要调整的我国具有一定的政策启示。     

Financial Development,Financial Structure,and the Growth Effect of Monetary Policy: International Evidence

This paper investigates how financial development and financial structure affect the growth effect of monetary policy using panel data from 49 countries over the period 1980–2014. We find robust evidence that financial development has a significantly negative impact on the growth effect of monetary policy. We also find that the growth effect of monetary policy tends to be more pronounced as the financial structure of a country becomes more market-based. These results not only add interesting new evidence to the recent literature on the growth effects of monetary policy, but also provide some important insights into the financial determinants of monetary policy effects on economic growth, which have largely been ignored in the previous literature.     

Exchange-rate arrangements and financial integration in East Asia: on a collision course?

Financial integration in East Asia is actively being pursued and will in due course lead to substantial mobility of capital between economies in the region. Plans for monetary cooperation as a prelude to monetary integration and ultimately monetary unification are also proposed. These plans often suggest that central banks should adopt some form of common exchange rate policy in the transition period towards full monetary union. This paper argues that this is a dangerous path in the context of highly integrated financial markets. An alternative approach is proposed where independent central banks coordinate their monetary policies through the adoption of common objectives and by building an appropriate institutional framework. When this coordination process has progressed to the point where interest rate developments are similar across the region, and if in the meantime the required institutional infrastructure has been build, the next step towards monetary unification can be taken among those central banks that so desire. The claim is that this transition path is likely to be robust and will limit the risk of currency crises.     

CAPITAL CONTROLS,TWO‐TIERED EXCHANGE RATE SYSTEMS AND EXCHANGE RATE POLICY: THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE

South Africa's 40 years of experience with capital controls on residents and non‐residents (1961‐2001) reads like a collection of examples of perverse unanticipated effects of legislation and regulation. We show that the presence of capital controls on residents and non‐residents enabled the South African Reserve Bank to target domestic interest rates (and or the exchange rate) via interventions in the (commercial) foreign exchange market. This provides an early rationale for anchoring SA monetary policy via the exchange rate, rather than via domestic interest rates. This suggests not only that the capital controls themselves exhibited substantial institutional inertia, but that this same institutional inertia also applied to the monetary policy regime. A plausible reason for this is that for most of the 20th century in South Africa. (partial) capital controls and exchange rate based monetary policies were like Siamese twins – almost impossible to separate.     

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.     

影子银行对货币政策的影响——基于内生货币理论视角

影子银行的迅速发展使其成为我国金融体系的重要组成部分,由于其具有一些与传统银行类似的功能,继而对我国货币政策调控的有效性提出了挑战;后凯恩斯货币理论认为货币本质上属于一种债权-债务关系,是非中性的交易媒介,而央行是否能够有效的控制货币供应量呢?本文基于内生货币理论的视角,重新诠释影子银行对我国货币政策的影响,以期对货币政策的制定提供有益借鉴。     

The euro—the experience of the past 2 years

The article analyses the experience of the first 2 years of the euro, focusing on the monetary policy of the ECB and explaining why it should be considered a success story. As a starting point, it gives a look at “what is” the euro area and the structure of its economy. It then reviews the institutional setting of the single monetary policy, the monetary policy strategy of the ECB and the monetary policy instruments at the disposal of the Eurosystem. The article then analyses the conduct of monetary policy in the years 1999–2000 and highlights the importance attached by the ECB to the transparency of the decision making process. Finally it is explained why the euro should be seen as a success story.     

Real business cycle models and money: A survey of theories and stylized facts

Real Business Cycle Models and Money: A Survey of Theories and Stylized Facts. — This article presents a survey of real business cycle theory, with special attention to the role of money. This role is mainly associated with cash-in-advance constraints, liquidity effects and aspects of financial intermediation. Apart from reviewing the literature, stylized facts about the comovements of output and prices versus monetary aggregates and interest rates over the cycle are assembled and discussed for eight industrial countries, including the G5-countries, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. The paper concludes that further developments in monetary real business cycle theory could benefit from taking into account a broader set of stylized facts about prices than has been done thus far, as well as from introducing non-Walrasian elements and endogenizing monetary policy.