EMU and the transmission of monetary policy: evidence from business lending rates

This paper analyses the pass-through of money market rates to short-term and long-term business lending rates in the four largest euro area countries. The main findings of the paper are (1) that since the start of EMU loan rates appear to have become more responsive to money market rate changes in France, Italy and Spain, but not in Germany, and (2) that German loan rates are significantly more sluggish than loan rates in the other three large euro area countries. I also test for non-linear pass-through based on an asymmetric error-correction model but do not find much evidence of non-linearity in euro area interest rate pass-through.The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views of the Deutsche Bundesbank.     

Labor immobility and the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in a monetary union

It is believed that a common monetary policy in a monetary union will have identical effects on different countries as long as these countries have identical fundamentals. We show that, when there is specialization in production, the terms of trade react to the shock. The transmission mechanism of a monetary shock has in this case an additional channel, the terms of trade. This is the case even if state contingent assets can be traded across countries. For a reasonable parametrization, the differential on the transmission across countries is quantitatively significant when compared with the effect on the union's aggregates. Monetary shocks create cycles with higher volatility in “poor” countries than in “richer” ones.     

我国银行类型对货币政策传导影响机制差异化研究

本文选取1993～2008年我国4家国有控股银行,3家政策性银行,10家全国性股份制商业银行数据,考察了我国不同类型银行在货币政策传导机制中的差异化作用.运用协整检验及格兰杰因果检验发现,国有控股银行在对货币政策传导至CPI的影响较为显著,而股份制商业银行对货币供给量有着显著性影响.     

What do capital inflows do? Dissecting the transmission mechanism for Thailand, 1980–1996

This paper examines the effects of private financial (non-FDI) capital inflows in Thailand in the pre-crisis period (1980:I–1996:IV). Private capital inflows are found to be associated with higher asset prices, lower lending rates, surges in bank lending and domestic spending driven by higher investment, higher output, modest inflation, and modest real exchange rate appreciation. Inflows are also associated with a greater vulnerability to a liquidity crisis, but not with greater external solvency risk. Current account deficits are temporary, thus sustainable, as exports catch up with higher imports within two years. Consequently, the Thai crisis appears to be more of a liquidity crisis than an external solvency crisis.     

The lower bound and the causes of monetary policy inertia: evidence from Sweden

In 2009, in the midst of a global recession, Sweden’s Riksbank approached a lower bound on nominal interest rates. This encounter with the lower bound provides a natural experiment for investigating the causes of monetary policy inertia. To exploit this experiment, we estimate Taylor rules with Tobit specifications that permit both interest rate smoothing and persistent shocks (serial correlation) as explanations for inertia. The interest rate smoothing hypothesis leads to a specification in which lagged actual values of the dependent variable appear on the right-hand side of the Taylor rule, while the persistent shocks hypothesis leads to a specification in which lagged values of an unobserved latent dependent variable appear on the right-hand side of the Taylor rule. The divergence of actual and latent dependent variables that occurs at the lower bound provides leverage in distinguishing the two hypotheses. For a conventional Taylor rule, we find evidence of both sources of inertia. For a modified Taylor rule that includes a measure of financial stress, our evidence suggests that interest rate smoothing is the principal source of monetary policy inertia.     

Asymmetric effects of monetary policy shocks on economic performance: empirical evidence from Turkey

This study investigates the asymmetric effects of monetary policy shocks on the macroeconomic variables of exchange rate, output and inflation for an emerging economy ? Turkey ? by using monthly data between 1990 and 2014. We employ the innovative nonlinear vector autoregressive model of Kilian and Vigfusson (2011), which allows us to observe the effect of different stances (tight or loose) and different sizes (small or large) of monetary policy actions. Our empirical evidence reveals that tight monetary policy, which, in this case, is captured with a positive shock to interest rate, decreases exchange rate, output and prices, as economic theory suggests. Loose monetary policy, which is captured with a negative shock to interest rate, has the opposite effect on these variables. However, the effects of loose monetary policy are weaker than the effects of tight monetary policy because loose monetary policy shocks are less effective than tight monetary policy shocks. Moreover, as the magnitude of a shock increases, the difference between the effects of tight and loose monetary policy policies also increases.     

The dynamic effectiveness of monetary policy in China: evidence from a TVP-SV-FAVAR model

We use a broad set of China’s macroeconomic indicators and a dynamic factor model to estimate latent factors of economic output and inflation, which are used to measure the ultimate objectives of monetary policy. The above factors and policy variables are incorporated into a TVP-SV-FAVAR model to investigate the dynamic effectiveness of Chinese monetary policy. Our results confirm that the effects of Chinese monetary policy are time-varying. By comparing the quantity rule with the price rule, we find that the price rule is more effective in managing China’s macro-economy, especially after the financial crisis. Moreover, the results can be regarded as a division of policy rules in a way that different rules are directed at different objectives.     

金融市场条件与货币政策关系的解析——基于四元VAR-GARCH(1,1)-BEKK模型的分析

本文基于我国股票市场、债券市场、外汇市场以及货币市场的日数据,选取四变量VAR(6)-GARCH(1,1)-BEKK模型,分析了汇率改革以来股票市场、债券市场、外汇市场与货币政策的互动关系。研究显示,上述三个主要金融市场与货币市场间存在显著的一阶矩和二阶矩关联性,说明中央银行的货币政策可能关注了金融市场条件的变化。基于脉冲响应函数的分析表明,中央银行的货币政策意图能够在金融市场间较为有效传导,同时,金融市场条件的变化对货币政策传导构成一定程度的冲击。为此,中央银行需要提高对金融市场变化的关注程度,增强货币政策的透明度,并强化货币政策与汇率政策的协调搭配,以减小外部冲击对宏观经济稳定的影响。     

The impact of Chinese monetary policy on co-movements between money and capital markets

From 2010 to 2017, with interest rate liberalization and capital market development in China, the impact of monetary policies on China’s financial markets underwent continuous evolution. Using the DCC-GARCH model, this study investigates the transmission process of monetary policies from the money market to capital markets (stock and bond markets). The results show that in the early stage the instability of the money and stock markets and the downturn in the bond market are primarily caused by the block of monetary policy transmission and the paucity of fund sources in the capital markets. Subsequently, the outbreak of the 2013 money shortage and the 2015 stock market crash are also closely related to monetary policies. In the later periods, the money and stock markets maintain a low degree of correlation for a long time, reducing the impact of destabilizing factors on the stock market. By contrast, with the advancement of interest rate reform and the optimization of bond market structure, the bond market is highly relevant to the money market. The central bank regulates the bond market more effectively using both traditional and innovative monetary policy tools.     

The monetary transmission mechanism: evidence and implications for European Monetary Union

We provide some evidence consistent with a heterogeneous credit channel of monetary policy transmission in the European Union. Using the techniques of cointegration and Error Correction Models, we have shown that the external finance premium is one important leading indicator of real economic activity in Germany and Italy. No evidence is found for France and the UK. Therefore, a common monetary policy implemented by the European Central Bank might be transmitted in different ways across the member countries of the monetary union, thus exacerbating existing regional disparities among the member countries.     

The effect of monetary policy on output in EMU3: A sign restriction approach

This paper examines the effects of monetary policy shocks on output in the three largest euro area economies – Germany, France and Italy (EMU3) – by applying a new VAR identification procedure. The results show that monetary policy innovations are at their most potent in Germany. However, apart from Germany, it remains ambiguous as to whether a rise in interest rates concludes with a fall in output, showing a lack of homogeneity in the responses. Homogeneity in response to a monetary shock is crucial in a one-size-fits-all framework. Nonetheless, the lack of similarity between the responses, which is hypothesised to cause de-synchronised business cycles in optimal currency area literature, is often based on the premise that monetary policy itself is a major source of business cycle fluctuations. This paper concludes that monetary policy innovations play, at most, a modest role in generating fluctuations in output for the EMU3. Consequently, it is less important whether the effects of monetary policy are homogenous.     

Monetary policy transmission mechanisms in Serbia: evidence from the fully-fledged inflation targeting regime

This article examines the effectiveness of monetary transmission mechanisms in the Serbian economy, covering the period from January 2009 (the point at which the formal switch to the fully-fledged inflation targeting regime was made) to December 2013. The results of the recursive VAR models suggest that the exchange rate and credit channels play a major role in the monetary transmission process, whereas this is not true in the case of the interest rate channel. However, the results of the non-recursive VAR models show that the role of the exchange rate has diminished over time. On the other hand, the credit channel has become much more influential. Thus, if one of the overriding objectives of adopting the explicit inflation targeting regime is to enhance the importance of other channels apart from the exchange rate channel, which could make monetary policy more effective in achieving price and financial stability, the switch to the inflation targeting regime is justified.     

货币政策对房地产市场冲击效力的动态测度

以货币政策传导渠道为理论依据,通过结构向量自回归(SVAR)模型构造货币政策对房地产市场的作用途径,可测度各种货币政策工具冲击对我国房地产市场供求的相对强度.实证分析结果表明,利率政策的冲击效力明显且持久,是调控房地产市场最有效的货币政策工具;紧缩的信贷政策仅能在短期内抑制房地产市场需求,长期效果欠佳;而货币供给量冲击对房地产市场的影响并不显著.相对于房地产需求,房地产市场供给对各种货币政策工具冲击的响应深度高,但响应速度较慢.     

The relative importance of capital inflows: some evidence from emerging market economies

This article examines the relative importance of the main components of capital inflows for a sample of emerging market economies. Does composition matter? Is there a nexus between capital inflow components? We assess, firstly, how each capital inflow component reacts to important macro and policy variables, and secondly, how the components themselves interact. We find that bank inflows appear the most sensitive to macro factors, institutions matter more for Latin America and external financial factors matter more for Asia. Further, for Latin America, capital inflows interact largely as complements, while for Asia, any expansion of bank inflows might crowd out FDI and portfolio flows.     

金融结构及其对货币传导机制的影响

本文在简要考察中国金融结构转型中货币政策机制 ,包括货币政策的工具、效率前沿和规则及相应的货币传导机制变迁轨迹的基础上 ,根据结构分割点原则 ,实证检验、估计和分析了金融结构变迁对货币政策的适用工具和反应函数的影响 ,以及对货币传导的利率机制 ,即由政策利率到市场利率、并进而到通胀率 -产出波动前沿的影响。基本的结论是 ,金融结构变迁深刻地影响着货币传导机制的性质和作用程度     

The transmission of world commodity prices to domestic markets under policy reforms in developing countries

This paper examines the degree to which world price signals have been transmitted into domestic prices for eight countries and ten commodities, a total of 31 country/commodity pairs. The main characteristic of these countries was that they all undertook substantial policy reforms during the mid‐1980s to early 1990s. The paper investigates the effect of reforms on the speed at which signals were transmitted to domestic markets and on the extent of price transmission. We find that Chile, Mexico, and Argentina are the only countries whose domestic commodity markets were integrated with world markets. For the remaining cases (Ghana, Madagascar, Indonesia, Egypt, and Colombia) in only a few country/commodity pairs is there some passthrough of world price changes. In terms of the effects of policy reforms, in the majority of the cases the hypothesis of a structural break following the reform year is rejected.     

Non-linearity in the determinants of capital structure: evidence from UK firms

We demonstrate that, by exploiting more fully the distribution of leverage, conditional quantile regression methods yield new insights into the choice of leverage ratio. For UK listed companies we find that not only is the estimated effect of the explanatory variables different at different quantiles of the distribution, but also that the effect of a variable changes sign between low leveraged and high leveraged firms.      

Monetary policy before and after the euro: evidence from Greece

We model Greek monetary policy in the 1990s and use our findings to address two interrelated questions. First, how was monetary policy conducted in the 1990s so that the hitherto highest-inflation EU country managed to join the euro by 2001? Second, how compatible is the ECB monetary policy with Greek economic conditions? We find that Greek monetary policy in the 1990s was: (i) primarily determined by German/ECB interest rates, though still influenced by domestic fundamentals; (ii) involving non-linear output gap effects; (iii) subject to a deficit of credibility culminating in the 1998 devaluation. On the question of compatibility our findings depend on the value assumed for the equilibrium post-euro real interest rate and overall indicate both a reduction in the pre-euro risk premium and some degree of monetary policy incompatibility. Our analysis has policy implications for the new EU members and motivates further research on fast-growing EMU economies.     

Bank behavior, incomplete interest rate pass-through, and the cost channel of monetary policy transmission

This paper employs a New Keynesian DSGE model to explore the role of banks within the cost channel of monetary policy transmission for shaping the interest rate pass-through from money market rates to loan rates. Banks extend loans to firms in an environment of monopolistic competition by setting their loan rates in a staggered way, which means that the adjustment of the aggregate loan rate to a monetary policy shock is sticky. We estimate the model for the euro area by adopting a minimum distance approach. Our findings exhibit that (i) financial costs are an important factor for price changes, (ii) frictions in the loan market have an effect on the propagation of monetary policy shocks as the pass-through from a change in money market rates to loan rates is incomplete, and (iii) the strength of the cost channel is mitigated as banks shelter firms from monetary policy shocks by smoothing loan rates.     

我国统一调控下货币政策内部传导区域效应非对称性分析

我国外汇资产迅速扩张,外汇占款取代再贷款成为我国中央银行基础货币投放的主渠道。经济开放程度高的发达区域不仅基础货币投放量远远超过其他区域,其区域货币乘数也高于其他区域,导致货币政策内部传导的区域效应非对称性。实证分析认为,我国基础货币变化对开放程度最高的东部发达区域货币供应量的影响最大,其次是经济不发达的中部区域,对开放程度低的西部不发达区域的影响最小。建议采取适度差别的区域货币政策,缓解区域货币供给的非均衡性,提高我国货币政策内部传导的整体效率。