Towards a sustainable growth path

For Japan’s economy, there were two tasks I embraced myself for: “how to return to a sustainable growth path” and “how to rebuild the financial system.” And for the Bank of Japan, there was also the important challenge of navigating our way on a new voyage in line with the principles of the new Bank of Japan Law, which came into effect at almost the same time as I became Governor.     

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.     

中国财政赤字的通货膨胀效应

文章主要以1996年第1季度至2015年第3季度的居民消费价格指数CPI、财政赤字、利率和货币供应量的季度同比增长率等数据为基础,通过构建时变参数向量自回归(TVP-VAR) 模型,对我国财政赤字的通货膨胀效应进行了检验,并探讨了货币当局和财政当局的主导权归属问题。主要得出了二方面结论：一方面是现阶段财政赤字在短期内具有“凯恩斯效应”,而从长期看,既遵循“李嘉图等价”原理,又具有微弱的“挤入效应”;另一方面是财政当局虽占优于货币当局,但财政赤字需要配合货币政策才能影响价格水平。据此,向政府提出了“新常态”时期的政策建议,即政府在短期内可以通过赤字财政的方式诱导适度通胀来实现去库存,从供给侧引导经济增长,同时也要保持货币政策偏紧,增强人民银行的独立性,进一步优化财政收支结构。     

A ‘First Go’ on Financial Accounts for Denmark, 1875–2005

Abstract

Financial accounts can be used in an attempt to paint a coherent picture of the development of the financial system and the financial structure. To date projects related to historical national accounts have – both in Denmark and internationally – only focused on the real side of the economy. The article presents a first attempt to construct a set of annual financial account stock data for Denmark for 1875–2005. Furthermore, the article addresses some of the more methodological and conceptual aspects of using financial accounts as a framework for the organisation of historical financial statistics.     

Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interaction in the Euro Area with Different Assumptions on the Phillips Curve

In this paper we apply a static version of a New Keynesian macromodel to a monetary union (see Bofinger et al., J Econ Educ, 37:98–117 (2006), Walsh, J Econ Educ, 33:333–346 (2002)). We show in particular that a harmonious functioning of a monetary union critically depends on the correlation of shocks that hit the currency area. Additionally a high degree of integration in product markets is advantageous for the ECB as it prevents national interest rates from driving a wedge between macroeconomic outcomes across member states. In particular small countries are in need for fiscal policy as an independent stabilization agent with room to breath.

Emerging financial markets and early US growth

Studies of early US growth traditionally emphasize real-sector explanations for an acceleration that is evident by the period 1815-1840. Interestingly, establishment of the nation's modern financial structure predated by three decades the transportation improvements and widespread use of water- and steam-powered machinery that are thought to have triggered modernization. We argue that an innovative and expanding financial system, by providing debt and equity financing to businesses and governments as new technologies emerged, was central to early growth and modernization. To test the hypothesis, we employ a set of multivariate time series models that relate measures of banking and equity market activity to investment and business incorporations from 1790 to 1850. The results support the hypothesis of “finance-led” growth. Our new view is at odds with earlier views that emphasize the deficiencies rather than the advantages of the early US financial system.     

Monetary regime choice in Singapore: Would a Taylor rule outperform exchange-rate management?

A DSGE–VAR approach was adopted to examine the managed exchange-rate system at work in Singapore and to ask if the country had any reason to fear floating the exchange rate and adopting a Taylor rule. The results showed that, in terms of overall inflation volatility, the exchange rate rule had a comparative advantage over the Taylor rule when export-price shocks were the major sources of real volatility while a Taylor rule was preferable when domestic productivity shocks were dominant. The exchange-rate rule also dominated the Taylor rule for reducing inflation persistence.     

开放经济输入型通货膨胀问题研究——基于中国数据的实证检验

本文基于通货膨胀国际传导理论,指出开放条件下输入型通胀传导路径主要包括:进口价格路径、国际金融衍生品价格路径以及贸易顺差引致货币供给路径。通过选取2005-2010年期间月度数据,运用误差修正模型、格兰杰因果检验、方差分解等计量方法,对输入型通胀因素与国内物价波动之间互动关系进行实证检验。结果发现:国际金融衍生品价格、进口价格主要改变生产厂商的生产要素价格,最终表现为PPI的变动。由于虚拟部门集聚资金对货币供给量的分流作用,以及PPI与CPI之间传导不通畅等原因,输入型通胀因素对CPI波动的影响程度被大大削弱。     

DO FOREIGN CURRENCY DEPOSITS PROMOTE OR DETER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY DEVELOPMENT IN LOW‐INCOME COUNTRIES? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CROSS‐COUNTRY DATA

Foreign currency deposits (FCD) are prevalent in many low‐income developing countries, but their impact on bank lending has rarely been examined. An examination of cross‐country data indicates that a higher proportion of FCD in total deposits is associated with more private credit only in inflationary circumstances. FCD can lead to a decline in private credit below a certain threshold level of inflation. Given that FCD exhibit persistence, deregulating them in low‐income countries could cause more harm than good to financial intermediary development in the long term.     

CAN A RULE‐BASED MONETARY POLICY FRAMEWORK WORK IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY? THE CASE OF YEMEN

Monetary policy in Yemen is largely rudimentary and ad hoc in nature. The Central Bank of Yemen's (CBY) approach has been based on discretionary targeting of broad money without any clear target to anchor inflation expectations. This paper argues in favor of a new formal monetary policy framework for Yemen emphasizing a proactive and rule‐based approach with a greater direct focus on price stability in the context of a flexible management of the exchange rate. Although, as in many developing countries, institutional capacity is a concern, adopting a more formal framework could impel the kind of changes that are required to strengthen the ability of the CBY in achieving low and stable rates of inflation over the medium term.     

Who Cares about Auditor Reputation?*

I provide evidence on the demand for auditor reputation by examining the defections of Arthur Andersen LLP's clients following the accounting scandals and criminal conviction marring the auditor's reputation in 2002. About 95 percent of clients in my sample did not switch auditors until after Andersen was indicted for criminal misconduct regarding its failed audit of Enron Corp. I test whether the timing of client defections and the choice of a new auditor are consistent with managers' incentives to mitigate potentially costly information and agency problems. I find that clients defected sooner, mostly to another Big 5 auditor, if they were more visible in the capital markets; such clients attracted more analysts and press coverage, had larger institutional ownership and share turnover, and raised more cash in recent security issues. However, my proxies for agency conflicts — managerial ownership and financial leverage — are not associated with the timing of defections or the choice of new auditor. Overall, my study suggests that firms more visible in the capital markets tend to be more concerned about engaging highly reputable auditors, consistent with such firms trying to build and preserve their own reputations for credible financial reporting.     

Exchange rate regimes and real exchange rate volatility: Does inflation targeting help or hurt?

This paper revisits the comparison of the effects of inflation targeters versus hard fixers and intermediate exchange rate regimes. In particular, we are interested in exploring the impact of inflation targeting (IT) on real effective exchange rate (REER) volatility for a panel of 62 developing countries over the period 2006–2012. We also analyze the impact of IT regimes on REER in terms of its two component parts, i.e. relative tradable prices across countries as well as sectoral prices of tradables and nontradables within countries. The paper accounts for self-selection concerns regarding policy adoption and examines the effects of commodity exports and foreign exchange intervention. Notably, IT regimes seem to have experienced greater REER volatility, largely driven by external prices in developed countries. For developing countries, IT regimes show no difference in REER volatility, though there is some evidence that they have lower volatility in internal prices.     

What influences aggregate inflation expectations of households in India?

We analyse the factors influencing Indian households’ inflation expectations and draw out implications for inflation targeting. The literature finds news on inflation affecting expectations. Using quarterly data from India over 2008–2019, we find: (i) in estimated epidemiological models of learning in expectation formation, the response coefficient on inflation news in the shape of central bank forecasts exceeds coefficients estimated for advanced economies, implying official views having a relatively greater weight on expectations; (ii) error variance decompositions of expectations to shocks in variables including commodity and core inflations, demand and policy variables in a series of SVARs, also show policy communications affecting expectations in the short-term. Food inflation has a significant short-run effect on expectations, but demand determined core inflation dominates over the long run; (iii) impulse responses show a rise in the policy rate raising expectations. The above results show communications as more effective than policy rates in influencing inflation expectations.