Liquidity regulation and the implementation of monetary policy

We study the impact of the Basel III liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) on interbank interest rates in an otherwise-standard model of monetary policy implementation. When banks face the possibility of an LCR shortfall, the overnight interest rate tends to decrease, while a regulatory premium arises in longer-term rates. In addition, the LCR requirement can substantially alter the effect of a central banks’ open market operations on equilibrium interest rates.     

The interplay between liquidity regulation,monetary policy implementation and financial stability

I outline a simple framework for thinking through how the Basel III liquidity regulations – in particular, the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) – will impact short-term interest rates and the process of monetary policy implementation. This framework suggests that a regulatory premium may arise in some market interest rates, creating a new wedge in the monetary transmission mechanism. I discuss ways in which a central bank could react to this new wedge, highlighting what may be a fundamental tension between implementing monetary policy effectively and using liquidity regulation to promote financial stability.     

The internationalisation of monetary policy

The case for formal central bank cooperation remains limited, and practical considerations make its implementation difficult. That being said, central banks need to be engaged in a constant dialogue so as to remain ready for rapid coordinated action in exceptional circumstances. Also, they should strive to strengthen the global financial safety nets within their monetary policy mandates so that they can better address global or regional liquidity crises, thereby limiting the case for self-insurance.     

The international transmission of monetary policy

This paper presents the novel results from an internationally coordinated project by the International Banking Research Network (IBRN) on the cross-border transmission of conventional and unconventional monetary policy through banks. Teams from seventeen countries use confidential micro-banking data for the years 2000 through 2015 to explore the international transmission of monetary policies of the United States, euro area, Japan, and United Kingdom. Two other studies use international data with different degrees of granularity. International spillovers into lending to the private sector do occur, especially for US policies, and bank-specific heterogeneity influences the magnitudes of transmission. The effects are supportive of the international bank lending channel and the portfolio channel of monetary policy transmission. They also show that the frictions that banks face matter; in particular, foreign currency funding and hedging considerations can be a key source of heterogeneity. The forms of bank balance sheet heterogeneity that differentiate spillovers across banks are not uniform across countries. International spillovers into lending can be large for some banks, even while the average international spillovers of policies into nonbank lending generally are not large.     

The extensive margin and monetary policy

The creation of new firms, referred to as the extensive margin, is a significant but overlooked dimension of monetary policy. A monetary VAR documents that monetary policy has significant effects on firm creation. An analytically tractable model combining sticky prices and firm entry shows that entry alters the transmission of monetary policy innovations, acting much like a type of investment in more standard models. Monetary policy rules that offset the uncertainty of productivity shocks can raise the mean level of entry and thereby welfare, suggesting a new motivation for stabilization policy.     

The banking industry under uncertain monetary policy

The optimal loan decisions of banks are shown to be dependent on the banks' rational forecast of the future federal funds rate which in turn is related to the policy rule used by the Fed. Consequently, a change in the policy of the Fed will alter the reduced form model of the banking industry. This result brings into question the Fed's ability to predict and control the money stock under the procedure adopted by the Fed between October 1979 and September 1982.     

The impact of monetary policy on asset prices

Estimating the response of asset prices to changes in monetary policy is complicated by the endogeneity of policy decisions and the fact that both interest rates and asset prices react to numerous other variables. This paper develops a new estimator that is based on the heteroskedasticity that exists in high-frequency data. We show that the response of asset prices to changes in monetary policy can be identified based on the increase in the variance of policy shocks that occurs on days of FOMC meetings and of the Chairman's semi-annual monetary policy testimony to Congress. The identification approach employed requires a much weaker set of assumptions than needed under the “event-study” approach that is typically used in this context. The results indicate that an increase in short-term interest rates results in a decline in stock prices and in an upward shift in the yield curve that becomes smaller at longer maturities. The findings also suggest that the event-study estimates contain biases that make the estimated effects on stock prices appear too small and those on Treasury yields too large.     

Optimal sustainable monetary policy

In recent monetary policy literature, optimal commitment policy and its variant from a timeless perspective have been studied with emphasis on welfare gains from policy commitment. These policies, however, involve a time-consistency problem called a stabilization bias in forward-looking models. We analyze Chari and Kehoe's [1990. Sustainable plans. Journal of Political Economy 98, 783-802] sustainable equilibrium and examine optimal sustainable policy, i.e. a policymaker's strategy in the best sustainable equilibrium. This paper shows that such a policy becomes consistent with the optimal commitment policy in sufficiently later periods. It also shows that whether the optimal sustainable policy can attain the Ramsey equilibrium outcome depends on the magnitude of shocks hitting the model economy. Moreover, the paper finds a sustainable policy that attains higher social welfare than discretionary policy does.     

Unconditionally optimal monetary policy

We develop a simple and intuitive approach for analytically deriving unconditionally optimal (UO) policies, a topic of enduring interest in optimal monetary policy analysis. The approach can be employed in both general linear-quadratic problems and in the underlying non-linear environments. A detailed example is provided using a canonical New Keynesian framework.     

The discrete and differential impact of monetary policy

This study exploits a unique feature of the Australian monetary policy environment to determine whether economic recovery can be stimulated via central bank communications. This study finds that unexpected monetary policy announcements and communications have a significant and comparable impact on the value and volatility of the Australian foreign exchange market, suggesting that they can be used interchangeably to stimulate economic recovery. However, further analysis reveals that the state of the economy influences this impact. Specifically, during poor economic states, monetary policy actions speak louder than words, an adage that in this context provides actionable information for central bank regulators.     

对当前货币政策的一些思考

在当前世界生产分工呈现新格局,我国贸易巨额顺差格局没有发生重大变化,以及我国汇率政策将继续坚持渐变战略的情况下,货币调控问题越来越突出,这将是目前及以后一个较长时期内宏观调控诸问题中的主要难点.在今后一个可预期的时期内,通常意义上的紧缩政策应该是央行货币政策的主要倾向,但"此紧缩"不完全等同于"彼紧缩".过去采取紧缩手段的惟一目的,是针对过热的实体经济,而目前采取的紧缩手段,尽管也有针对实体经济偏热进行预防的目的,但更多则是针对实体经济增长合理对应的货币需求之外,外贸和外汇储备双过高增长引发的过多供应货币进行对冲.     

RBA monetary policy communication: The response of Australian interest rate futures to changes in RBA monetary policy

This paper examines the Australian interest rate futures market reaction to changes in Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy. Having determined market expectations from 30-day Interbank futures, the study finds evidence that interest rate futures react strongly to target rate announcements across the maturity spectrum, with a stronger reaction evident in short maturity futures. Further, there is evidence of an asymmetric news effect whereby volatility reacts more strongly to bad news. Disaggregation of the market reaction into target- and path-surprise factors demonstrates that the change in market expectations of future target rates plays a significant role in explaining changes in yield, particularly for bond futures. There is strong evidence that monetary policy statements drive the path-factor, while the December 2007 modification in policy communication has improved the ability of the RBA to influence market expectations.     

One monetary policy and 18 central bankers: The European monetary policy as a game of strategic delegation

This paper employs a multi-country delegation monetary policy model and argues that a decision-making mechanism based on the median voter theorem where intensity of preferences cannot play a role does not capture important aspects of policy setting in the European Monetary Union. Replacing the median voter mechanism with a less restrictive “weighted mean mechanism”, it is shown that strategic delegation can lead to a surprising degree of central bank inflation aversion. This finding supports the “The Twin Sister Hypothesis” and the perception of the European Central Bank implementing the policy of the Bundesbank rather than a more inflationary monetary policy.     

The expectations theory works for monetary policy shocks

In practice, the expectations theory of the term structure is employed extensively in monetary policy analysis despite its empirical failure. This paper performs a conditional test of the theory that is directly relevant to monetary theory and policy. It finds that the theory holds quite well conditional on identified monetary policy shocks, but fails conditional on aggregate supply shocks that prompt an immediate jump in prices. It also finds that policy responses to movements in the term structure play an important role in uncovering evidence for the theory as predicted by McCallum [1994. Monetary policy and the term structure of interest rates. NBER Working Paper Series, no. 4938].