Sectoral labor adjustment and monetary policy in a small open economy

This paper studies the welfare implications of sectoral labor adjustment cost in a two-sector small open economy model with sticky prices. We find that, when the economy faces external shocks, if monetary policy can stabilize the real economy, then sectoral labor market adjustment cost will lead to welfare loss. However, if monetary policy such as fixed exchange rates cannot stabilize real variables, then some degree of labor market friction will improve welfare instead and the gain will be significant. As a result, the welfare gap between flexible exchange rates and fixed exchange rates decreases with sectoral labor market friction. This is because the friction can offset some of the nominal rigidity and become a substitute for monetary policy to stabilize the real economy.     

Distributional role of monetary policy under limited credit access

The paper explores the redistributive effects of a monetary policy shock in a limited participation framework with limited credit access. Expansionary monetary policy redistributes consumption from traders to non-traders. This redistribution is the largest when only financial market participants have a choice between multiple means of payments while non-participants do not. Welfare analysis reveals that the effectiveness of monetary policy on the economy is the greatest when all agents (financial market participants and nonparticipants) can choose from alternative means of payment in a financially segmented model. The model is calibrated to the US economy for quantitative analysis.     

关于汇率理论与汇率政策研究的思考

汇率的决定与外汇市场供求、经常账户平衡、央行货币政策、相关资产价格、经济基本面、国民收入及国际收支账户等有着直接的或间接的关系。完善人民币汇率形成机制,要从外汇市场拓展到本外币政策深层次协调,从涉外经济拓展到内外经济协调发展,同时在新的汇率形成机制下对国际货币体系和主要货币的变化趋势进行系统的监测预测和分析研究。     

商业银行信贷配给对中国房地产业波动的影响*

商业银行信贷配给控制中国房地产业信贷规模和结构,造成供给和需求的规模与结构扭曲,影响货币政策和财政政策的调控效果,容易引起房地产业波动。本文通过构建信贷配给模型,测算不同波动时期当中,商业银行信贷配给程度的变化趋势,以及对房地产业的影响。实证结果显示,信贷配给程度的变化与房地产业波动显著相关,信贷配给改变了投资和消费在推动房地产产出过程中的结构,并制约路径依赖对产出的影响,同时影响财政政策和数量型货币政策稳定房地产业的效果。本文认为,可以通过逐渐弱化商业银行在房地产金融市场中的垄断地位,丰富房地产信贷供给层次和结构,以及加强信贷供给监督来缓解信贷配给的消极作用。     

人民币汇率、国际资本流动与货币政策有效性研究*——基于修正BGT模型的实证分析

本文采用修正的BGT模型,实证研究了国际资本流动影响因素以及央行在面对国内外资本市场波动、金融体系变迁等情形下,货币政策实施方式及其效果。结果显示,随着意愿结售汇制度的实行和人民币汇率弹性的增强,央行的货币自主性得以加强;在开放环境下,国际资本流动受国内外利差、资本市场溢价、货币政策及汇率制度和外汇管理制度的影响。面对这些国内外冲击,央行进行了央票冲销或调整准备金率等的反向货币政策操作,以实现货币政策目标。     

ECB monetary policy and commodity prices

We assess the impact of ECB monetary policy on global aggregate and sectoral commodity prices over 2001–2019. We employ an SVAR model and separately assess periods before and after the global financial crisis. Our key results indicate that contractionary monetary policy shocks have positive effects on commodity prices during both conventional and unconventional monetary policy periods, indicating the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policy tools. The largest impact is documented on energy (fuel) and food commodities. Our results also suggest that the effect of ECB monetary policy on commodity prices transmits through the exchange rate channel, which influences European market demand.     

Exchange rate policy and imported inflation in a credit rationing economy

The paper assesses the effects of exchange rate policies and imported inflation in the case of Finland, which is a small open economy with underdeveloped financial markets. Under such circumstances interest rates do not necessarily equilibrate the credit market, so that a simplified theoretical disequilibrium model with credit rationing is first presented. In the second part of the paper the Bank of Finland quarterly econometric model for the Finnish economy is simulated. The most important conclusion to emerge from the simulations with the quarterly model is that the effects are highly dependent on the credit market conditions.     

Fiscal expansion, monetary policy, interest rate risk premia, and wage reactions

We examine the macroeconomic implications of fiscal policy in a small open economy, with emphasis on the interactions between fiscal, monetary and labour market policies. The paper uses the NBNZ-DEMONZ macroeconometric model. Novel features of the model are that it includes an endogenous interest rate risk premium (IRRP), and forward-looking monetary and fiscal policy reaction functions which capture the essence of New Zealand's Reserve Bank and Fiscal Responsibility Acts. The most important empirical result is that the postulated IRRP, proxying financial market mechanisms, can contribute at least as much as the monetary policy reaction function to maintaining price stability. Also of significance are that an income tax cuts package shows more damped real GDP and underlying inflation paths than does an expenditure increases equivalent; and that the inflationary and real sector impacts of a personal income tax cut package depend heavily on how the cut is `shared' between firms and workers. The nature and interdependence of monetary and fiscal policies and labour market conditions are therefore crucial to the macroeconomic outcomes.     

Managing real exchange rate for economic growth: Empirical evidences from developing countries

Abstract

This article analyses macroeconomic policies capable of influencing the long-run real exchange rate (RER). In this vein, it identifies economic policy tools that can devalue RER, covering a theoretical issue neglected by the economic literature, which argues that competitive exchange rate enhances growth. After discussing the “Trilemma,” we identify those variables that could affect RER without constraining monetary policy or exchange rate regime choice. In what follows, we model the probability of achieving an undervalued (small or large) RER for a sample of 14 developing countries from 1980 to 2010 (30?years) by applying econometric techniques for discrete choice and censored data. Afterwards, we compare the results for Latin American nations with Asian ones. They suggest that competitive exchange rate requires different approaches depending on the region. Moreover, Latin American countries need to take on additional policies so that interventions in the foreign exchange market become effective.     

负利率政策的传导渠道和有效性研究*

美国“次贷危机”之后全球经济深陷长期停滞状态,欧元区与日本相继实施负利率政策。负利率打破了政策利率零下限的教条,对现有理论提出了挑战。本文分析了负利率政策可能的传导渠道和影响负利率政策有效性的因素,并对现有的政策效果进行评估。本文发现负利率政策较容易对市场利率和汇率等金融市场变量产生影响;但就实体经济复苏而言,负利率政策成败的关键在于是否能有效增加贷款需求和供给。     

Monetary policy,endogenous transactions,and financial market segmentation

An endogenous financial market segmentation model is constructed to explore the role of costly credit as a medium of exchange in the monetary policy elasticity of financial market activity. Against inflation risk, credit is an alternative insurance device to a cash transfer from the financial market. In equilibrium, credit reduces the financial market activity rate. Monetary policy has redistributive effects across economic individuals. Inflation may not tax financial market non-participants. However, it may tax financial market participants by increasing the financial market activity rate. Welfare may increase and the optimal money growth rate can be positive.     

The role of exchange rate in inflation targeting: the case of Turkey

ABSTRACT

The role of the exchange rates in emerging market economies that have adopted inflation targeting (IT) is a critical and contentious issue in the relevant literature. This article investigates whether an exchange rate-augmented Taylor rule describes the Central Bank of Republic of Turkey’s (CBRT) monetary policy. Covering the period from 2002:1 to 2017:8 it also explores possible nonlinearities in the reaction function of the CBRT by employing a Threshold Vector Autoregressive (TVAR) model. The linear estimation of the model highlighted the importance of the exchange rate in monetary policy under IT. The results of the nonlinear model indicate that the stance of monetary policy was asymmetric with respect to exchange rate movements during the conventional IT period. However, the asymmetric monetary policy stance disappeared in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. Increasing considerations of financial stability undermined the asymmetric policy stance of the CBRT in the post-crisis period.     

Collateral and growth cycles with heterogeneous agents

We investigate the effects of collateral and monetary policy on economic growth within a Ramsey equilibrium model where agents have different discount factors. Introducing liquidity constraints in segmented markets where (poor) impatient agents without collateral have limited access to credit, we study their implications in terms of welfare and business cycles (based on deterministic cycles through bifurcations and self-fulfilling prophecies). We find that an accommodative monetary policy may be growth-enhancing and welfare-improving (through the inequality reduction) while making unpleasant fluctuations more likely. Conversely, a regulation reinforcing the role of collateral and tempering the financial market imperfections may stimulate the economic growth while pursuing the goal of stabilization.     

The 2014–15 Financial Crisis in Russia and the Foundations of Weak Monetary Power Autonomy in the International Political Economy

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to international political economy debates about the monetary power autonomy (MPA) of emerging market and developing countries (EMDs). The 2014–15 Russian financial crisis is used as a case study to explore why an accumulation of large international reserves does not provide protection against currency crises and macroeconomic adjustments in EMDs. The analysis centres on the interplay between two dimensions of MPA: the Power to Delay and the Power to Deflect adjustment costs. Two structural factors condition Russia’s low MPA. First, the country’s subordinated integration in global financial markets increases its financial vulnerability. The composition of external assets and liabilities, combined with cross-border capital flows, restrict the use of international reserves to delay currency crises. Second, the choice of a particular macroeconomic policy regime embraced the financialisation of the – mainly state-owned – Russian banking sector, thus making it difficult to transform liquidity inflows into credits for enterprises. Russia’s main comparative advantage, hydrocarbon export revenues, is not exploited. The type of economy created due to the post-Communist transition means that provided ‘excessive’ liquidity remains in the financial system and is channelled into currency arbitrage. This factor increases exchange rate vulnerability and undermines Russia’s MPA.     

The effectiveness of exchange-rate-based monetary policy: evidence from survey data

Singapore’s monetary policy is centred on the management of the exchange rate. We examine how macroeconomic forecasters perceive the effectiveness of this unconventional policy. We provide empirical evidence that forecasters’ expectations are consistent with a forward-looking exchange-rate-based Taylor-type policy rule. They expect monetary authorities to actively manage the currency against expected future changes in inflation and output.     

Portfolio flows and the US dollar–yen exchange rate

This paper investigates the effects of portfolio flows on the US dollar–Japanese yen exchange rate changes over the period 1988:01–2011:04. Using a time-varying transition probability Markov-switching framework, the results suggest that the impact of portfolio flows on the dollar–yen exchange rate changes is state-dependent. In particular, the results show that portfolio inflows from Japan toward the US, more than monetary variables, strengthen the probability of remaining in the dollar–yen appreciation (low volatility) state. Therefore, credit controls on the flows can be used as a policy tool to pursue economic and financial stability.     

Credit constraints in Italian industrial districts

Italy is characterized by strong differences both in the productive and in the financial structure. Small and medium firms tend to concentrate in the so called ‘Marshallian industrial district’, whose productive system has been thoroughly studied but whose financial features are partially overlooked. This paper aims at investigating how the location of a firm in an industrial district affects its ability to resort to external finance, mostly bank loans. The econometric analysis on a panel of 1700 firms over the 1989–1995 period shows that firms located inside industrial districts have an advantage in terms of financial relations with the banking system: both the cost of credit and the probability to face financial constraints are lower. Nevertheless, the cyclical pattern of this advantage is not in favour of district firms: following the tightening of monetary policy, increases in interest rates on bank loans are proportionally higher for firms inside the district; furthermore, also the advantage consisting in an easier access to credit market disappears after the 1992–1993 recession.     

美联储量化宽松政策对全球资产价格的非平衡溢出效应

本文采用全局向量自回归模型分析了美联储QE对采用不同货币政策框架、汇率制度和资本流动管理制度国家和地区的不同影响。“货币政策钉住货币供应量+宽松钉住汇率制度+资本账户可兑换”的国家其货币政策应兼顾本国物价水平稳定，同时加强宏观审慎政策对资产价格的逆周期调节，避免出现实体经济紧缩而金融繁荣的现象。“货币政策钉住通货膨胀+浮动汇率+资本账户可兑换”的国家应强化宏观审慎政策对资产价格的调节以应对金融资产泡沫。     

Information from financial markets and VAR measures of monetary policy

Exogenous measures of monetary policy shocks, directly derived from financial market information, are used in close (US) and open (US–Germany) economy VAR models to evaluate the robustness of the dynamic effect of monetary policy obtained from traditional identified VAR. The empirical analysis confirms the main features of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in US and Germany, explicitly addressing the issue of simultaneity between the German policy interest rate and the US dollar–DMark exchange rate.     

Even more on monetary policy in a small open economy

It is well known that in a small open economy with full capital mobility and a fixed exchange rate, monetary policy is ineffective in influencing real output (e.g. the works of Fleming [Int. Monetary Fund Staff Pap. 9 (1962) 369.] and Mundell [Can. J. Econ. Polit. Sci. 29 (1963) 475.]). However, Wu [Int. Rev. Econ. Finance 8 (1999) 223.] finds that when the credit channel is added to this model, monetary policy can have real effects under a fixed exchange rate system. This conclusion hinges on the assumption that open market operations have no effect on foreign exchange reserves of the central bank when evaluating how a change in monetary policy affects the loan market. This assumption is incorrect because under a fixed exchange rate regime, the quantity of foreign reserves becomes endogenous in the model. It is shown that when this assumption is relaxed, monetary policy is still ineffective in influencing output under a fixed exchange regime, even with an operative credit channel.