Do central banks respond to exchange rate movements? A structural investigation

We estimate a small-scale, structural general equilibrium model of a small open economy using Bayesian methods. Our main focus is the conduct of monetary policy in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. We consider generic Taylor-type rules, where the monetary authority reacts in response to output, inflation, and exchange-rate movements. We perform posterior odds tests to investigate the hypothesis whether central banks do target exchange rates. The main result of this paper is that the central banks of Australia and New Zealand do not, whereas the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England do include the nominal exchange rate in its policy rule. This result is robust for various specification of the policy rule. We also find that terms-of-trade movements do not contribute significantly to domestic business cycles.     

Real Sector Shocks and Monetary Policy Responses in a Financially Vulnerable Emerging Economy

When analyzing the appropriate response for monetary policy during a currency crisis, it is important to keep in mind two distinct channels: the effect of raising interest rates on exchange rates and the direct effect of exchange rate changes on output. The first pertains to the monetary side of the economy as given by the interest parity condition. The second pertains to the real side of the economy. The interaction between these two parts of the economy derives the equilibrium output and exchange rate in the economy. This paper expands on the Aghion et al. (2000) monetary model with nominal rigidities and foreign currency debt, to examine the interaction between the real and monetary sides of the economy and to analyze the effect of monetary policy on the real economy. We find that the effect of monetary policy on exchange rate and output is theoretically ambiguous. This in turn suggests that the appropriate monetary policy response could vary among countries at any point in time, or for a particular country between two different periods.     

Identifying sources of macroeconomic and exchange rate fluctuations in the UK

Using quarterly data for the period 1985:1–2011:1, this paper uses a stylised, open economy, structural VAR model to identify the types of shocks responsible for macroeconomic fluctuations in the UK economy. The stylised model implies a set of short-run restrictions that allow for the identification of the shocks. The importance of each shock is determined by examining forecast-error variance decompositions, impulse response functions, and implied long-run (or permanent) effects. The results presented here imply that two shocks (called the technology and IS shocks) are relatively more important than other shocks. Monetary shocks do exhibit long-run monetary neutrality, but clearly monetary policy is not responsible for a meaningful share of output and employment fluctuations during the sample period. The estimated VAR and structural disturbances imply that the model accurately reflects the UK economy. There is little evidence of a price puzzle or an exchange rate puzzle (evidence against uncovered interest rate parity) in response to an unexpected monetary policy tightening.     

Evolving Macroeconomic Dynamics in a Small Open Economy: An Estimated Markov Switching DSGE Model for the UK

This paper investigates the possibility of shifts in the UK economy using a Markov switching open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. We find overwhelming evidence to reject the hypothesis that the deep structural parameters of the underlying structural model had stayed constant throughout the sample period and there is significant changes to the volatility of the structural shocks. Counterfactual experiments based on the model with the best empirical fit indicate that the change in the policy rule as well as changes to the volatility of the structural shocks over the sample period are crucial features in explaining UK’s macroeconomic performance.     

UK Stock Returns and the Impact of Domestic Monetary Policy Shocks

Abstract:  We investigate the influence of changes in UK monetary policy on UK stock returns and the possible reasons behind such a response. Firstly, we conduct an event study to assess the impact of unexpected changes in monetary policy on aggregate and sectoral stock returns. The decomposition of unexpected changes in the policy rate is based on futures markets data. Secondly, using a variance decomposition in the spirit of Campbell (1991) we attempt to identity the channels behind the response of stock returns to monetary policy surprises. The variance decomposition results indicate that the monetary policy shock leads to a persistent negative response in terms of future excess returns for a number of sectors.     

Modelling credit in the transmission mechanism of the United Kingdom

Studies have focused heavily on money in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. In this article we explore the empirical importance of credit. The paper provides a framework in which to analyse the balance sheets of, and financial flows between, different sectors of the UK economy, and an econometric model of the interactions between non-financial firms, households and credit offered by banks and non-bank financial intermediaries. The paper also provides a dynamic structural model of bank and building society credit, money and decisions to consume and invest and then adds credit from non-bank financial intermediaries. Our bottom line is that credit is an important part of the transmission process of UK monetary policy.     

我国货币政策信贷传导渠道的实证分析

为应对国际金融危机的挑战和解决国内经济运行中的突出矛盾,我国的货币政策已发生了根本性的转变,即从偏紧缩的政策转为促进经济增长的适度宽松的政策。本文通过采用向量自回归模型、冲击反应分析和预期误差项方差分解等方法,发现信贷传导渠道是我国货币政策的重要传导渠道,并且信贷传导渠道具有有效性。     

The Effects of Monetary Policy on Unemployment Dynamics under Model Uncertainty: Evidence from the United States and the Euro Area

This paper explores the role that the imperfect knowledge of the structure of the economy plays in the uncertainty surrounding the effects of rule-based monetary policy on unemployment dynamics in the euro area and the United States. We employ a Bayesian model averaging procedure on a wide range of models which differ in several dimensions to account for the uncertainty that the policymaker faces when setting the monetary policy and evaluating its effect on real economy. We find evidence of a high degree of dispersion across models in both policy rule parameters and impulse response functions. Moreover, monetary policy shocks have very similar recessionary effects on the two economies with a different role played by the participation rate in the transmission mechanism. Finally, we show that a policymaker who does not take model uncertainty into account and selects the results on the basis of a single model may come to misleading conclusions not only about the transmission mechanism, but also about the differences between the euro area and the United States, which are on average essentially small.     

Monetary policy and macroeconomic stability in Latin America: The cases of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico

In 1999, new monetary policy regimes were adopted in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, combining inflation targeting with floating exchange rates. These regime changes have been accompanied by lower volatility in the monetary stance in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, despite higher inflation volatility in Brazil and Colombia. This paper estimates a conventional New Keynesian model for these four countries and shows that: i) the post-1999 regime has been associated with greater responsiveness by the monetary authority to changes in expected inflation in Brazil and Chile, while in Colombia and Mexico monetary policy has become less counter-cyclical, ii) lower interest-rate volatility in the post-1999 period owes more to a benign economic environment than to a change in the policy setting, and iii) the change in the monetary regime has not yet resulted in a reduction in output volatility in these countries.     

Optimal Monetary Policy and Transparency under Informational Frictions

This paper examines the optimal monetary policy and central bank transparency in an economy where firms set prices under informational frictions. The economy is subject to two types of shocks determining the efficient output level and firms' desired markups. To minimize the welfare‐reducing output gap and price dispersion between firms, the central bank controls firms' incentives and expectations by using a monetary instrument and disclosing information on the realized shocks. This paper shows that an optimal policy comprises the disclosure of a linear combination of the two shocks and the adjustment of monetary instruments contingent on the disclosed information.     

英国经济的现实困境与复苏前景

文章综合GDP增长、主权债务占比、银行业风险及房地产市场调整等多方面的情况,分析了当前英国经济面临的现实困境,指出英国经济的复苏,需要扭转过度依赖金融业发展的局面,需要政府部门在谨慎把握货币宽松与通货膨胀、财政紧缩与经济增长之间平衡的条件下积极推进经济结构调整。尽管复苏前景不甚明朗,但是由于英镑与欧元截然不同的货币体制以及英、美微妙的同盟关系,英国料将不会成为下一个希腊。     

货币政策能够兼顾“稳增长”与“稳杠杆”双重目标吗？——基于不同杠杆环境的比较

在经济发展新阶段,货币政策如何更好地兼顾“稳增长”与“稳杠杆”双重目标是需要研究的重要问题。为此,本文构建了一个含有高杠杆特征的动态一般均衡模型进行理论分析,并在此基础上利用状态依存的局部投影方法进行实证检验。研究发现,正常时期与高杠杆时期货币政策效果显著不同。正常时期,面对经济下行压力,宽松货币政策冲击能够较好地促进经济扩张并保证宏观杠杆率稳定,从而兼顾“稳增长”与“稳杠杆”。在高杠杆时期,宽松货币政策的“稳增长”效果显著弱于正常时期,而且还会推高宏观杠杆率,从而也难以实现“稳杠杆”目标。原因在于,高杠杆下更多的负债主体因偿债压力陷入“借新还旧”状态中,阻塞了货币政策的有效传导,降低了政策调控效率。     

Identifying Monetary Policy Shocks via Changes in Volatility

A central issue of monetary policy analysis is the specification of monetary policy shocks. In a structural vector autoregressive setting there has been some controversy about which restrictions to use for identifying the shocks because standard theories do not provide enough information to fully identify monetary policy shocks. In fact, to compare different theories it would even be desirable to have over-identifying restrictions that would make statistical tests of different theories possible. It is pointed out that some progress toward over-identifying monetary policy shocks can be made by using specific data properties. In particular, it is shown that changes in the volatility of the shocks can be used for identification. Based on monthly U.S. data from 1965 to 1996 different theories are tested and it is found that associating monetary policy shocks with shocks to nonborrowed reserves leads to a particularly strong rejection of the model whereas assuming that the Fed accommodates demand shocks to total reserves cannot be rejected.     

International monetary policy spillovers through the bank funding channel

In this paper, we examine the international transmission of monetary policies of major advanced economies (US, UK, euro area) through banks in Austria and Germany. In particular, we compare the role of banks’ funding structure, broken down by country of origin as well as by currency denomination, in the international transmission of monetary policy changes to bank lending. We find weak evidence for inward spillovers through a bank funding channel. The more a bank is funded in US dollars, the more its domestic real sector lending is affected by monetary policy changes in the US. This effect is more pronounced in Germany than in Austria. We do not find evidence for outward spillovers of euro area monetary policy.     

Demand for money in open economies

The demand for real cash balances deduced from an underlying portfolio model of the financial market is shown to depend upon domestic variables and foreign monetary developments. The model is estimated using quarterly postwar data for Canada, Germany, UK and US. There is clear evidence that demand for money is affected not only by changes in domestic variables such as permanent income, domestic interest rate and price expectations but also by fluctuations in exchange rate expectations and foreign interest rates. The conclusion, that domestic monetary policy is fairly ineffective and domestic financial markets are highly vulnerable to changes in foreign financial and monetary developments need to be modified in light of the results presented in this paper.     

Financial Frictions,Financial Shocks,and Aggregate Volatility

The Great Moderation was accompanied by an increase in financial volatility. We explore the sources of these divergent patterns in volatilities by estimating a model with time‐varying financial rigidities subject to structural breaks in the size of shocks, the monetary policy rule coefficients, and the average size of the financial rigidity. Institutional changes are key in accounting for the Great Moderation and in shaping the transmission mechanism of financial shocks. The increase in financial volatilities is accounted for by larger financial shocks, but the vulnerability of the economy to these shocks is significantly alleviated by the estimated changes in institutions.     

The Empirics of International Monetary Transmission: Identification and the Impossible Trinity

The transmission of monetary policy across borders is central to many open economy models. Research has tried to evaluate the “impossible trinity” through estimating international interest rate linkages under alternative exchange rate regimes using realized base country interest rates. Such interest rates include anticipated and endogenous elements, which need not propagate internationally. We compare international interest rate responses under pegged and non‐pegged regimes to identified, unanticipated, and exogenous U.S. interest rate changes and realized U.S. interest rate changes. We find important differences in estimated transmission from the two sets of measures—identified interest rate changes demonstrate a greater concordance with the impossible trinity than realized rate changes.     

The international transmission of monetary policy through financial centres: Evidence from the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

This paper explores the cross-border transmission of monetary policy by comparing and contrasting the results for two major international financial centres: Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. We examine the effect of monetary policy in the USA, euro area and Japan, on banks’ domestic lending behaviour. Using individual bank-level data we find that financial connections – in the form of lending to and borrowing from the country which changes monetary policy - play an important role in the transmission of foreign monetary policy. We are able to establish evidence for both a bank funding and bank portfolio channel of monetary policy, for both Hong Kong and the UK. These results contrast to the largely inconclusive results from previous studies, whose aggregate nature may have masked offsetting individual bank effects.     

Optimal Monetary Policy in an Operational Medium‐Sized DSGE Model

We show how to construct optimal policy projections in Ramses, the Riksbank’s open‐economy medium‐sized dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model for forecasting and policy analysis. Bayesian estimation of the parameters of the model indicates that they are relatively invariant to alternative policy assumptions and supports our view that the model parameters may be regarded as unaffected by the monetary policy specification. We discuss how monetary policy, and in particular the choice of output gap measure, affects the transmission of shocks. Finally, we use the model to assess the recent Great Recession in the world economy and how its impact on the economic development in Sweden depends on the conduct of monetary policy. This provides an illustration on how Rames incoporates large international spillover effects.