Monetary policy as bad medicine: The volatile relationship between business cycles and asset prices

Austrian business cycle theory has become an important point of focus in controversial mainstream discussions regarding the role of asset prices in monetary policy. In this article, the relation between asset prices and the Austrian business cycle theory is examined. The analysis focuses on how central banking supports optimism, resulting in the redirection of entrepreneurial activity and knowledge via asset price bubbles. The crucial role of credit expansion for asset price booms is also analyzed. Following this analysis, the implications for monetary policy are deduced.

Monetary policy with sticky prices and segmented markets

Summary. We consider a sticky-price model with segmented asset markets, and examine its implications for monetary policy. Our finding is, first, that the response of the money supply growth rate to a money demand shock required to stabilize inflation is not affected by the existence of a liquidity effect, but the response of the nominal interest rate is. Second, when the monetary authority adopts a Taylor rule, whether or not it should be active to obtain local determinacy of equilibria depends on the existence of a liquidity effect. Our results suggest that the monetary authority should be careful about the existence and the degree of a liquidity effect particularly when the nominal interest rate is used as the policy instrument.Received: 11 February 2004, Revised: 1 November 2004 JEL Classification Numbers: E3, E4, E5.     

The cost of capital,asset prices,and the effects of monetary policy

The primary objective of this paper is to study the interaction between monetary policy, asset prices, and the cost of capital. In particular, we explore this issue in a setting where individuals face idiosyncratic risk. Incomplete information also provides a transactions role for money so that monetary policy can be studied. In contrast to standard monetary growth models which focus on the transmission of monetary policy to the demand for capital goods, we incorporate a separate capital goods sector so that the supply response to monetary policy is taken into account. Consequently, in contrast to the standard monetary growth model, monetary policy plays an important role in investment activity through the relative price of capital goods. Moreover, different sources of productivity can affect the degree of risk sharing. Although the optimal money growth rate falls in response to an increase in productivity in either sector of the economy, monetary policy should react more aggressively to the level of productivity in the capital sector.     

Should monetary policy respond to asset price misalignments?

This paper analyses the relationship between monetary policy and asset prices using a structural rational expectations open economy model that allows for the effect of asset prices and exchange rates on aggregate demand. We assume that asset prices and exchange rates follow a partial adjustment mechanism whereas they are positively affected by past changes, thus allowing for ‘momentum trading’, while at the same time we allow for reversion towards fundamentals. We then conduct stochastic simulations using two alternative monetary policy rules, inflation-forecast targeting and the standard Taylor rule. The results indicate that, under both rules, interest rate setting that takes into account asset price misalignments leads to lower overall macroeconomic volatility, as measured by the postulated loss function of the central bank.     

Monetary policy with heterogeneous households and imperfect risk-sharing

This paper considers a sticky-price model with heterogeneous households and financial frictions. Financial frictions lead to imperfect risk-sharing among households with idiosyncratic labor incomes. I study implications of imperfect risk-sharing for optimal monetary policy by documenting its impacts on the monetary transmission mechanism, the inflation–output tradeoff faced by the central bank, the policy objective function, and the resulting targeting rule. The main finding is that while the central bank continues to have the conventional dual mandate — the output gap and inflation stabilization — it should place a greater weight on the later as the degree of financial frictions increases because price stability provides the additional benefit of reducing undesired consumption dispersion.     

货币需求稳定性、货币目标制与中国货币政策框架改革

稳定的货币需求是货币目标制有效发挥作用的前提条件。文章首先从理论上阐述了货币需求与货币目标制的内在关联。其次,基于协整理论与误差修正模型,利用1996-2011年季度数据实证检验了中国货币需求函数的稳定性。实证研究结果表明,中国长期货币需求函数和短期货币需求函数的系数都缺乏稳定性。货币需求函数的不稳定势必增加中国以货币供应量为中间目标的货币政策操作难度,从而导致现行货币目标制的有效性和适宜性不断降低。最后提出为提高货币政策框架的有效性,中国应择机引入通胀目标制。     

Monetary policy,heterogeneous population and inflation

Adding heterogeneity to an otherwise simple model results in a deviation from the Friedman rule. We show that a central bank concerned with inequality delivers an outcome below the Pareto frontier. Our results may shed light as to why central banks around the world do not follow the Friedman rule and instead deliver positive inflation rates. On the other hand, the calibrated model indicates that the implied optimal inflation rates are much higher than those observed in the data. One possible interpretation of our results is to question the recent wisdom of thinking of inequality as part of central banks’ concerns.     

流动性约束与货币政策的资产价格效应

本文在新凯恩斯主义分析框架下,基于一个动态随机模型探讨了代理人消费流动性约束下的货币政策的资产价格效应,得到下列结论：资产价格波动通过财富效应影响代理人的消费。以利率为操作目标的最优货币政策应对股价、房价等资产价格波动做出反应,而其反应强度依赖于受流动性约束的代理人所占的比重。由于资产价格波动导致了流动性约束的时变性,最优利率规则对股价、房价等资产价格波动的最优权重也具有时变性。本文的实证分析表明,我国央行对房价和股价波动的利率调整具有时变性,以及此次金融危机爆发期间显现的这种时变性特征,与本文理论分析结果相吻合。     

Monetary policy and consumers' demand

This paper puts to scrutiny the way monetary policy propagates its effects and the way it should be conducted, focusing on the behavior of consumers. Specifically, it considers a price elasticity of demand that increases with the level of consumption as is observed in the data. A realistic demand structure has remarkable implications for monetary policy. Three main results stand out. First, it can amplify the real effects of monetary and technology shocks. Second, it can weaken the ability of a simple Taylor rule to stabilize the economy. Third, it can attenuate the trade-off in the stabilization of output and inflation. These findings provide support to the notion of a dual mandate for the central bank. They are based on a novel mechanism of intertemporal substitution, whereby consumers have a weak incentive to smooth out the effects of income fluctuations. The mechanism lends itself to addressing questions of stabilization policy and business cycle analysis.     

Monetary policy,corporate profit and house prices

By using portfolio theory, we explain the highly observed correlation between the seemingly unrelated corporate profit and house prices in the United States. We test the predictions of the underlying model using a vector autoregression representation and find the data to be supportive of the theory. Monetary impulses explain high correlation as both corporate profit and house prices exhibit similar dynamics in response to a monetary impulse. Robustness checks are presented by using the federal funds rate instead of the monetary base as a measure of the stance of monetary policy and by using other model variations. In all cases, the results are robust.     

Monetary policy and credit flows

The paper assesses the impact of monetary policy shocks on credit reallocation and evaluates the importance of theoretical monetary policy transmission mechanisms. Compustat data covering 1974 through 2017 is used to compute quarterly measures of credit flows of borrowing firms. I find that expansionary monetary policy is associated with positive long-term credit creation and credit destruction (i.e. credit reallocation). This impact is larger for financially constrained firms and those that are perceived as relatively risky to the lender. This is predicted by the balance sheet channel of monetary policy and mechanisms that reduce lenders’ risk perceptions and increase the tendency to search for yield.     

International capital flows,liquidity risk,and monetary policy

In recent years, there has been a large amount of lending coming from the public sector of many developing countries. At the same time, the financial sectors in many advanced countries have issued a large share of portfolio debt to other countries. What are the implications of these events for the global financial system and overall economic activity? Do they have an impact on the transmission channels of monetary policy across countries at different stages of economic development? We investigate these important issues using a micro-founded model of money and banking so that the effects of monetary policy across countries can be meaningfully studied. Notably, the increase in capital outflows to the advanced economy renders monetary policy in developing countries to be less effective, while the effects of monetary policy in advanced economies are more pronounced. Yet, our results indicate that it can indeed be optimal for lower income countries to lend to the advanced world. Importantly, we find that the optimal amount of lending to advanced countries critically depends on the degree of liquidity risk — if it is sufficiently high, then public sector lending to advanced economies is not warranted. Consequently, our results indicate that governments in developing countries should carefully consider how much capital they send abroad to foreign countries.     

Determinacy, stock market dynamics and monetary policy inertia

We study equilibrium determinacy in a New-Keynesian model where the Central Bank responds to asset prices growth. Unlike Taylor-type rules that react to asset prices, the proposed alternative does not harm dynamic stability and in certain cases promotes determinacy by inducing interest-rate inertia.     

Monetary confidence and asset prices

Three issues are studied in this paper: the existence of sunspot equilibria; the excessive volatility of asset prices; and the possibility that assets may be undervalued relative to their market fundamentals. We show that (i) stationary sunspot equilibria exist in a very general environment; (ii) asset prices may fluctuate despite a constant stream of dividends; and (iii) assets may be undervalued. JEL: 021, 023, 131.     

Robust asset prices with bubbles

We generally establish equilibrium asset prices than can include price bubbles yet (a) be robust to truncations of the economy and (b) exclude trade in non-consumables, like money, stock certificates, or land deeds.     

Monetary policy,fiscal policy and cross signal jamming

This paper considers the issue of rule versus discretion when the central bank and the government share private information but have different preferences over inflation and output. We demonstrate that if the monetary policy is rule-based, Intuitive Criterion selects the unique separating equilibrium in which the central bank signals a low supply shock by a low interest rate. Interestingly, discretion may be better than the rule for the central bank, contrary to the case of complete information. Also, we examine the effect of information asymmetry on the monetary and fiscal policy mix. We show that cross signal jamming whereby the monetary authority and the fiscal authority successfully jams an unfavorable signal of each other does not occur in equilibrium.     

流动性影响资产价格与消费价格的传导机制

对我国1998年1季度到2009年1季度的资产价格与消费价格的波动进行实证分析,发现货币供应量增加首先带来房地产价格上升,约两年后,消费价格指数开始上升,说明货币供应通过资产价格再传导到消费价格。在当前流动性再次增加的情况下,要考虑其对资产价格及通货膨胀预期的影响,并可实行分类增加信贷的政策,防止资产价格泡沫化。     

Optimal fiscal policy in a world liquidity trap

We construct a model of the international transmission of ‘liquidity trap’ shocks, and examine the case for international coordination of fiscal policy to respond to the liquidity trap. Integrated financial markets tend to propagate liquidity traps. In a global environment, fiscal policy may be effective in raising GDP when the economy is stuck in a liquidity trap, but it does so in a ‘beggar thy neighbor’ fashion; when one economy is in a liquidity trap, the cross country spillover effect of fiscal policy is negative. We examine the welfare optimizing policy response to a liquidity trap when countries coordinate on fiscal policy. Fiscal policy may be an effective tool in responding to a liquidity trap, although it is never optimal to use fiscal expansion sufficiently to fully eliminate a downturn. Moreover, there is little case for coordinated global fiscal expansion. For the most part, the country worst hit by a liquidity trap shock should use its own policies to respond, without much help from foreign policies.     

Monetary policy and long-term US interest rates

This paper assesses the effect of federal funds rate innovations on longer-term US nominal interest rates across different periods. The evidence suggests that these responses change with changes in the monetary policy regime. Time periods considered are pre- and post-1979 and different Federal Reserve Chairman’s tenure. The response of longer-term interest rates to federal funds rate innovations are shown to be smaller and less persistent in the post-1979 period when the Federal Reserve placed more emphasis on inflation.     

Monetary policy design and transmission asymmetry in EMU: Does uncertainty matter?

In this paper, we consider how uncertainty affects the choice between federal monetary policy based on national and union-wide aggregate data under conditions of asymmetry in the transmission of monetary policy. We find that the uncertainty about the transmission process sustains (and, in some cases, even reinforces) the need to take into account information about national economies in the formulation of monetary policy. Also the forecasting process matters when uncertainty is additive: in particular, when union-wide forecasting is more accurate than national-based forecasting, this advantage can compensate for the welfare loss from using union-wide aggregation. There is, however, a strong case for using national information in the optimal design of common monetary policy.