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on Monetary Economics |
| By: | Cesa-Bianchi, Ambrogio (Bank of England and Centre for Macroeconomics); Kumhof, Michael (Bank of England, CEPR and Centre for Macroeconomics); Sokol, Andrej (European Central Bank, Bank of England and Centre for Macroeconomics); Thwaites, Gregory (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | We study exchange rate determination in a 2-country model where domestic banks create each economy’s supply of domestic and foreign currency. The model combines the UIP-based and monetary theories of exchange rate determination, but the latter with a focus on private rather than public money creation. The model features an endogenous monetary spread or excess return in the UIP condition. This spread experiences sizeable changes when shocks affect the relative supplies (of bank loans) or demands (for bank deposits) of the two currencies. Under such shocks, monetary effects dominate traditional UIP effects in the determination of exchange rates and allocations, and this becomes stronger as domestic and foreign currencies become more imperfect substitutes. With these shocks, the model successfully addresses the UIP puzzle, and it is also consistent with the Meese-Rogoff and PPP puzzles. |
| Keywords: | Bank lending; money creation; money demand; endogenous money; uncovered interest parity; exchange rate determination; international capital flows; gross capital flows |
| JEL: | E44 E51 F41 F44 |
| Date: | 2019–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0817&r=all |
| By: | Etienne Vaccaro-Grange (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, EHESS, Ecole Centrale, AMSE, Marseille, France.) |
| Abstract: | The transmission of Quantitative Easing to aggregate macroeconomic variables through the yield curve is disentangled in two yield channels: the term premium channel, captured by a term premium series, and the signaling channel, that corresponds to the interest rate expectations counterpart. Both yield components are extracted from a term structure model and plugged into a Structural VAR with Euro Area macroeconomic variables in which shocks are identified using sign restrictions. With this set-up, I show how the central bank can use the term premium as a single monetary policy instrument to foster output and prices. However, I also show that there has been a cost channel in the transmission of QE to inflation between 2015 and 2017. This cost channel provides a new explanation as to why inflation has been so muted during this period, despite the easing monetary environment. Finally, a policy rule for the term premium is estimated. |
| Keywords: | quantitative easing, shadow-rate term structure model, BVAR, sign restrictions |
| JEL: | C32 E43 E44 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1932&r=all |
| By: | Eichengreen, Barry; Mathieson, Donald J. |
| Abstract: | The management of international reserves remains one of the understudied aspects of the international monetary system. There are now a number of reasons why this should change. On the supply side of the market there is the advent of the euro, creating a full-fledged rival to the dollar for the first time in more than 50 years. The existence of this attractive alternative, it is said, will produce major shifts in the currency composition of international reserves, requiring large movements in the euro-dollar exchange rate to restore equilibrium to international financial markets. On the demand side there is the rush by industrial-country central banks out of gold and changes in the trade relations, capital account restrictions, and exchange rate regimes of developing countries, which may have important repercussions for the composition of their reserves. A number these issues have been addressed in the recent literature. But one of them-their impact on the currency composition of reserves-has not been systematically addressed. We therefore analyse recent trends in currency composition in this paper, with special attention to emerging markets, where the impact of changes in the international financial environment is especially far-reaching, and with special reference to the euro, perhaps the single most important event on the reserve-currency scene. Our single most important finding is the striking stability over time not just of the currency composition of reserves but also of the relationship between the demand for reserves denominated in different currencies and its principal determinants: trade flows, financial flows and currency pegs. This is not something that would have been predicted from recent contributions to the literature, which have forecast sharp shifts in the currency composition of central banks' holdings of foreign exchange. The message would seem to be that in this, as in other respects, the international monetary system is in a mode of gradual, continuous evolution, not of rapid, discontinuous change. For the same reasons that, say, the share of countries operating a particular exchange rate arrangement tends to evolve gradually (rather than to shift all at once in response to some grand scheme for a new Bretton Woods or a global system of target zones), the composition of reserves similarly appears to evolve only gradually, despite the existence of quite marked changes in the wider financial environment. If the right metaphor is punctuated equilibrium, then we would appear to be in one of those long periods between punctuation marks. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295509&r=all |
| By: | Florian, Huber (University of Salzburg); Kaufmann, Daniel (Université de Neuchâtel) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a multivariate unobserved components stochastic volatility model to explain the dynamics of a panel of six exchange rates against the US Dollar. The empirical model is based on the assumption that both countries’ monetary policy strategies may be well described by Taylor rules with a time-varying inflation target, a time-varying natural rate of unemployment, and interest rate smoothing. Compared to the existing literature, our model simultaneously provides estimates of the latent components included in a typical Taylor rule specification and the model-based real exchange rate. Our estimates closely track major movements along with important time series properties of real and nominal exchange rates across all currencies considered, outperforming a benchmark model that does not account for changes in trend inflation and trend unemployment. More precisely, the proposed approach improves upon competing models in tracking the actual evolution of the real exchange rate in terms of simple correlations while it appreciably improves upon simpler competitors in terms of matching the persistence of the real exchange rate. |
| Keywords: | Exchange rate models; trend inflation; natural rate of unemployment; Taylor rule; unobserved components stochastic volatility model |
| JEL: | E31 E52 F31 F41 |
| Date: | 2019–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sbgwpe:2019_004&r=all |
| By: | Anna Bartocci (Bank of Italy); Alessandro Notarpietro (Bank of Italy); Massimiliano Pisani (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the macroeconomic effects of long-term sovereign bond purchases by the central bank in the ‘New Normal’, i.e. in an economy with a low equilibrium real interest rate and a high probability of hitting the zero lower bound (ZLB) on the short-term policy rate. Our analysis is based on the simulations of a dynamic general equilibrium model for the euro area. The main results are the following. First, long-term sovereign bond purchases reacting to a positive inflation gap help stabilize macroeconomic conditions when the monetary policy rate hits the ZLB. Second, these purchases are an effective stabilization tool following positive shocks to the sovereign term premium (financial shocks) and negative shocks to aggregate demand (real shocks). Third, purchases that also react to the long-term rates are effective in the case of recessionary financial shocks but not in the case of recessionary real shocks and fourth, to stabilize the effects of expansionary shocks, the central bank can increase the short-term monetary policy rate according to an ‘aggressive’ Taylor rule, instead of selling long-term sovereign bonds. |
| Keywords: | euro area, non-standard monetary policy, zero lower bound |
| JEL: | E31 E32 E58 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1251_19&r=all |
| By: | Gogas, Periklis (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Papadimitriou, Theophilos (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Sofianos, Emmanouil (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The issue of whether or not money affects real economic activity (money neutrality) has attracted significant empirical attention over the last five decades. If money is neutral even in the short-run, then monetary policy is ineffective and its role limited. If money matters, it will be able to forecast real economic activity. In this study, we test the traditional simple sum monetary aggregates that are commonly used by central banks all over the world and also the theoretically correct Divisia monetary aggregates proposed by the Barnett Critique (Chrystal and MacDonald, 1994; Belongia and Ireland, 2014), both in three levels of aggregation: M1, M2, and M3. We use them to directionally forecast the Eurocoin index: A monthly index that measures the growth rate of the euro area GDP. The data span from January 2001 to June 2018. The forecasting methodology we employ is support vector machines (SVM) from the area of machine learning. The empirical results show that: (a) The Divisia monetary aggregates outperform the simple sum ones and (b) both monetary aggregates can directionally forecast the Eurocoin index reaching the highest accuracy of 82.05% providing evidence against money neutrality even in the short term. |
| Keywords: | Eurocoin; simple sum; Divisia; SVM; machine learning; forecasting; money neutrality |
| JEL: | E00 E27 E42 E51 E58 |
| Date: | 2019–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:duthrp:2016_004&r=all |
| By: | Proettel, Thorsten |
| Abstract: | The objective of this discussion paper is to explore the consequences for monetary policy from the establishment of an international digital currency modeled like Libra. For this purpose, a basic assessment of the behavior of economic agents is conducted and possible conflicts with monetary policy are analyzed. Furthermore, a simple approach is developed to estimate the nature and extent of vulnerability for 42 currencies. The results suggest that currencies from developing countries and from developed nations are vulnerable in different ways. In the end, a stronger convergence of central bank policies could result. Thus, the introduction of an international digital currency represents a turning point for monetary policy. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy,digital currency,blockchain,effective lower bound |
| JEL: | E42 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:112019&r=all |
| By: | Martin Bodenstein; James Hebden; Fabian Winkler |
| Abstract: | Monetary policy strategies that target the price level have been advocated as a more effective way to provide economic stimulus in a deep recession when conventional monetary policy is limited by the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. Yet, the effectiveness of these strategies depends on a central bank's ability to steer agents' expectations about the future path of the policy rate. We develop a flexible method of learning about the central bank's policy rule from observed interest rates that takes into account the limited informational content at the zero lower bound. When agents learn, switching from an inflation targeting to a price-level targeting strategy at the onset of a recession does not yield the desired stabilization benefits. These benefits only materialize after the policy rule has been in place for a sufficiently long time. Temporary price-level targeting strategies are likely to be much less effective than their permanent counterparts. |
| Keywords: | Zero lower bound ; Imperfect information ; Learning ; Price level targeting |
| JEL: | E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2019-78&r=all |
| By: | Marcelo Rezende; Judit Temesvary; Rebecca Zarutskie |
| Abstract: | In this note, we empirically assess whether changes in the interest on excess reserves (IOER) rate and changes in the spread between the IOER rate and the effective federal funds rate (EFFR) have affected banks’ reserve holdings and lending, controlling for changes in the stance of monetary policy and other macroeconomic conditions. |
| Date: | 2019–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2019-10-18&r=all |
| By: | Heather D. Gibson (Bank of Greece); Stephen G. Hall (University of Leicester, Bank of Greece and University of Pretoria); Pavlos Petroulas (Bank of Greece); George S. Tavlas (Bank of Greece and University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | The euro-area financial crisis that erupted in 2009 was marked by negative confidence effects that had both domestic and international ramifications. Domestically, bank lending declined sharply. Internationally, the demand for the euro as a reserve currency fell precipitously. We investigate the effects of ECB policies on banks’ lending, taking account of national and regional spillovers. We also assess the effects of ECB policies on euro reserve holdings. The results suggest that those policies were important for rebuilding confidence, thus supporting both bank lending and the use of the euro as a reserve asset. |
| Keywords: | euro area financial crisis; monetary policy operations; European banks; spatial panel model |
| JEL: | E3 G01 G14 G21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bog:wpaper:270&r=all |
| By: | Huber, Florian (University of Salzburg); Rabithsc, Katrin (WU Wien) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we reconsider the question how monetary policy influences exchange rate dynamics. To this end, a vector autoregressive (VAR) model is combined with a two country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. Instead of focusing exclusively on how monetary policy shocks affect the level of exchange rates, we also analyze how they impact exchange rate volatility. Since exchange rate volatility is not observed, we estimate it alongside the remaining quantities in the model. Our findings can be summarized as follows. Contractionary monetary policy shocks lead to an appreciation of the home currency, with exchange rate responses in the short-run typically undershooting their long-run level of appreciation. They also lead to an increase in exchange rate volatility. Historical and forecast error variance decompositions indicate that monetary policy shocks explain an appreciable amount of exchange rate movements and the corresponding volatility. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy; Exchange rate overshooting; stochastic volatility modeling; DSGE priors |
| JEL: | E43 E52 F31 |
| Date: | 2019–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sbgwpe:2019_005&r=all |
| By: | Eguren-Martin, Fernando (Bank of England); Sokol, Andrej (European Central Bank, Bank of England and CfM) |
| Abstract: | We document how the entire distribution of exchange rate returns responds to changes in global financial conditions. We measure global financial conditions as the common component of country-specific financial condition indices, computed consistently across a large panel of developed and emerging economies. Based on quantile regression results, we provide a characterisation and ranking of the tail behaviour of a large sample of currencies in response to a tightening of global financial conditions, corroborating some of the prevailing narratives about safe haven and risky currencies. We then carry out a portfolio sorting exercise to identify the macroeconomic fundamentals associated with such different tail behaviour, and find that currency portfolios sorted on the basis of relative interest rates, current account balances and levels of international reserves display a higher likelihood of large losses in response to a tightening of global financial conditions. |
| Keywords: | Exchange rates; tail risks; financial conditions indices; global financial cycle; quantile regression |
| JEL: | F31 G15 |
| Date: | 2019–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0822&r=all |
| By: | Guofeng Sun |
| Abstract: | Banks' shadow, or money creation by banks beyond traditional loans, plays an important role in China's money-creation process, posing a number of challenges to monetary policy operations and financial risk management. This paper analyzes the money-creation mechanisms of China's shadow banking sector in detail, provides accurate measurements, investigates its effects on financial risk, and surveys recent regulation. To strengthen supervision, China's regulators should closely track the evolution of various shadow banking channels, both on- and off-balance sheet. Specific macroprudential regulation tools, such as asset reserves and risk reserves, should be applied separately to banks' shadow and traditional shadow banking. |
| Keywords: | banks' shadow, traditional shadow banking, credit money creation, bank accounting, regulation |
| JEL: | E44 E51 G28 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:822&r=all |
| By: | Antoine Mandel (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics; https://centredeconomiesorbonne.univ-paris1.fr); Vipin P. Veetil (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras) |
| Abstract: | We develop a tractable model of out-of-equilibrium dynamics in a general equilibrium economy with cash-in-advance constraints. The dynamics emerge from local interactions between firms governed by the production network underlying the economy. We analytically characterise the influence of network structure on the propagation of monetary shocks. In the long run, the model converges to general equilibrium and the quantity theory of money holds. In the short run, monetary shocks propagate upstream via nominal demand changes and downstream via real supply changes. Lags in the evolution of supply and demand at the micro level can give rise to arbitrary dynamics of the distribution of prices. Our model explains the long standing Price Puzzle: a temporary rise in the price level in response to monetary contractions. The Price Puzzle emerges under two assumptions about downstream firms: they are disproportionally affected by monetary contractions and they account for a sufficiently small share of the wage bill. Empirical evidence supports the two assumptions for the US economy. Our model calibrated to the US economy using a data set of more than fifty thousand firms generates the empirically observed magnitude of the price level rise after monetary contractions |
| Keywords: | Price Puzzle; Production Network; Money; Monetary Non-Neutrality; Out-of-Equilibrium Dynamics |
| JEL: | C63 C67 D80 E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:19021&r=all |
| By: | Rüth, Sebastian K. |
| Abstract: | How do nominal exchange rates adjust after surprise contractions in monetary policy? While the seminal contribution by Dornbusch provides concise predictions -exchange rates appreciate, i.e., overshoot on impact before depreciating gradually - empirical support for his hypothesis is at best mixed. I argue that the failure to discover overshooting may result from assumptions researchers have imposed to recover structural VARs. Specifically, simultaneous feedback effects between interest rates and exchange rates, which are inherently forward-looking variables, are often excluded or modeled alongside with strong restrictions. In this paper, I identify U.S. monetary policy shocks using surprises in Federal funds futures around policy announcements as external instruments, which recent literature has established to represent the appropriate laboratory in settings encompassing macroeconomic and financial variables. Resulting adjustments of the dollar, conditional on shifts in policy, generally align with Dornbusch's predictions during the post-Bretton-Woods era, including Volcker's tenure as Fed Chair. |
| Keywords: | Nominal exchange rate; monetary policy shock; external instrument; structural vector autoregression |
| Date: | 2019–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0673&r=all |
| By: | D’Amico, Stefania (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago); Kaminska, Iryna (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | Using security-level data, we analyse the effects of the Bank of England’s multiple rounds of gilt purchases (aka Quantitative Easing, QE) and its Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme (aka Credit Easing, CE) on corporate bond prices and issuance. This allows direct estimation of (i) QE’s cross-asset supply effects and (ii) the joint supply effects of QE and CE. We show that in the case of QE alone, the pass-through of the gilt supply shock to corporate bond prices is significant, is larger in the longer-run than at announcement, and is often limited to the default-free component of the corporate yield. In the case of the joint conduct of QE and CE, we find that the CE is more effective than QE in reducing credit spreads, especially for higher-rated bonds, and in stimulating corporate bond issuance, which responds quite rapidly to the corporate bond supply shock. |
| Keywords: | Quantitative easing; Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme; monetary transmission mechanism; corporate bonds |
| JEL: | E52 E58 E65 G12 |
| Date: | 2019–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0825&r=all |
| By: | Timothy S. Hills; Taisuke Nakata; Sebastian Schmidt |
| Abstract: | Even when the policy rate is currently not constrained by its effective lower bound (ELB), the possibility that the policy rate will become constrained in the future lowers today's inflation by creating tail risk in future inflation and thus reducing expected inflation. In an empirically rich model calibrated to match key features of the U.S. economy, we find that the tail risk induced by the ELB causes inflation to undershoot the target rate of 2 percent by as much as 50 basis points at the economy's risky steady state. Our model suggests that achieving the inflation target may be more difficult now than before the Great Recession, if the likely decline in long-run neutral rates has led households and firms to revise up their estimate of the frequency of future ELB events. |
| Keywords: | Deflationary Bias ; Disinflation ; Effective Lower Bound ; Inflation Targeting ; Risky Steady State ; Tail Risk |
| JEL: | E32 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2019-77&r=all |
| By: | Dvoskin, Ariel (National University of San Martín); Feldman, Germán David (National University of San Martín) |
| Abstract: | We critically review the previous attempts to introduce money and finance into Sraffa’s price system, whose main difference is, we argue, their conception of the interest rate, either as an opportunity cost or as an effective cost of production. We examine the implications on three different grounds: (i) the formal consistency of the system; (ii) the possibilities to explicitly treat the financial industry as any other productive sector; and (iii) the validity of the so-called “monetary theory of distribution” (MTD). We then suggest a possible route, inspired by Schumpeter’s ideas on economic development, to introduce the banking sector through its role of granting credit to innovation. Unlike previous contributions, this reformulation allows us both to justify the basic nature of the financial sector and simultaneously preserve the validity of MTD. |
| Keywords: | Banking industry; Innovation; Monetary theory of distribution; Sraffa; Surplus approach. |
| JEL: | E11 E43 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0037&r=all |
| By: | Joseph Halevi (University College of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This essay deals with the EMS experience and its failure, with the Maastricht Treaty, and with the interregnum leading to the formation of the EMU in 1999. The paper highlights the position of German authorities, showing that they were quite lucid about the fundamental weaknesses inherent in a process that separated monetary from fiscal policies by giving priority to the centralization of the former. Instead of repeating the well known critiques leveled against the EMU '96 for which readers are referred to the unsurpassed treatment by Stiglitz, the essay highlights the splintering of Europe in the way in which it has unfolded during the 1990s and in the first decade of the present millennium. In particular the early economic and political origins of the terminal crisis of Italy are located between the late 1980s and the 1990s. France is shown to belong increasingly to the so-called European periphery by virtue of a weakening industrial structure and persistent balance of payments deficits. The paper argues that France regains its central role by political means and through its weight as an active nuclear military power centered on maintaining its imperial interests and posture especially in Africa. The first decade of the present millennium is portrayed as the period in which a distinct German economic area had been formed in the midst of Europe with a strong drive to the east with an increasingly powerful gravitational pull towards the People '92s Republic of China. |
| Keywords: | European Monetary System, Common Market, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, currency depreciation, European Monetary Union |
| JEL: | E02 F02 F5 N14 N24 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:102&r=all |
| By: | Adam Brzezinski (Department of Economics, University of Oxford); Yao Chen (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam); Nuno Palma (Department of Economics, University of Manchester; Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa; CEPR); Felix Ward (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We exploit a recurring natural experiment to identify the effects of money supply shocks: maritime disasters in the Spanish Empire (1531-1810) that resulted in the loss of substantial amounts of monetary silver. A one percentage point reduction in the money growth rate caused a 1.3% drop in real output that persisted for several years. The empirical evidence highlights nominal rigidities and credit frictions as the primary monetary transmission channels. Our model of the Spanish economy confirms that each of these two channels explain about half of the initial output response, with the credit channel accounting for much of its persistence. |
| Keywords: | Monetary Shocks, Natural Experiment, Nominal Rigidity, Financial Accelerator, DSGE, Minimum-Distance Estimation, Local Projection |
| JEL: | E43 E44 E52 N10 N13 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0170&r=all |
| By: | Binder, Carola (Haverford College); Janson, Wesley (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Verbrugge, Randal (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | Despite the stability of the median 10-year inflation expectations in the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) near 2 percent, we show that not a single SPF respondent’s expectations have been anchored at the target since the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) enactment of an inflation target in January 2012, or even since 2015. However, we find significant evidence for “delayed anchoring,” or a move toward being anchored, particularly after the federal funds rate lifted off in December 2015. |
| Keywords: | inflation expectations; persistent disagreement; credibility; delayed anchoring; |
| JEL: | E31 E37 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:191500&r=all |
| By: | Jorgensen, Peter (University of California, Berkeley); Lansing, Kevin J. (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco) |
| Abstract: | Conventional versions of the Phillips curve cannot account for inflation dynamics during and after the U.S. Great Recession, leading many to conclude that the Phillips curve relationship has weakened or even disappeared. We show that if agents solve a signal extraction problem to disentangle temporary versus permanent shocks to inflation, then agents’ inflation expectations should have become more “anchored” over the Great Moderation period. An estimated New Keynesian Phillips curve that accounts for the increased anchoring of expected inflation exhibits a stable slope coefficient over the period 1960 to 2019. Out-of-sample forecasts show that this model can account for the “missing disinflation” during the U.S. Great Recession and the “missing inflation” during the subsequent recovery. We use a simple three-equation New Keynesian model to show that an increase in the Taylor rule coefficient on inflation (or the output gap) serves to endogenously anchor agents’ subjective inflation expectations and thereby “flatten” the reduced-form Phillips curve. |
| JEL: | E31 E37 |
| Date: | 2019–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2019-27&r=all |
| By: | Coman, Andra (European Central Bank); Lloyd, Simon (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether emerging market prudential policies offset the macro-financial spillover effects of US monetary policy. We find that emerging markets with tighter overall prudential policy face significantly smaller, and less negative, spillovers to total credit from US monetary policy tightening shocks. Loan-to-value ratio limits and reserve requirements appear to be particularly effective prudential tools at mitigating the spillover effects of US monetary policy. Our findings indicate that prudential policies can dampen emerging markets’ exposure to US monetary policy and the associated global financial cycle, suggesting they may be a useful tool in the face of international macroeconomic policy trade-offs. |
| Keywords: | International spillovers; local projections; policy interactions; monetary policy; prudential policy |
| JEL: | E52 E58 E61 F44 |
| Date: | 2019–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0828&r=all |
| By: | Cuddington, John T.; Liang, Hong |
| Abstract: | The emergence of the euro as a key currency, perhaps eventually rivalling the US dollar in importance, may have important macroeconomic implications for industrial as well as developing economies in the years ahead. This paper focuses on two related questions. First, what effects, if any, will the euro have on the volatility of world primary commodity prices? Second, why should the impact of the euro on real commodity prices be of interest to economic analysts and policy makers? Our econometric analysis provides evidence that episodes of internal stability of exchange rates among the 11 euro countries during 1957-98 were associated with periods of lower real commodity price volatility. These stabilizing effects are statistically significant for fertilizer, metals and petroleum, and cereals. A reasonable inference, therefore, is that the establishment of the euro on 1 January 1999 should be expected to contribute to reduced volatility of world commodity prices, other things equal, if the alternative is the higher euro-11 volatility in the 1970s. On the other hand, a move from the relatively stable euro-11 environment of the early 1990s to a single currency (with zero intra-euro-11 volatility) will have only a modest impact (reducing) commodity price volatility. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295505&r=all |
| By: | Brühl, Volker |
| Abstract: | Libra - a global virtual currency project initiated by Facebook - has been the subject of many controversial discussions since its announcement in June 2019. This paper provides a differentiated view on Libra, recognising that different development scenarios of Libra are conceivable. Libra could serve purely as an alternative payment system in combination with a dedicated payment token, the Libra coin. Alternatively, the Libra project could develop into a broader financial infrastructure for advanced financial services such as savings and loan products operating on the Libra blockchain. Based on a comparison of the Libra architecture with other cryptocurrencies, the opportunities and challenges for the development of the respective Libra ecosystems are investigated form a commercial, regulatory and monetary policy perspective. |
| JEL: | E42 E52 G20 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:633&r=all |
| By: | De Santis, Roberto A.; Zaghini, Andrea |
| Abstract: | We assess the effect and the timing of the corporate arm of the ECB quantitative easing (CSPP) on corporate bond issuance. Because of several contemporaneous measures, to isolate the programme effects we rely on one key eligibility feature: the euro denomination of newly issued bonds. We find that the significant increase in bonds issuance by eligible firms is due to the CSPP and that this effect took at least six months to unfold. This result holds even when comparing firms with similar ratings, thus providing evidence that unconventional monetary policy can foster a financing diversification regardless of firms risk profile. JEL Classification: E52, G15, G32 |
| Keywords: | corporate bond market, CSPP, quantitative easing |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20192329&r=all |
| By: | Nadav Ben Zeev (BGU) |
| Keywords: | Prime adjustable rate mortgages; Mortgage default rates; Systematic monetary policy; Bayesian local projections |
| JEL: | E32 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1908&r=all |
| By: | Kamil Kivanc Karaman; Sevket Pamuk; Secil Yildirim |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bou:wpaper:2018/05&r=all |
| By: | Marcel A. Priebsch |
| Abstract: | Using information from financial market quotes and surveys, this article analyzes the evolution from January to July 2019 of probabilities attached to different policy rate outcomes using "probability simplex" diagrams. |
| Date: | 2019–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2019-09-20-2&r=all |
| By: | Kurozumi, Takushi (Bank of Japan); Van Zandweghe, Willem (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | We propose a novel theory of intrinsic inflation persistence by introducing trend inflation and variable elasticity of demand in a model with staggered price and wage setting. Under nonzero trend inflation, the variable elasticity generates intrinsic persistence in inflation through a measure of price dispersion stemming from staggered price setting. It also introduces intrinsic persistence in wage inflation under staggered wage setting, which affects price inflation. With the theory we show that inflation exhibits a persistent, hump-shaped response to a monetary policy shock. We also show that a credible disinflation leads to a gradual decline in inflation and a fall in output, and lower trend inflation reduces inflation persistence, as observed around the time of the Volcker disinflation. |
| Keywords: | Trend inflation; variable elasticity of demand; price dispersion; intrinsic inflation persistence; credible disinflation; |
| JEL: | E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2019–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:191600&r=all |
| By: | Bahaj, Saleem (Bank of England); Foulis, Angus (Bank of England); Pinter, Gabor (Bank of England); Surico, Paolo (London Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses detailed firm-level data to show that monetary policy affects employment through housing collateral and corporate debt. Our research design exploits the fact that many small and medium-sized enterprises use their directors' homes as a key source of collateral for corporate loans, but directors typically live in a different region to their firm. This spatial separation of firms from their collateral allows us to distinguish the collateral channel from local demand effects. We find that younger and more levered firms with higher exposure to housing collateral fluctuations adjust employment the most following a change in monetary policy. The collateral channel explains a sizeable share of the aggregate employment response. |
| Keywords: | Firm heterogeneity; residential collateral; financial accelerator |
| JEL: | D22 E52 R30 |
| Date: | 2019–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0827&r=all |
| By: | Link, Thomas |
| Abstract: | The elimination of large-denomination banknotes is one of several options to relax the effective-lower-bound constraint on nominal interest rates. We explore timing issues associated with the calling-in of large notes from a central banker's perspective and employ an optimal stopping model to show how the volatility and the expected path of the natural rate of interest determine an optimal timing strategy. Our model shows that such a strategy can involve a wait-and-see component analogously to an optimal exercise rule for a perpetual American option. In practice, a wait-and-see component might induce a central banker not to call in large notes until the natural rate has fallen to an exceptionally low level. |
| Keywords: | cashless economy,phase-out of paper currency,wait-and-see policy,optionvalue |
| JEL: | E42 E58 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:327&r=all |
| By: | Cohen, Benjamin J. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to explore economic and political implications of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for developing countries. In strictly economic terms, influences will be communicated through both trade and financial channels. Economies in the developing world will be affected by changes in European growth rates as well as by EMU's impact on transactions costs and enterprise competitiveness within Europe; they will also be impacted by changes in the structure and efficiency of Europe's capital markets. Modifications may be anticipated in borrowing and investment practices at the private level as well as in reserve and debt-management policies at the official level. In political terms, developing countries will be most directly influenced by the anticipated rivalry between Europe's new single currency, the euro, and the dollar, which will compel developing countries to reconsider their own national currency strategies. Three conclusions stand out. First, except for selected groups of countries with particularly close ties to the EU, most economic linkages appear marginal at best. It is much easier to enumerate possible channels of transmission than to find many that appear quantitatively significant. Second, among economic effects of EMU, financial channels seem to matter more than trade channels. And third, across the full range of possible linkages, the most lasting influences for developing countries may well turn out, notably, to be political rather than either trade or financial. Significant changes are likely in exchange-rate regimes in many parts of the developing world. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295504&r=all |
| By: | Garth Baughman; Francesca Carapella |
| Abstract: | This note describes a framework for implementing monetary policy, dubbed a voluntary reserve targets framework, that could reintroduce significant margins in the federal funds market, reviving the market no matter the aggregate quantity of reserves, while simultaneously limiting the volatility of rates. |
| Date: | 2019–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2019-08-26&r=all |
| By: | Lamia Bazzaoui |
| Abstract: | The aim of the present paper is to study the relationship between fiscal variables and the inflation rate for a sample of countries, over the period 1960-2017, based on a linearized equation derived from a households 'budget constraint. This equation links the inflation rate to both fiscal and monetary policy, in addition to the growth rate. We follow the same approach as Cochrane (2019a) and analyze the impact of shocks to these three variables. Impacts from fiscal and monetary policy to the inflation rate are then decomposed between different monetary policy regimes and fiscal space categories. Results indicate that the short-term interest rate is the most significant determinant of inflation. Fiscal policy also affects the inflation rate negatively through the fiscal balance, but this effect is not robust across all mon- etary policy frameworks (this relation only holds in unstructured or loosely structured discretionary monetary policy regimes). The vari- able of fiscal space on the other hand proves to be an important factor as inflation appears to be more sensitive to both fiscal and monetary policy when fiscal space is limited. Finally, we also find that, as pre- dicted by Sargent & Wallace (1981), fiscal policy can cause inflation only when the growth rate is lower than the interest rate. |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:toh:tergaa:411&r=all |
| By: | Federico Bassi (Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord (CEPN)) |
| Abstract: | Most empirical studies provide evidence that the rate of capacity utilization is stable around a constant Non-accelerating inflation rate of capacity utilization (NAIRCU). Nevertheless, available statistical series of the rate of capacity utilization, which is unobservable, are constructed by assuming that it is stable over time. Hence, the stability of the NAIRCU is an artificial artefact. In this paper, we develop a method to estimate the rate of capacity utilization without imposing stability constraints. Partially inspired to the Production function methodology (PFM), we estimate the parameters of a production function by imposing aggregate correlations between the rate of capacity utilization and a set of macroeconomic variables, namely investment, labor productivity and unemployment. Our results show that the NAIRCU is not a constant rate but a non-stationary time-varying trend, and that chronicle under-utilization of capacity with stable inflation is a plausible equilibrium. Hence, persistent deviations of GDP might reflect persistent shocks to capacity utilization rather than exogenous shocks to total factor productivity. As a corollary, expansionary demand policies do not necessarily create permanent inflationary pressures if the NAIRCU is below full-capacity output, namely in post-crisis periods. |
| JEL: | C32 C51 E22 E32 E61 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upn:wpaper:2019-09&r=all |
| By: | David Turner; Thomas Chalaux; Yvan Guillemette; Elena Rusticelli |
| Abstract: | A statistically significant relationship between the unemployment gap and inflation can be found for a clear majority of OECD countries, but the magnitude of the effect is typically weak. A corollary is that the effect of labour market slack on inflation can often be dominated by other shocks, including imported inflation. The current Secretariat Phillips curve specification assumes inflation expectations are anchored at the central bank’s target, although some experimentation suggests that alternative proxies for expectations sometimes work better and there is some evidence that persistent under-shooting of inflation has led to some de-anchoring of expectations from the target, especially in the euro area. For most OECD countries, a measure of the global output gap is both statistically significant and strongly preferred to a domestic gap measure in explaining the wedge between headline and core inflation, although domestic gaps are strongly preferred in explaining core inflation. Various forms of non-linearity in the Phillips curve provide possible explanations for recent weak inflation outcomes, but statistical testing provides only limited support for such explanations. |
| Keywords: | anchored expectations, global output gap, inflation expectations, Phillips curve |
| JEL: | C22 E24 E31 J64 |
| Date: | 2019–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1579-en&r=all |
| By: | Spahn, Peter |
| Abstract: | The current debate whether zero interest rates are caused by a saving glut or a liquidity glut is resolved by the distinction between the market and the natural rate, where saving affects only the latter variable, and monetary policy mainly the first. This topic is linked to a second one: the monetary determination of the rate of profit in Keynesian capital theory. Both topics merge in a critical review of Keynes's vision of the "euthanasia of the rentier". The data show however that we have not reached a state of capital satiation. The rising gap between the rate of profit and the rate of interest poses a challenge for capital theory. |
| Keywords: | saving vs. liquidity,zero interest rates,capital satiation |
| JEL: | B1 E4 E5 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:102019&r=all |
| By: | Matteo Luciani; Riccardo Trezzi |
| Abstract: | The goal of this note is to provide an assessment of two of the most commonly used indicators of core inflation: the PCE price index excluding food and energy (an exclusion index), and the Dallas Fed trimmed mean PCE price index (a central-tendency statistical measure). |
| Date: | 2019–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2019-08-02-1&r=all |
| By: | Akyuz, Yilmaz; Cornford, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Recent financial crises, whose effects have been particularly severe in developing countries, have led to a wide-ranging debate on international financial reform. This debate has had to confront the implications of the huge growth of international capital movements, one of whose consequences has been the increased 'privatization' of external financing for developing countries. The paper begins with surveys of major features of the postwar evolution of the system of governance of the international financial system and of the principal trends in capital flows to developing countries during the past three decades. These set the stage for a selective review of appropriate policy responses to international financial instability, with the main focus on proposals for remedying structural and institutional weaknesses in the global financial architecture through such means as greater transparency and improved disclosure, strengthened financial regulation and supervision, more comprehensive and even-handed multilateral policy surveillance, and bailing in the private sector by arrangements for orderly debt workouts. In view of the continuing absence of effective measures at the global level for dealing with financial instability, the paper puts special emphasis on the maintenance by developing countries of national autonomy regarding policy towards capital movements. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:widerw:295517&r=all |
| By: | Thomas I. Palley |
| Abstract: | The case for central bank independence is built on an intellectual two-step. Step one argues there is a problem of inflation prone government. Step two argues independence is the solution to that problem. This paper challenges that case and shows it is based on false politics and economics. The paper argues central bank independence is a product of neoliberal economics and aims to institutionalize neoliberal interests. As regards economics, independence rests on a controversial construction of macroeconomics and also fails according to its own microeconomic logic. That failure applies to both goal independence and operational independence. It is a myth to think a government can set goals for the central bank and then leave it to the bank to impartially and neutrally operationalize those goals. Democratic countries may still decide to implement central bank independence, but that decision is a political one with non-neutral economic and political consequences. It is a grave misrepresentation to claim independence solves a fundamental public interest economic problem, and economists make themselves accomplices by claiming it does. |
| Keywords: | central bank independence, neoliberalism, class conflict, time consistency, operational independence, democracy |
| JEL: | E02 E42 E52 E58 E61 G18 G28 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:fmmpap:49-2019&r=all |
| By: | Joseph Andros; Michael Beall; Francis Martinez; Tony Rodrigues; Mary-Frances Styczynski; Alex Thorp |
| Abstract: | This note describes our approach in estimating aggregate reserve demand using survey-reported data and two methods to account for sampling and non-sampling error, concluding with a discussion of some important items for consideration. |
| Date: | 2019–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2019-10-17&r=all |
| By: | Alberto Fuertes (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the behaviour of the external adjustment path for the four main economies in the euro area. I find a structural break in the behaviour of the net external position at the time of the introduction of the euro for France, Italy and Spain, pointing out that the inception of the common currency changed their external adjustment process. Germany does not show this structural break, being its external position more affected by other events such as the country reunification in 1989. I also find that France and Italy will adjust the net external position mainly through the valuation component, while Germany and Spain will restore their external balance mostly through the trade component. The common currency area could have exacerbated Germany’s net creditor position as the evolution of the euro has reacted to the external adjustment needs of debtor countries such as Italy and Spain. |
| Keywords: | external adjustment, exchange rate regime, structural breaks, valuation adjustment |
| JEL: | F31 F33 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1936&r=all |