Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound

Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound PDF Author: Jing Cynthia Wu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
This paper employs an approximation that makes a nonlinear term structure model extremely tractable for analysis of an economy operating near the zero lower bound for interest rates. We show that such a model offers an excellent description of the data and can be used to summarize the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policy at the zero lower bound. Our estimates imply that the efforts by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy since 2009 succeeded in making the unemployment rate in December 2013 0.13% lower than it otherwise would have been.

Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound

Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound PDF Author: Jing Cynthia Wu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
This paper employs an approximation that makes a nonlinear term structure model extremely tractable for analysis of an economy operating near the zero lower bound for interest rates. We show that such a model offers an excellent description of the data and can be used to summarize the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policy at the zero lower bound. Our estimates imply that the efforts by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy since 2009 succeeded in making the unemployment rate in December 2013 0.13% lower than it otherwise would have been.

The Term Structure of Interest Rates, Monetary Policy, and Macroeconomy

The Term Structure of Interest Rates, Monetary Policy, and Macroeconomy PDF Author: Fan Dora Xia
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781321085112
Category : Interest rates
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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Book Description
This dissertation studies the relationship between the term structure of interest rates, monetary policy, and macroeconomy. The first chapter, A Parsimonious No-Arbitrage Term Structure Model that is Useful for Forecasting, offers a solution to a well-known puzzle in the term structure literature. The puzzle is that while the level, slope and curvature (or the first three principal components of yields) can quite accurately summarize the cross-section of yields at any point in time, different functions of interest rates and other macroeconomic variables appear to be helpful when the goal is to predict future interest rates. My paper proposes a parsimonious representation to capture this feature in a large dataset. In the first step, I run reduced rank regressions of one-year excess returns on a panel of 131 macroeconomic variables and initial forward rates from 1964 to 2007. I find that a single linear combination of macroeconomic variables and forward rates can predict excess returns on two- to five-year maturity bonds with R-squared up to 0.71. The forecasting factor subsumes the tent-shaped linear combination of forward rates constructed by Cochrane and Piazzesi (2003) and explains excess returns better. In the second step, I estimate a restricted Gaussian Affine Term Structure Model (GATSM) with the level, slope and curvature commonly used by most term structure models along with the forecasting factor. Restrictions are derived based on the fact that while cross-sectional information in yields is spanned by the level, slope and curvature, cross-sectional information in expected excess returns is spanned by the forecasting factor. Compared with a conventional GATSM only including the level, slope and curvature, the restricted four-factor GATSM generates plausible countercyclical term premia. The second and third chapter focus on the recent zero lower bound (ZLB) period. In the second chapter, Measuring the Macroeconomic Impact of Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound, coauthored with Cynthia Wu, we employ an approximation that makes a nonlinear shadow rate term structure model (SRTSM) extremely tractable for analysis of an economy operating near the zero lower bound for interest rates. We show that such a model offers a better description of the data compared to the widely used GATSM. Moreover, the model can be used to summarize the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policy at the ZLB. Using a simple factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR), we show that the shadow rate calculated by our model exhibits similar dynamic correlations with macro variables of interest in the period since 2009 as the fed funds rate did in data prior to the Great Recession. This result gives us a tool for measuring the effects of monetary policy under the ZLB, using either historical estimates based on the fed funds rate or less precisely measured estimates inferred solely from the new data for the shadow rate alone. We show that the Fed has used unconventional policy measures to successfully lower the shadow rate. Our estimates imply that the Fed's efforts to stimulate the economy since 2009 have succeeded in lowering the unemployment rate by 0.13% relative to where it would have been in the absence of these measure. The third chapter, Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policies on the Term Structure of Interest Rates, offers a complete characterization of effects of unconventional monetary policies on interest rates by examining policies' impacts on the whole yield curve. I make use of the SRTSM to summarize all interest rates with factors of lower dimension so that I can capture responses of all interest rates in a parsimonious way. By investigating how policy announcements affect the three factors and then the whole forward curve accordingly, I find that during the ZLB period, forward rate with short maturities are constrained, while forward rates with long maturities still respond to policy announcements. Following each easing (tightening) policy announcement, long forward rates would decrease (increase) by 10 basis points on average.

International Macroeconomics in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis

International Macroeconomics in the Wake of the Global Financial Crisis PDF Author: Laurent Ferrara
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319790757
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This book collects selected articles addressing several currently debated issues in the field of international macroeconomics. They focus on the role of the central banks in the debate on how to come to terms with the long-term decline in productivity growth, insufficient aggregate demand, high economic uncertainty and growing inequalities following the global financial crisis. Central banks are of considerable importance in this debate since understanding the sluggishness of the recovery process as well as its implications for the natural interest rate are key to assessing output gaps and the monetary policy stance. The authors argue that a more dynamic domestic and external aggregate demand helps to raise the inflation rate, easing the constraint deriving from the zero lower bound and allowing monetary policy to depart from its current ultra-accommodative position. Beyond macroeconomic factors, the book also discusses a supportive financial environment as a precondition for the rebound of global economic activity, stressing that understanding capital flows is a prerequisite for economic-policy decisions.

Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Fall 2018

Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Fall 2018 PDF Author: Janice Eberly
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815737106
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) provides academic and business economists, government officials, and members of the financial and business communities with timely research on current economic issues. Contents: The European Central Bank’s Monetary Policy during Its First 20 Years, Philipp Hartmann and Frank Smets Accounting for Macro-Finance Trends: Market Power, Intangibles, and Risk Premia, Emmanuel Farhi and François Gourio The Real Effects of Disrupted Credit: Evidence from the Global Financial Crisis, Ben S. Bernanke The Cyclical Sensitivity in Estimates of Potential Output, Olivier Coibion, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Mauricio Ulate Should the Federal Reserve Regularly Evaluate Its Monetary Policy Framework?, Jeff Fuhrer, Giovanni P. Olivei, Eric S. Rosengren, and Geoffrey M.B. Tootell Monetary Policy at the Effective Lower Bound: Less Potent? More International? More Sticky?, Kristin Forbes The Efficacy of Large-Scale Asset Purchases When the Short-Term Interest Rate Is at Its Effective Lower Bound, James D. Hamilton The Federal Reserve Is Not Very Constrained by the Lower Bound on Nominal Interest Rates, Eric T. Swanson Comments on Monetary Policy at the Effective Lower Bound, Janet Yellen

Innocent Bystanders? Monetary Policy and Inequality in the U.S.

Innocent Bystanders? Monetary Policy and Inequality in the U.S. PDF Author: Mr.Olivier Coibion
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475505493
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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Book Description
We study the effects and historical contribution of monetary policy shocks to consumption and income inequality in the United States since 1980. Contractionary monetary policy actions systematically increase inequality in labor earnings, total income, consumption and total expenditures. Furthermore, monetary shocks can account for a significant component of the historical cyclical variation in income and consumption inequality. Using detailed micro-level data on income and consumption, we document the different channels via which monetary policy shocks affect inequality, as well as how these channels depend on the nature of the change in monetary policy.

Essays on Monetary Policy and International Finance

Essays on Monetary Policy and International Finance PDF Author: Yi Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This dissertation is a collection of three essays focusing on how to measure unconventional monetary policy and how unconventional monetary policy and the zero-lower-bound (ZLB) environment affect the macroeconomy and exchange rates. Chapter 1 shows that the widely used shadow rate is not a sufficiently informative measure of unconventional monetary policy. To better trace out monetary policy innovations and measure the corresponding macroeconomic impact, I develop a new econometric model which not only uses the shadow rate, but also employs forward guidance information contained in survey data on expected lift-off dates. After controlling for expectations about lift-off, I find post-crisis expansionary monetary policy is much more aggressive and effective than that estimated by a standard FAVAR model (Wu and Xia (2016)). Chapter 2 examines the performance of popular exchange rate forecast models against the random walk benchmark. The models are estimated in error correction and first-difference specifications, and evaluated at various forecast horizons (1 quarter, 4 quarters, 20 quarters) using differing metrics (mean squared error, direction of change, and "consistency" test). No model consistently outperforms a random walk, by a mean squared error measure, although purchasing power parity does fairly well. Moreover, along a direction-of-change dimension, certain structural models do outperform a random walk with statistical significance. While one finds that these forecasts are cointegrated with the actual values of exchange rates, the elasticity is usually different from unity. Overall, model/specification/currency combinations that work well in one period will not necessarily work well in another period. Chapter 3 converts unconventional monetary policy measures into equivalent conventional monetary policy measures --- federal funds rate surprises and expected inflation surprises --- and compares the effects of unconventional and conventional monetary policy announcements on the value of the dollar through these two channels. I find that the impact of the federal funds rate surprises on the dollar value has not changed much since the crisis began, but this channel has become irrelevant because the ZLB has eliminated all federal funds rate surprises. The impact of the expected inflation surprises, however, has weakened dramatically compared to the pre-crisis period

Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization

Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization PDF Author: Ole Roste
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351504886
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
As a fundamental review and critique of activist economic policies, this book is a unique contribution to classical political economy. "Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stabilization" is about macroeconomic stabilization policy, with emphasis on the value of a distinct national monetary policy to growth. Ole Bjorn Roste's argument is for public officials to restrain themselves in the pursuit of policy. As the author notes: when you know less, you should do less.The history of modern macroeconomics started in 1936 with the publication of Keynes' "General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money". The problems of the Great depression of the 1930s paved the way for a change of focus, from the long run to economic fluctuations in the short run, and from nominal to real variables, such as unemployment and aggregate output.Keynes offered clear policy implications in tune with the times. Because economic adjustment was slow, waiting for the economy to recover by itself was irresponsible. Particularly fiscal policy was essential to return to high employment. Monetary policy could affect aggregate demand through Interest rates, but was less important. Roste discusses the role of monetary policy, starting out with the implications of the theory of optimum currency areas (OCAs). This is followed by estimates of the output loss associated with disinflation policy (the sacrifice ratio) for six OECD economies. Further, Roste models the dynamic adjustment to negative, local labor-market shocks, with particular relevance to Scandinavia, in a final section.The idea that governments should pursue stabilizing fiscal or monetary policies with regard to real variables is often taken for granted by the public, if not by economists. Among the reasons for skepticism, is the presence of differing views on how economies really work, that the state of a given economy becomes known only after a time lag, and that economic agents react to policy and expectations of policy. For these reasons, the effects of policy are generally uncertain. This book explains why the role of history is critical to the study of macroeconomics.p>

The Macroeconomic Effects of Public Investment

The Macroeconomic Effects of Public Investment PDF Author: Mr.Abdul Abiad
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484361555
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
This paper provides new evidence of the macroeconomic effects of public investment in advanced economies. Using public investment forecast errors to identify the causal effect of government investment in a sample of 17 OECD economies since 1985 and model simulations, the paper finds that increased public investment raises output, both in the short term and in the long term, crowds in private investment, and reduces unemployment. Several factors shape the macroeconomic effects of public investment. When there is economic slack and monetary accommodation, demand effects are stronger, and the public-debt-to-GDP ratio may actually decline. Public investment is also more effective in boosting output in countries with higher public investment efficiency and when it is financed by issuing debt.

The Effectiveness of Unconventional Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound

The Effectiveness of Unconventional Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound PDF Author: Leonardo Gambacorta
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
This paper assesses the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policies by estimating a panel VAR with monthly data from eight advanced economies over a sample spanning the period since the onset of the global finanancial crisis. It finds that an exogenous increase in central bank balance sheets at the zero lower bound leads to a temporary rise in economic activity and consumer prices. The estimated output effects turn out to be qualitatively similar to the ones found in the literature on the effects of conventional monetary policy, while the impact on the price level is weaker and less persistent. Individual country results suggest that there are no major differences in the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policies across countries, despite the heterogeneity of the measures that were taken.

The Effectiveness of Unconventional Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound

The Effectiveness of Unconventional Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound PDF Author: Leonardo Gambacorta
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Interest rates
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
"This paper assesses the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policies by estimating a panel VAR with monthly data from eight advanced economies over a sample spanning the period since the onset of the global financial crisis. It finds that an exogenous increase in central bank balance sheets at the zero lower bound leads to a temporary rise in economic activity and consumer prices. The estimated output effects turn out to be qualitatively similar to the ones found in the literature on the effects of conventional monetary policy, while the impact on the price level is weaker and less persistent. Individual country results suggest that there are no major differences in the macroeconomic effects of unconventional monetary policies across countries, despite the heterogeneity of the measures that were taken."- -Abstract.