We consider finite horizon conditioning paths for nominal interest rates in New Keynesian monetary policy models. This is done two ways. First, we develop a simple way to use policy interventions in the form of interest rate shocks to achieve the conditioning path and show this yields a unique solution. We then modify this method to generate an infinity of solutions making the model better behaved but effectively indeterminate. Second, we use two-part rules where a specially designed targeting rule generates fixed interest rates endogenously over the initial period before reverting to a more conventional instrument rule. We show that the two approaches are equivalent. We discuss appropriate selection criteria over the resulting equilibria.
{"title":"Fixed Interest Rates over Finite Horizons","authors":"A. Blake","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2063201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2063201","url":null,"abstract":"We consider finite horizon conditioning paths for nominal interest rates in New Keynesian monetary policy models. This is done two ways. First, we develop a simple way to use policy interventions in the form of interest rate shocks to achieve the conditioning path and show this yields a unique solution. We then modify this method to generate an infinity of solutions making the model better behaved but effectively indeterminate. Second, we use two-part rules where a specially designed targeting rule generates fixed interest rates endogenously over the initial period before reverting to a more conventional instrument rule. We show that the two approaches are equivalent. We discuss appropriate selection criteria over the resulting equilibria.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130568971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We investigate the extent to which misperceptions about the economy can become self-reinforcing and thereby contribute to time-varying macroeconomic dynamics. To do so, we build a New Keynesian model with long-horizon expectations and dynamic predictor selection. Because agents solve multi-period optimisation problems (households maximise expected lifetime utility and firms maximise the discounted flow of future profits), their current decisions are influenced by expectations of the distant future and cannot in general be characterised by the familiar Euler equations that represent the rational expectations equilibrium of these models. We assume that agents have access to a set of alternative predictors that can be used to form expectations and choose among them based on noisy measures of their recent performance. This dynamic predictor selection generates endogenous fluctuations in the proportions of agents using each predictor, contributing to macroeconomic dynamics. We explore the behaviour of our model when agents have access to two simple predictors. One of the predictors is consistent with a mistaken belief that macroeconomic variables are more persistent than implied by the fundamental shocks hitting the economy. We show that the presence of a ‘persistent predictor’ can lead to changes in beliefs which are self-reinforcing, giving rise to endogenous fluctuations in the time-series properties of the economy. Moreover, we show that such fluctuations arise even if we replace the ‘persistent predictor’ with learning under constant gain.
{"title":"Misperceptions, Heterogeneous Expectations and Macroeconomic Dynamics","authors":"R. Harrison, Tim E. Taylor","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2063195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2063195","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the extent to which misperceptions about the economy can become self-reinforcing and thereby contribute to time-varying macroeconomic dynamics. To do so, we build a New Keynesian model with long-horizon expectations and dynamic predictor selection. Because agents solve multi-period optimisation problems (households maximise expected lifetime utility and firms maximise the discounted flow of future profits), their current decisions are influenced by expectations of the distant future and cannot in general be characterised by the familiar Euler equations that represent the rational expectations equilibrium of these models. We assume that agents have access to a set of alternative predictors that can be used to form expectations and choose among them based on noisy measures of their recent performance. This dynamic predictor selection generates endogenous fluctuations in the proportions of agents using each predictor, contributing to macroeconomic dynamics. We explore the behaviour of our model when agents have access to two simple predictors. One of the predictors is consistent with a mistaken belief that macroeconomic variables are more persistent than implied by the fundamental shocks hitting the economy. We show that the presence of a ‘persistent predictor’ can lead to changes in beliefs which are self-reinforcing, giving rise to endogenous fluctuations in the time-series properties of the economy. Moreover, we show that such fluctuations arise even if we replace the ‘persistent predictor’ with learning under constant gain.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"106 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116930921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper deals with the analysis of price-setting in U.S. manufacturing industries. Recent studies have heavily criticized the ability of the New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) to fit aggregate inflation (see, e.g., Rudd and Whelan, 2006). We challenge this evidence, showing that forward-looking behavior as implied by the New Keynesian model of price-setting is widely supported at the sectoral level. In fact, current and expected future values of the income share of intermediate goods emerge as an effective driver of inflation dynamics. Unlike alternative proxies for the forcing variable, the cost of intermediate goods presents dynamic properties in line with the predictions of the New Keynesian theory.
{"title":"Inflation Dynamics and Real Marginal Costs: New Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing Industries","authors":"Ivan Petrella, E. Santoro","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1984564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1984564","url":null,"abstract":"This paper deals with the analysis of price-setting in U.S. manufacturing industries. Recent studies have heavily criticized the ability of the New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) to fit aggregate inflation (see, e.g., Rudd and Whelan, 2006). We challenge this evidence, showing that forward-looking behavior as implied by the New Keynesian model of price-setting is widely supported at the sectoral level. In fact, current and expected future values of the income share of intermediate goods emerge as an effective driver of inflation dynamics. Unlike alternative proxies for the forcing variable, the cost of intermediate goods presents dynamic properties in line with the predictions of the New Keynesian theory.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125285607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recent research has found that the dynamic properties of the New Keynesian model are unorthodox when the nominal interest rate is zero. Improvements in technology and reductions in the labor tax rate lower economic activity and the size of the government purchase output multiplier is very large. This paper provides evidence that these results are not empirically relevant. We show that a prototypical New Keynesian model fit to Japanese data exhibits orthodox dynamics during Japan's episode with zero interest rates. We then demonstrate that this specification is more consistent with outcomes in Japan than alternative specifications that have unorthodox properties.
{"title":"New Keynesian Dynamics in a Low Interest Rate Environment","authors":"R. A. Braun, Lena Mareen Körber","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2481062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2481062","url":null,"abstract":"Recent research has found that the dynamic properties of the New Keynesian model are unorthodox when the nominal interest rate is zero. Improvements in technology and reductions in the labor tax rate lower economic activity and the size of the government purchase output multiplier is very large. This paper provides evidence that these results are not empirically relevant. We show that a prototypical New Keynesian model fit to Japanese data exhibits orthodox dynamics during Japan's episode with zero interest rates. We then demonstrate that this specification is more consistent with outcomes in Japan than alternative specifications that have unorthodox properties.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122280987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, I examine the international welfare effects of monetary policy. I develop a New Keynesian two-country model, where central banks in both countries follow the Taylor rule. I show that a decrease in the domestic interest rate, under producer currency pricing, is a beggar-thyself policy that reduces domestic welfare and increases foreign welfare in the short term, regardless of whether the cross-country substitutability is high or low. In the medium term, it is a beggar-thy-neighbour (beggar-thyself) policy, if the Marshall-Lerner condition is satisfied (violated). Under local currency pricing, a decrease in the domestic interest rate is a beggar-thy-neighbour policy in the short term, but a beggar-thyself policy in the medium term. Both under producer and local currency pricing, a monetary expansion increases world welfare in the short term, but reduces it in the medium term.
{"title":"International Welfare Effects of Monetary Policy","authors":"J. Tervala","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1815072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1815072","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I examine the international welfare effects of monetary policy. I develop a New Keynesian two-country model, where central banks in both countries follow the Taylor rule. I show that a decrease in the domestic interest rate, under producer currency pricing, is a beggar-thyself policy that reduces domestic welfare and increases foreign welfare in the short term, regardless of whether the cross-country substitutability is high or low. In the medium term, it is a beggar-thy-neighbour (beggar-thyself) policy, if the Marshall-Lerner condition is satisfied (violated). Under local currency pricing, a decrease in the domestic interest rate is a beggar-thy-neighbour policy in the short term, but a beggar-thyself policy in the medium term. Both under producer and local currency pricing, a monetary expansion increases world welfare in the short term, but reduces it in the medium term.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127728570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper extends a standard New Keynesian model to describe the effects of anticipated shocks to inflation and forward-looking monetary policy. Using the data generated from this modified model suggests that overlooking these two factors in the standard Cholesky structural vector autoregressive identification scheme will generate a price puzzle. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that failing to account for these two factors may result in significant estimates of two other explanations of the price puzzle—the cost channel of transmission of monetary policy and indeterminacy due to violation of the Taylor principle—even though neither features in the data generating process.
{"title":"Forward-Looking Monetary Policy and Anticipated Shocks to Inflation","authors":"P. Kapinos","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1862343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1862343","url":null,"abstract":"This paper extends a standard New Keynesian model to describe the effects of anticipated shocks to inflation and forward-looking monetary policy. Using the data generated from this modified model suggests that overlooking these two factors in the standard Cholesky structural vector autoregressive identification scheme will generate a price puzzle. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates that failing to account for these two factors may result in significant estimates of two other explanations of the price puzzle—the cost channel of transmission of monetary policy and indeterminacy due to violation of the Taylor principle—even though neither features in the data generating process.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133559243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper studies how non-Gaussian shocks affect risk premia in DSGE models approximated to second and third order. Based on an extension of the work by Schmitt-Grohe and Uribe to third order, we derive propositions for how rare disasters, stochastic volatility, and GARCH affect any risk premia in a wide class of DSGE models. To quantify these effects, we then set up a standard New Keynesian DSGE model where total factor productivity includes rare disasters, stochastic volatility, and GARCH. We find that rare disasters increase the mean level of the ten-year nominal term premium, whereas a key effect of stochastic volatility and GARCH is an increase in the variability of this premium.
{"title":"How Non-Gaussian Shocks Affect Risk Premia in Non-Linear DSGE Models","authors":"Martin M. Andreasen","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1786646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1786646","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies how non-Gaussian shocks affect risk premia in DSGE models approximated to second and third order. Based on an extension of the work by Schmitt-Grohe and Uribe to third order, we derive propositions for how rare disasters, stochastic volatility, and GARCH affect any risk premia in a wide class of DSGE models. To quantify these effects, we then set up a standard New Keynesian DSGE model where total factor productivity includes rare disasters, stochastic volatility, and GARCH. We find that rare disasters increase the mean level of the ten-year nominal term premium, whereas a key effect of stochastic volatility and GARCH is an increase in the variability of this premium.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"7 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120840861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2011-01-18DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00932.x
A. Mihailov, F. Rumler, J. Scharler
In this paper we evaluate the relative influence of external versus domestic inflation drivers in the 12 new European Union (EU) member countries. Our empirical analysis is based on the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) derived in Gali and Monacelli (2005) for small open economies (SOE). Employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), we find that the SOE NKPC is well supported in the new EU member states. We also find that the inflation process is dominated by domestic variables in the larger countries of our sample, whereas external variables are mostly relevant in the smaller countries.
{"title":"Inflation Dynamics in the New EU Member States: How Relevant are External Factors?","authors":"A. Mihailov, F. Rumler, J. Scharler","doi":"10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00932.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00932.x","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we evaluate the relative influence of external versus domestic inflation drivers in the 12 new European Union (EU) member countries. Our empirical analysis is based on the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) derived in Gali and Monacelli (2005) for small open economies (SOE). Employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), we find that the SOE NKPC is well supported in the new EU member states. We also find that the inflation process is dominated by domestic variables in the larger countries of our sample, whereas external variables are mostly relevant in the smaller countries.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"81 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122618882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2010-12-01DOI: 10.4337/9781781001035.00015
Matthew N. Luzzetti, L. Ohanian
This paper studies why the General Theory had so much impact on the economics profession through the 1960s, why that impact began to wane in the 1970s, and why many economic policymakers cling to many of the tenets of the General Theory. We discuss three key elements along these lines, including the fact macroeconomic time series through the 1960s seemed to conform qualitatively to patterns discussed in the General Theory, that econometric developments in the area of simultaneous equations made advanced the General Theory to a quantitative enterprise, and that the General Theory was published during the Great Depression, when there was a search for alternative frameworks for understanding economic crises.
{"title":"The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money after 75 Years: The Importance of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time","authors":"Matthew N. Luzzetti, L. Ohanian","doi":"10.4337/9781781001035.00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781001035.00015","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies why the General Theory had so much impact on the economics profession through the 1960s, why that impact began to wane in the 1970s, and why many economic policymakers cling to many of the tenets of the General Theory. We discuss three key elements along these lines, including the fact macroeconomic time series through the 1960s seemed to conform qualitatively to patterns discussed in the General Theory, that econometric developments in the area of simultaneous equations made advanced the General Theory to a quantitative enterprise, and that the General Theory was published during the Great Depression, when there was a search for alternative frameworks for understanding economic crises.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122491876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper presents a theory of the monetary transmission mechanism in a monetary version of Farmer's (2009) model in which there are multiple equilibrium unemployment rates. The model has two equations in common with the new-Keynesian model; the optimizing IS curve and the policy rule. It differs from the new-Keynesian model by replacing the Phillips curve with a belief function to determine expectations of nominal income growth. I estimate both models using U.S. data and I show that the Farmer monetary model fits the data better than its new-Keynesian competitor.
{"title":"Animal Spirits, Persistent Unemployment and the Belief Function","authors":"R. Farmer","doi":"10.3386/w16522","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3386/w16522","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a theory of the monetary transmission mechanism in a monetary version of Farmer's (2009) model in which there are multiple equilibrium unemployment rates. The model has two equations in common with the new-Keynesian model; the optimizing IS curve and the policy rule. It differs from the new-Keynesian model by replacing the Phillips curve with a belief function to determine expectations of nominal income growth. I estimate both models using U.S. data and I show that the Farmer monetary model fits the data better than its new-Keynesian competitor.","PeriodicalId":127579,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian (Topic)","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133924231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}