The issue of estimating the level of neutral interest rates is a central issue for theoretical foundation of decision-making on interest rate policy in the practice of central banks. As a result of studying theoretical sources, research materials of international organizations and central banks, the factors of the neutral interest rate are systematized, the methods of its estimation are generalized, their advantages and disadvantages are revealed. Factors of the neutral rate are systematized according to the principle of their influence on the demand or supply of money in the economy. It has been established that there is no single generally accepted theoretical and methodological approach to determining the neutral rate in modern practice. A wide variation of methods with varying degrees of reliance on a theoretical basis (from purely mathematical filtration techniques to complex macroeconomic general equilibrium models) extends a field for new research. It is found that a key issue in neutral rate estimating models is the formalization of the relationship between the effects of external and internal factors, which is especially important for countries with a small open economy. Attention is paid to the method for estimating the neutral rate based on the rule of uncovered interest parity, which is used in the national practice of monetary regulation. Systemic shortcomings of this method are revealed on the basis of research of its theoretical bases and results of practical application in the conditions of the Ukrainian economy. The expediency of introducing into the practice of monetary regulation in Ukraine of alternative methodological toolkit for estimating the neutral rate based on the achievements of T. Laubach and J. Williams with adaptation to the open economy settings is justified, which would enhance the role of domestic factors, in particular changes in potential GDP and savings as important determinants of neutral value of money.
Optimal Interest Rate Policy in a Small Open Economy
