scholarly journals Lumpy Durable Consumption Demand and the Limited Ammunition of Monetary Policy

Econometrica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (6) ◽  
pp. 2717-2749
Author(s):  
Alisdair McKay ◽  
Johannes F. Wieland
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Durable Goods ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Fixed Cost ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Durable Consumption ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
Consumption Demand

The prevailing neo‐Wicksellian view holds that the central bank's objective is to track the natural rate of interest ( r *), which itself is largely exogenous to monetary policy. We challenge this view using a fixed‐cost model of durable consumption demand, in which expansionary monetary policy prompts households to accelerate purchases of durable goods. This yields an intertemporal trade‐off in aggregate demand as encouraging households to increase durable holdings today leaves fewer households acquiring durables going forward. Interest rates must be kept low to support demand going forward, so accommodative monetary policy today reduces r * in the future. We show that this mechanism is quantitatively important in explaining the persistently low level of real interest rates and r * after the Great Recession.

scholarly journals Monetary Policy Frameworks and the Effective Lower Bound on Interest Rates

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 427-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Mertens ◽  
John C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Lower Bound ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Inflation Targeting ◽  
New Keynesian ◽  
Inflation Expectations ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Keynesian Model ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
Downward Bias

This paper applies a New Keynesian model to analyze monetary policy in the presence of a low natural rate of interest and a lower bound on interest rates. Under standard inflation-targeting, inflation expectations will be anchored at a level below the inflation target. Two themes emerge from our analysis: first, the central bank can mitigate this problem of a downward bias in inflation expectations by following an average-inflation targeting framework. Second, price-level targeting that raises inflation expectations when inflation is low can both anchor expectations at target and further reduce the effects of the lower bound on the economy.

scholarly journals The impact of the Federal Reserve System’s interest rate channel on the components of aggregate demand

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-496
Author(s):  
Dominika Brózda-Wilamek
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Term Structure ◽  
Durable Goods ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Investment Spending ◽  
The Impact

Motivation: Monetary policy decisions, through the process of transmission mechanism, affect the term structure of nominal interest rates as well as other asset prices, and thus influences aggregate demand (e.g. consumer spending and business investments) and price levels through these effects. The aspect of monetary transmission to various components of aggregate demand has been relatively little studied in the literature of the subject. Aim: The main aim of the study is to empirically investigate the effect of the Fed’s monetary policy on major components of aggregate demand over the past 35 years. To this aim, the scale and timing of the interest rate pass-through to economic activity have been examined. Results: The empirical findings showed that that between 1984 and 2019, the sensitivity of consumption and investment expenditures to interest rate impulses were different. Firstly, fixed investment spending accounted for a significant part that was responsible for the response of real GDP following an interest rate shock. Secondly, in the case of personal consumption expenditures, expenses for durable goods were more sensitive to changes in the Fed’s interest rate than spending on services and nondurable goods. In this way, the study expands the existing literature by reporting the effects of the Fed’s monetary policy on major components of aggregate demand over the past 35 years

Economic effects of monetary policy in Russia: What do large datasets tell us?

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna A. Pestova ◽  
Natalia A. Rostova
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Exchange Rate Regime ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Empirical Estimates

Is the Bank of Russia able to control inflation and, at the same time, manage aggregate demand using its interest rate instruments? In other words, are empirical estimates of the effects of monetary policy in Russia consistent with the theoretical concepts and experience of advanced economies? This paper is aimed at addressing these issues. Unlike previous research, we employ “big data” — a large dataset of macroeconomic and financial data — to estimate the effects of monetary policy in Russia. We focus exclusively on the period after the 2008—2009 global financial crisis when the Bank of Russia announced the abandoning of its fixed ruble exchange rate regime and started to gradually transit to an interest rate management. Our estimation results do not confirm standard responses of key economic activity and price variables to tightening of monetary policy. Specifically, our estimates do not reveal a statistically significant restraining effect of the Bank of Russia’s policy of high interest rates on inflation in recent years. At the same time, we find a significant deteriorating effect of the monetary tightening on economic activity indicators: according to our conservative estimates, each of the key rate increases occurred in March and December 2014 had led to a decrease in the industrial production index by about 0.2 percentage points within a year.

Brazil: monetary policy and the neutral interest rate

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 966-979
Author(s):  
Cleomar Gomes da Silva ◽  
Rafael Cavalcanti de Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Real Interest Rate ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Macroeconomic Model ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
The Interest Rate ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conduct of monetary policy in Brazil and estimate the country’s neutral real interest rate. Design/methodology/approach The authors make use of a state-space macroeconomic model representation. Findings The period of analysis goes from 2003 up to the end of 2013 and the results show that the country’s natural rate of interest was around 4.2 percent in December 2013. Originality/value One of the main differences of this work is the inclusion of variables such as the real exchange rate and world interest rate. This is important because these variables play an important role in the definition of the interest rate and, consequently, in the definition of the neutral interest rate.

Natural Interest Rate: Sraffa Vs. Hayek Debates

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Kovalev
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Business Cycle Theory ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Main Method ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

This article deal with the discussion between F. Hayek and P. Sraffa in the 1930s. This piece of the history of economic thought is not presented in the Russian-speaking literature. The main method is a content analysis. The directions of criticism Hayek’s business cycle theory by Sraffa and the response towards is analyzed in the paper. The author compared the opponents’ approaches to the essence of the equilibrium, to the savings-investments equality, to the possibility to lose capital as a result of malinvestments, to the role of expectations, and to the natural rate of interest. A version was offered for explaining the ineffectiveness of Hayek's answer to the question on the multiplicity of natural interest rates and the reasons why the barter economy has been perceived as theoretical basis of the Hayekian analysis. It is the inaccurate wording of the natural interest rate and the representation the theory within the framework of the equilibrium paradigm. The findings of the research may be applied to analyze the impact of interest rate regulation on the economic.

scholarly journals A Model of Secular Stagnation: Theory and Quantitative Evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gauti B. Eggertsson ◽  
Neil R. Mehrotra ◽  
Jacob A. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Elevated Risk ◽  
New Keynesian ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Secular Stagnation ◽  
Technological Factors ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
Standard Calibration

This paper formalizes and quantifies the secular stagnation hypothesis, defined as a persistently low or negative natural rate of interest leading to a chronically binding zero lower bound (ZLB). Output-inflation dynamics and policy prescriptions are fundamentally different from those in the standard New Keynesian framework. Using a 56-period quantitative life cycle model, a standard calibration to US data delivers a natural rate ranging from − 1.5 percent to − 2 percent, implying an elevated risk of ZLB episodes for the foreseeable future. We decompose the contribution of demographic and technological factors to the decline in interest rates since 1970 and quantify changes required to restore higher rates. (JEL E12, E23, E31, E32, E43, E52)

scholarly journals Interest rates and prices causality in the Czech Republic – Granger approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Poměnková ◽  
S. Kapounek
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Real Economy ◽  
Investment Activity ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Interest Rate

Monetary policy analysis concerns both the assumptions of the transmission mechanism and the direction of causality between the nominal (i.e. the money) and real economy. The traditional channel of monetary policy implementation works via the interest rate changes and their impact on the investment activity and the aggregate demand. Altering the relationship between the aggregate demand and supply then impacts the general price level and hence inflation. Alternatively, the Post-Keynesians postulate money as a residual. In their approach, banks credit in response to the movements in investment activities and demand for money. In this paper, the authors use the VAR (i.e. the vector autoregressive) approach applied to the “Taylor Rule” concept to identify the mechanism and impact of the monetary policy in the small open post-transformation economy of the Czech Republic. The causality (in the Granger sense) between the interest rate and prices in the Czech Republic is then identified. The two alternative modelling approaches are tested. First, there is the standard VAR analysis with the lagged values of interest rate, inflation and economic growth as explanatory variables. This model shows one way causality (in the Granger sense) between the inflation rate and interest rate (i.e. the inflation rate is (Granger) caused by the lagged interest rate). Secondly, the lead (instead of lagged) values of the interest rate, inflation rate and real exchange rate are used. This estimate shows one way causality between the inflation rate and interest rate in the sense that interest rate is caused by the lead (i.e. the expected future) inflation rate. The assumptions based on money as a residual of the economic process were rejected in both models.

scholarly journals Dynamic Debt Deleveraging and Optimal Monetary Policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Benigno ◽  
Gauti B. Eggertsson ◽  
Federica Romei
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Lower Bound ◽  
New Keynesian ◽  
New Keynesian Model ◽  
Optimal Monetary Policy ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Keynesian Model ◽  
Natural Rate Of Interest ◽  
Standard Framework

This paper proposes a postcrisis New Keynesian model that incorporates agent heterogeneity in borrowing and lending with a minimum set of assumptions. Unlike the standard framework, this model makes the natural rate of interest endogenous and dependent on macroeconomic policy. The main application is to study optimal monetary policy at the zero lower bound (ZLB). Such policy succeeds in raising the natural rate of interest by creating an environment that speeds up deleveraging and thus endogenously shortens the crisis and the duration of binding ZLB. Inflation should be front-loaded and should overshoot its long-term target during the ZLB episode. (JEL E12, E31, E32, E43, E52)

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