On testing the Phillips curves, the IS Curves, and the interaction between fiscal and monetary policies

Esta tese é composta por três ensaios sobre testes empíricos de curvas de Phillips, curvas IS e a interação entre as políticas fiscal e monetária. O primeiro ensaio ("Curvas de Phillips: um Teste Abrangente") testa curvas de Phillips usando uma especificação autoregressiva de defasagem distribuída (ADL) que abrange a curva de Phillips Aceleracionista (APC), a curva de Phillips Novo Keynesiana (NKPC), a curva de Phillips Híbrida (HPC) e a curva de Phillips de Informação Rígida (SIPC). Utilizamos dados dos Estados Unidos (1985Q1--2007Q4) e do Brasil (1996Q1--2012Q2), usando o hiato do produto e alternativamente o custo marginal real como medida de pressão inflacionária. A evidência empírica rejeita as restrições decorrentes da NKPC, da HPC e da SIPC, mas não rejeita aquelas da APC. O segundo ensaio ("Curvas IS: um Teste Abrangente") testa curvas IS usando uma especificação ADL que abrange a curva IS Keynesiana tradicional (KISC), a curva IS Novo Keynesiana (NKISC) e a curva IS Híbrida (HISC). Utilizamos dados dos Estados Unidos (1985Q1--2007Q4) e do Brasil (1996Q1--2012Q2). A evidência empírica rejeita as restrições decorrentes da NKISC e da HISC, mas não rejeita aquelas da KISC. O terceiro ensaio ("Os Efeitos da Política Fiscal e suas Interações com a Política Monetária") analisa os efeitos de choques na política fiscal sobre a dinâmica da economia e a interação entre as políticas fiscal e monetária usando modelos SVARs. Testamos a Teoria Fiscal do Nível de Preços para o Brasil analisando a resposta do passivo do setor público a choques no superávit primário. Para a identificação híbrida, encontramos que não é possível distinguir empiricamente entre os regimes Ricardiano (Dominância Monetária) e não-Ricardiano (Dominância Fiscal). Entretanto, utilizando a identificação de restrições de sinais, existe evidência que o governo seguiu um regime Ricardiano (Dominância Monetária) de janeiro de 2000 a junho de 2008.This dissertation consists of three essays on empirical testing of Phillips curves, IS curves, and the interaction between fiscal and monetary policies. The first essay ("Phillips Curves: An Encompassing Test") tests Phillips curves using an autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) specification that encompasses the accelerationist Phillips curve (APC), the New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC), the Hybrid Phillips curve (HPC), and the Sticky-Information Phillips curve (SIPC). We use data from the United States (1985Q1--2007Q4) and from Brazil (1996Q1--2012Q2), using the output gap and alternatively the real marginal cost as measure of inflationary pressure. The empirical evidence rejects the restrictions implied by the NKPC, the HPC, and SIPC, but does not reject those implied by the APC. The second essay ("IS Curves: An Encompassing Test") tests IS curves using an ADL specification that encompasses the traditional Keynesian IS curve (KISC), the New Keynesian IS curve (NKISC), and the Hybrid IS curve (HISC). We use data from the United States (1985Q1--2007Q4) and from Brazil (1996Q1--2012Q2). The evidence rejects the restrictions implied by the NKISC and the HISC, but does not reject those of the KISC. The third essay ("The Effects of Fiscal Policy and its Interactions with Monetary Policy in Brazil") analyzes the effects of fiscal policy shocks on the dynamics of the economy and the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy using structural vector autoregressions (SVARs). We test the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level for Brazil, analyzing the response of public sector liabilities to primary surplus shocks. For the hybrid identification we find that it is not possible to distinguish empirically between Ricardian (Monetary Dominance) and non-Ricardian (Fiscal Dominance) regimes. However, using sign restrictions there is some evidence that the government followed a Ricardian (Monetary Dominance) regime from January 2000 to June 2008

Monetary policy, inflation and the level of economic activity in Brazil after the Real Plan: stylized facts from SVAR models

This article uncovers some stylized facts about the short run fluctuations of the Brazilian economy after the Real Plan, giving special attention to the identification of the effects of monetary policy shocks. A distinctive feature of this article is the careful attention paid to monetary policy developments after the Real Plan when dividing our sample into two subsamples (1996:07-1998:08 and 1999:03-2004:12). We use directed acyclic graphs to identify the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) models. In contrast with most SVAR analysis for Brazil, we found empirical evidence that supports the view that a contractionary monetary policy indeed reduces the price level.Este artigo obtém alguns fatos estilizados sobre as flutuações de curto prazo da economia brasileira após o Plano Real, dando atenção especial à identificação dos efeitos dos choques da política monetária. Dadas as alterações na política monetária, ocorridos após o Plano Real, optamos por dividir a nossa análise em dois subperíodos (1996:07-1998:08 e 1999:032004:12). Os modelos de Auto-Regressão Vetorial Estrutural (SVAR) foram identificados através do uso de grafos acíclicos direcionados. Em contraste com a maioria das análises feitas para o Brasil, que adotam modelos SVAR, encontramos evidências de que uma política monetária contracionista reduz o nível geral de preços

Monetary Policy Regimes in Brazil

This article estimates the monetary policy rule followed by the Brazilian Central Bank for setting its main policy instrument, the SELIC rate, for the period after the Real Plan. In order to overcome the uncertainty over the dates at which changes in parameters occurred, this paper uses regime-dependent-switching probabilities according to a hidden Markov chain to model possible deviations from a simple linear reaction function. From July 1996 to January 2006 the Brazilian monetary policy can be fully characterized by four policy regimes. The changes in monetary policy in this period are best described by recurring regime changes, instead of once-and-for-all shifts. We have identified substantial differences in the way monetary policy was conducted in the subperiods before and after 1999, when the Brazilian exchange rate policy regime changed from crawling peg to free-floating. At each of these subperiods there are two recurring regimes and the two regimes of one subperiod differ from the two regimes of the other.

Monetary Policy, Inflation and the Level of Economic Activity in Brasil After the Real Plan: Stylized Facts From SVAR Models

This article investigates the stochastic and dynamic relationship of a group ofBrazilian macroeconomic variables (price and industrial production indexes, nominalexchange rate, short and medium-run nominal interest rates) for the period after theReal Plan (1996-2004). We adopt, as has become usual in the literature, severalSVAR (structural VAR) models to uncover stylized facts for the short-run impacts ofthe identified exogenous sources of fluctuations of this selected set of variables.A distinctive feature of this article is the employment of Directed Acyclic Graphs(DAG) to obtain the contemporaneous causal order of the variables used to identifythe SVAR models. Another distinguishing characteristic is the careful attention paidto monetary policy developments after the Real Plan when splitting our sample intwo subsamples (1996/07-1998/08 and 1999/03-2004/12).The main results are: a) in response to a positive short run interest rate innovation,during the 1999-2004 subperiod, the output and the price level decrease?however, theoutput response is faster and the price level responds with a lag of near four months; b)for the 1996-1998 subperiod, the most likely effect of a positive short run interest rateinnovation is the reduction of the price level (also with a four months lag), even thoughthere is a large uncertainty in this response, and the reduction of output; c)short runinterest rate innovations are one of the most important sources of temporary fluctuationsin the level of economic activity for both subsamples; and d) exogenous shocks to theexchange rate and to the medium term interest rate are for the 1999-2004 period, themost important sources of inflation rate fluctuation.

Measuring Monetary Policy Stance in Brazil

In this article we use the theory of conditional forecasts to develop a new MonetaryConditions Index (MCI) for Brazil and compare it to the ones constructed using themethodologies suggested by Bernanke and Mihov (1998) and Batini and Turnbull(2002). We use Sims and Zha (1999) and Waggoner and Zha (1999) approaches todevelop and compute Bayesian error bands for the MCIs.The new indicator we develop is called the Conditional Monetary Conditions Index(CMCI) and is constructed using, alternatively, Structural Vector Autoregressions(SVARs) and Forward-Looking (FL) models. The CMCI is the forecasted output gap,conditioned on observed values of the nominal interest rate (the Selic rate) and of the realexchange rate. We show that the CMCI, when compared to the MCI developed byBatini and Turnbull (2002), is a better measure of monetary policy stance because ittakes into account the endogeneity of variables involved in the analysis.The CMCI and the Bernanke and Mihov MCI (BMCI), despite conceptualdifferences, show similarities in their chronology of the stance of monetary policy inBrazil. The CMCI is a smoother version of the BMCI, possibly because the impact ofchanges in the observed values of the Selic rate is partially compensated by changes inthe value of the real exchange rate. The Brazilian monetary policy, in the 2000:9-2005:4 period and according to the last two indicators, has been expansionary nearelection months.