Stock market booms and monetary policy in the twentieth century

This article examines the association between stock market booms and monetary policy in the United States and nine other developed countries during the 20th century. The authors find, as was true of the U.S. stock market boom of 1994-2000, that booms typically arose during periods of above-average growth of real output and below-average inflation, suggesting that booms reflected both real macroeconomic phenomena and monetary policy. They find little evidence that booms were fueled by excessive liquidity. Booms often ended within a few months of an increase in inflation and consequent monetary policy tightening. They find few differences across the different monetary policy regimes of the century.Stock market ; Monetary policy

Price stability and financial stability: the historical record

Although the economic performance of the U.S. economy in 1997 was very good, it was troubling in at least one respect for the Federal Open Market Committee. Traditional signals of inflation - rapid money growth and high levels of economic activity - were not accompanied by higher inflation. Rather, inflation fell steadily throughout the year. The committee put forth several hypotheses for the subdued inflation but found the situation puzzling, nevertheless. Compounding the problem, members did not know how long such dampening factors might last. In the end the FOMC changed the intended federal funds target once and searched anxiously for the answers to the conundrum it faced in 1997.Economic policy

When do stock market booms occur? the macroeconomic and policy environments of 20th century booms

This paper studies the macroeconomic conditions and policy environments under which stock market booms occurred among ten developed countries during the 20th Century. We find that booms tended to occur during periods of above-average growth of real output, and below-average and falling inflation. We also find that booms often ended within a few months of an increase in inflation and monetary policy tightening. The evidence suggests that booms reflect both real macroeconomic phenomena and monetary policy, as well as the extant regulatory environment.Monetary policy ; Stock exchanges

Monetary policy and asset prices: a look back at past U.S. stock market booms

This article examines the economic environments in which past U.S. stock market booms occurred as a first step toward understanding how asset price booms come about and whether monetary policy should be used to defuse booms. The authors identify several episodes of sustained rapid rises in equity prices in the 19th and 20th centuries, and then assess the growth of real output, productivity, the price level, and money and credit stocks during each episode. Two booms stand out in terms of their length and rate of increase in market prices—the booms of 1923-29 and 1994-2000. In general, the authors find that booms occurred in periods of rapid real growth and productivity advancement, suggesting that booms are driven at least partly by fundamentals. They find no consistent relationship between inflation and stock market booms, though booms have typically occurred when money and credit growth were above average.Monetary policy ; Asset pricing

Monetary Policy and Asset Prices: A Look Back at Past U.S. Stock Market Booms

This paper examines the economic environments in which past U.S. stock market booms occurred as a first step toward understanding how asset price booms come about and whether monetary policy should be used to defuse booms. We identify several episodes of sustained rapid rise in equity prices in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and then assess the growth of real output, productivity, the price level, money and credit stocks during each episode. Two booms stand out in terms of their length and rate of increase in market prices -- the booms of 1923-29 and 1994-2000. In general, we find that booms occurred in periods of rapid real growth and productivity advance, suggesting that booms are driven at least partly by fundamentals. We find no consistent relationship between inflation and stock market booms, though booms have typically occurred when money and credit growth were above average.

Inflation, monetary policy and stock market conditions: quantitative evidence from a hybrid latent-variable VAR

This paper examines the association between inflation, monetary policy and U.S. stock market conditions during the second half of the 20th century. We use a latent-variable VAR to estimate the impact of inflation and other macroeconomic shocks on a latent index of stock market conditions. Our objective is to investigate the extent to which various shocks contribute to changes in market conditions, above and beyond their direct effects on real stock prices. We find that disinflation shocks promote market booms and inflation shocks contribute to busts. Further, we find that inflation shocks can explain more of the variation in real stock prices when stock market conditions are taken into account.Inflation (Finance) ; Monetary policy ; Stock market

Aggregate price shocks and financial instability: a historical analysis

This paper presents empirical evidence on the hypothesis that aggregate price disturbances cause or worsen financial distress. We construct two annual indexes of financial conditions for the United States covering 1790-1997, and estimate the effect of aggregate price shocks on each index using a dynamic ordered probit model. We find that price level shocks contributed to financial instability during 1790-1933, and that inflation rate shocks contributed to financial instability during 1980-97. Our research indicates that the size of the aggregate price shocks needed to qualitatively alter financial conditions depends on the institutional environment, but that a monetary policy focused on price stability would be conducive to financial stability.Economic policy ; Inflation (Finance) ; Prices

Aggregate Price Shocks and Financial Instability: An Historical Analysis

This paper presents empirical evidence on the hypothesis that aggregate price disturbances cause or worsen financial instability. We construct two annual indexes of financial conditions for the United States covering 1790-1997, and estimate the effect of aggregate price shocks on each index using a dynamic ordered probit model. We find that price level shocks contributed to financial instability during 1790-1933, and that inflation rate shocks contributed to financial instability during 1980-97. Our research indicates that the size of the aggregate price shocks needed to substantially alter financial conditions depends on the institutional environment, but that a monetary policy focused on price stability would be conducive to financial stability.

Multisensor satellite data integration for sea surface wind speed and direction determination

Techniques to integrate meteorological data from various satellite sensors to yield a global measure of sea surface wind speed and direction for input to the Navy's operational weather forecast models were investigated. The sensors were launched or will be launched, specifically the GOES visible and infrared imaging sensor, the Nimbus-7 SMMR, and the DMSP SSM/I instrument. An algorithm for the extrapolation to the sea surface of wind directions as derived from successive GOES cloud images was developed. This wind veering algorithm is relatively simple, accounts for the major physical variables, and seems to represent the best solution that can be found with existing data. An algorithm for the interpolation of the scattered observed data to a common geographical grid was implemented. The algorithm is based on a combination of inverse distance weighting and trend surface fitting, and is suited to combing wind data from disparate sources

Aggregate Price Shocks and Financial Instability: An Historical Analysis

This paper presents empirical evidence on the hypothesis that aggregate price disturbances cause or worsen financial instability. We construct two annual indexes of financial conditions for the United States covering 1790-1997, and estimate the effect of aggregate price shocks on each index using a dynamic ordered probit model. We find that price level shocks contributed to financial instability during 1790-1933, and that inflation rate shocks contributed to financial instability during 1980-97. Our research indicates that the size of the aggregate price shocks needed to substantially alter financial conditions depends on the institutional environment, but that a monetary policy focused on price stability would be conducive to financial stability.