The Missing Links: Better Measures of Inflation and Inflation Expectations in Canada

The Bank of Canada’s inflation-targeting regime currently relies on imperfect measures of inflation and inflation expectations. The overall performance of monetary policy would be improved if new measures of inflation and inflation expectations were incorporated into the Bank of Canada’s inflation-targeting regime, when it comes up for review in 2011.monetary policy, Bank of Canada, inflation targets

Commentary on Parsing shocks: real-time revisions to gap and growth projections for Canada

Economic development ; Economic conditions - Canada

Reading a Target Zone in Keynes's Indian Currency and Finance

The gold-exchange standard in India 1893-1913 was characterized by a narrow target zone for the exchange rate, a wide annual range for the international interest-rate differential, and negative (seasonal) autocorrelation in interest rates. These properties are consistent with a standard target-zone model in which fundamentals are negatively autocorrelated on a Markov chain.target zone, Indian currency question, gold exchange standard

Exchange-Rate Discounting

Economists often describe nominal exchange rates as forward-looking, so that they reflect discounted, expected, future fundamentals. This study applies a method for identifying the discount rate involved, without knowing or measuring fundamentals. Identification arises from assumptions on the stochastic process followed by fundamentals, combined with nonlinearity arising from expected future regime changes. Two applications yield evidence against the present-value model in the form of discount rates which are negative and statistically significant.floating exchange rates, regime switching

US Inflation Dynamics 1981-2007: 13,193 Quarterly Observations

The new Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) restricts multivariate forecasts. I estimate and test it entirely within a panel of professional forecasts, thus using the time-series, cross-forecaster, and cross-horizon dimensions of the panel. Estimation uses 13,193 observations on quarterly US inflation forecasts since 1981. The main finding is a significantly larger weight on expected future inflation than on past inflation, a finding which also is estimated with much more precision than in the standard approach. Inflation dynamics also are stable over time, with no decline in inflation inertia from the 1980s to the 2000s. But, as in historical data, identifying the output gap is difficult.forecast survey, new Keynesian Phillips curve

Pooling Forecasts in Linear Rational Expectations Models

Estimating linear rational expectations models requires replacing the expectations of future, endogenous variables either with forecasts from a fully solved model, or with the instrumented actual values, or with forecast survey data. Extending the methods of McCallum (1976) and Gottfries and Persson (1988), I show how to pool these methods and also use actual, future values of these variables to improve statistical efficiency. The method is illustrated with an application using SPF survey data in the US Phillips curve, where the output gap plays a significant role but lagged inflation plays none.rational expectations, recursive projection, Phillips curve

Greenback-Gold Returns and Expectations of Resumption, 1862-1879

We propose a unified framework for studying the greenback-gold price during the U.S. suspension of convertibility from 1862 to 1879. The gold price is viewed as a floating exchange rate, with a fixed destination given by gold standard parity because of the prospect of resumption. We test this perspective using daily data for the entire period, and measure the effect of news during and after the Civil War. New evidence of a decline in the volatility of gold returns after the Resumption Act of 1875 provides statistical support for the importance of expectations of resumption.greenbacks, gold standard, regime switching

Business Cycle Theory and Econometrics

We outline in turn criticisms made by econometricians of the methods used in empirical business-cycle research and then criticisms made by business-cycle researchers of some methods used by econometricians. The aim is to clarify and in some cases correct these criticisms. Overall there is no conflict in using rigourous statistical procedures to study modern dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models. We also provide a concise bibliography of recent research on statistical methods for business-cycle models.business cycles, time-series econometrics

The Curse of Irving Fisher (Professional Forecasters' Version)

Dynamic Euler equations restrict multivariate forecasts. Thus a range of links between macroeconomic variables can be studied by seeing whether they hold within the multivariate predictions of professional forecasters. We illustrate this novel way of testing theory by studying the links between forecasts of U.S. nominal interest rates, inflation, and real consumption growth since 1981. By using forecast data for both returns and macroeconomic fundamentals, we use the complete cross-section of forecasts, rather than the median. The Survey of Professional Forecasters yields a three-dimensional panel, across quarters, forecasters, and forecast horizons. This approach yields 14727 observations, much greater than the 107 time series observations. The resulting precision reveals a significant, negative relationship between consumption growth and interest rates.forecast survey, asset pricing, Fisher effect

Suez and Sterling, 1956

Daily data on spot and forward dollar/sterling exchange rates and on Britain's foreign exchange reserves are used to reassess the financial history of the 1956 Suez crisis. We find that support of sterling at its Bretton Woods lower bound lost credibility as early as July. Reserve losses also are consistent with an exchange rate crisis. We provide the first econometric study of foreign exchange market intervention in the pre-convertibility phase of the Bretton Woods system. The Bank of England's interventions reacted strongly both to official sterling and to the transferable sterling market in New York, which suggests that convertibility was a central goal of policy.Suez crisis, Bretton Woods system, foreign exchange market intervention