Speed Limit Policies and Interest Rate Smoothing

Walsh (2003) argued that U.S. monetary policy can be described as following a "speed limit" policy. Here I show that this provides an explanation for the apparent interest rate smoothing present in central bank policy.Interest Rate Smoothing

The credibility of the monetary policy "free lunch"

JEL Classification: E52credibility, monetary policy

PROBING POTENTIAL OUTPUT: MONETARY POLICY, CREDIBILITY AND OPTIMAL LEARNING UNDER UNCERTAINTY

The effective conduct of monetary policy is hampered by uncertainty surrounding the level of potential output. Here, the case for following a more aggressive policy to learn about the economy is considered in a model where potential output is changing over time. Following such a policy may be referred to as probing or experimenting.In this model, with parameters calibrated to recent Canadian data, the optimal amount of probing is small and increases only a little with credibility. Only for unrealistically large amounts of uncertainty does the optimal policy with probing diverge significantly from a policy that ignores learning, and even then, for most forms of uncertainty, the optimal amount of probing diminishes as credibility rises.

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

Leverage Constraints and the International Transmission of Shocks

Recent macroeconomic experience has drawn attention to the importance of interdependence among countries through financial markets and institutions, independently of traditional trade linkages. This paper develops a model of the international transmission of shocks due to interdependent portfolio holdings among leverage-constrained financial institutions. In the absence of leverage constraints, international portfolio diversification has no implications for macroeconomic co-movements. When leverage constraints bind, however, the presence of diversified portfolios in combination with these constraints introduces a powerful financial transmission channel which results in a high correlation among macroeconomic aggregates during business cycle downturns, quite independent of the size of international trade linkages.leverage; international transmission; portfolios

Leverage Constraints and the International Transmission of Shocks

Recent macroeconomic experience has drawn attention to the importance of interdependence among countries through financial markets and institutions, independently of traditional trade linkages. This paper develops a model of the international transmission of shocks due to interdependent portfolio holdings among leverage-constrained investors. In our model, without leverage constraints on investment, financial integration itself has no implication for international macro co-movements. When leverage constraints bind however, the presence of these constraints in combination with diversified portfolios introduces a powerful financial transmission channel which results in a positive co-movement of production, independently of the size of international trade linkages. In addition, the paper shows that, with binding leverage constraints, the type of financial integration is critical for international co-movement. If international financial markets allow for trade only in non-contingent bonds, but not equities, then the international co-movement of shocks is negative. Thus, with leverage constraints, moving from bond trade to equity trade reverses the sign of the international transmission of shocks.

Consumption and Real Exchange Rates in Professional Forecasts

Standard models of international risk sharing with complete asset markets predict a positive association between relative consumption growth and real exchange-rate depreciation across countries. The striking lack of evidence for this link the consumption/real-exchange-rate anomaly or Backus-Smith puzzle - has prompted research on risk-sharing indicators with incomplete asset markets. That research generally implies that the association holds in forecasts, rather than realizations. Using professional forecasts for 28 countries for 1990-2008 we find no such association, thus deepening the puzzle. Independent evidence on the weak link between forecasts for consumption and real interest rates suggests that the presence of 'hand-to-mouth' consumers may help to resolve the anomaly.