IMF-Supported Adjustment Programs: Welfare Implications and the Catalytic Effect

The author studies the welfare implications of adjustment programs supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He uses a model where an endogenous borrowing constraint, set up by international lenders who will never lend more than a debt ceiling, forces the borrowing economy to always choose repayment over default. The immediate potential welfare cost of joining a program is driven by IMF conditionality: to be able to borrow from the IMF, the country has to submit to limits on the consumption of public goods. The benefits derive from the additional borrowing from the IMF (at a lower interest rate) and/or through a "catalytic effect" on private loans, which facilitates consumption smoothing over time. Simulations of the dynamic model in two institutional environments -- with and without the IMF -- are compared. Results indicate that when conditionality forces the country to save more, at a cost that does not prevent it from joining an IMF program, the resulting lower probability of default can induce private lenders to relax their borrowing constraints. Based on a calibration of the model for the Brazilian economy, the overall welfare gains associated with IMF programs are relatively small.International topics

Endogenous Borrowing Constraints and Consumption Volatility in a Small Open Economy

Consumption volatility relative to output volatility is consistently higher in emerging economies than in developed economies. One natural explanation is that emerging economies are more likely to face borrowing constraints and, as a consequence, find it more difficult to use international capital markets to smooth consumption. The author investigates how much this mechanism alone can account for the relative consumption volatility differential between emerging and developed economies. His theoretical approach relies on a standard dynamic general-equilibrium model of a small open endowment economy that is subject to an endogenous borrowing constraint. The borrowing constraint makes the small economy exactly indifferent between two options: (i) repaying its external debt, or (ii) defaulting and having to live in financial autarky in the future. The model for the constrained economy is calibrated to match Brazilian data during the period 1980-2001. The author's findings suggest that the model is capable of accounting for more than half of the observed relative consumption volatility differential.International topics

The Welfare Implications of Fiscal Dominance

This paper studies the interdependence between fiscal and monetary policy in a DSGE model with sticky prices and non-zero trend inflation. We characterize the fiscal and monetary policies by a rule whereby a given fraction k of the government debt must be backed by the discounted value of current and future primary surpluses. The remaining fraction of debt is backed by seigniorage revenues. When k = 1, there is no fiscal dominance, since the fiscal authority backs all debt and accommodates (independent) monetary policy, by adjusting current or future primary surpluses to satisfy the government’s intertemporal budget constraint. If k = 0, all debt is backed by the monetary authority and there is complete fiscal dominance. A continuum of possibilities lies between these two polar cases. We numerically show that: 1) the degree of fiscal dominance, as measured by (1 - k), is positively related to trend inflation, and 2) when prices are sticky, k has significant effects on the business cycle dynamics. The model is estimated using Bayesian techniques. Estimates of k imply a high degree of fiscal dominance in both Mexico and South Korea, but almost no fiscal dominance in Canada and the U.S. The country-specific estimates of the structural parameters are used in a second-order approximation of the equilibrium around the deterministic steady-state to evaluate the welfare costs of fiscal dominance. Results suggest significant welfare losses for countries with high degrees of fiscal dominance.Economic models; Fiscal policy; Inflation: costs and benefits; Monetary policy framework

The BoC-GEM-Fin: Banking in the Global Economy

This article describes the Bank of Canada’s version of the Global Economy Model structured to incorporate an active banking system that features an interbank market and cross-border lending. After describing the new model, the authors use it to examine the responses of selected U.S. and Canadian macroeconomic variables to a “credit crunch” in the United States and also to study the impact of changes in the regulatory limits to bank leverage in Canada. They also discuss the relative merits of a monetary policy framework based on inflation targeting and one based on price-level targeting in the presence of shocks to the U.S. and Canadian banking sectors.

Alternative Optimized Monetary Policy Rules in Multi-Sector Small Open Economies: The Role of Real Rigidities

Inflation-targeting central banks around the world often state their inflation objectives with regard to the consumer price index (CPI). Yet the literature on optimal monetary policy based on models with nominal rigidities and more than one sector suggests that CPI inflation is not always the best choice from a social welfare perspective. We revisit this issue in the context of an estimated multi-sector New-Keynesian small open economy model where sectors are heterogeneous along multiple dimensions. With key parameters of the model estimated using data from an inflation targeting economy, namely Canada, we particularly focus on (i) the role of sector-specific real rigidities, specially in the form of factor mobility costs, and (ii) welfare implications of targeting alternative price indices. Our estimations reveal considerable heterogeneity across sectors, and in several dimensions. Moreover, in contrast to existing studies, our welfare analysis comparing simple optimized policy rules based on alternative sectoral inflation rates provides support for CPI-based targeting policies by central banks. Capital mobility costs matter importantly in this regard.Inflation: costs and benefits; Inflation and prices; Inflation targets; Monetary policy framework; Monetary policy implementation

How Changes in Oil Prices Affect the Macroeconomy

We estimate a New Keynesian general-equilibrium open economy model to examine how changes in oil prices affect the macroeconomy. Our model allows oil price changes to be transmitted through temporary demand and supply channels (affecting the output gap), as well as through persistent supply side effects (affecting trend growth). We estimate this model for Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States over the period 1971-2008, and find that it matches the data very well in terms of first and second moments. We conclude that (i) energy prices affect the economy primarily through the supply side, whereas we do not find substantial demand-side effects; (ii) higher oil prices have temporary negative effects on both the output gap and on trend growth, which translates into a permanent reduction in the level of potential and actual output. Also, results for the United States indicate that oil supply shocks have more persistent negative effects on trend growth than oil demand shocks. These effects are statistically significant; however, our simulations also indicate that the effects are economically small.Economic models; Interest rates; Transmission of monetary policy; Productivity; Potential output

A tecnologia fotovoltaica de película fina. Afinal como estamos?

Todos nós estamos familiarizados com os painéis fotovoltaicos comuns, os silicon wafer-based (“bolacha/pastilha” de silício), que possuem atualmente uma quota superior a 80% [1-3] no mercado solar fotovoltaico. Desde o seu “aparecimento” em 1950, foram realizados avanços em diferentes vertentes, como a eficiência, durabilidade, custos e tecnologias de produção [2, 4, 5], sendo que no início deste século se começaram a desenvolver e a criar expectativas positivas crescentes acerca do que se designa de células fotovoltaicas de película fina ou TFPC (thin film photovoltaic cells). Certamente, já todos ouvimos notícias nos últimos anos do seu desenvolvimento e de aplicações variadas (vestuário, fachadas, etc), pelo que este artigo visa elucidar o leitor acerca do que são, do seu grau de investigação e desenvolvimento (I&D) e da posição no mercado atual e futura

The Backing of Government Debt and the Price Level

This paper studies the interdependence between fiscal and monetary policies, and their joint role in the determination of the price level. The government is characterized by a long-run fiscal policy rule whereby a given fraction of the outstanding debt, say d, is backed by the present discounted value of current and future primary surpluses. The remaining debt is backed by seigniorage revenue. The parameter d characterizes the interdependence between fiscal and monetary authorities. It is shown that in a standard monetary economy, this policy rule implies that the price level depends not only on the money stock, but also on the proportion of debt that is backed with money. Empirical estimates of d are obtained for OECD countries using data on nominal consumption, monetary base, and debt. Results indicate that debt plays only a minor role in the determination of the price level in these economies. Estimates of d correlate well with institutional measures of central bank independence.Dans cet article, nous étudions la dépendance entre les politiques fiscales et monétaires et leur rôle conjoint dans la détermination du niveau des prix. Dans le cadre étudié, une politique fiscale de long terme permet à l'État de supporter une part d d'une importante dette publique par la valeur présente escomptée des excédents primaires courants et futurs. Le reste de la dette est supporté par seigneuriage. Le paramètre d illustre la dépendance entre les autorités monétaires et fiscales. Nous montrons que dans une économie monétaire standard, cette règle de politique implique que le niveau des prix ne dépend pas uniquement du stock de monnaie, mais aussi de la part de la dette supportée par la monnaie. Dans une application empirique, nous estimons les valeurs de d pour les pays de l'OCDE à partir de données sur la consommation nominale, la base monétaire et la dette publique. Selon nos résultats, la dette semble jouer un rôle mineur dans la détermination du niveau des prix de ces économies. De plus, les estimations de d sont en accord avec les mesures habituelles d'indépendance des banques centrales