An Investment-Function-Based Measure of Capacity Utilisation. Potential Output and Utilised Capacity in the Bank of Italy's Quarterly Model

Measures of potential output and the output gap are increasingly being developed and used to concisely quantify and monitor the risk of price accelerations stemming from rises in aggregate demand that are not met by a corresponding increase in supply. They often play a prominent role in the price determination mechanisms of macroeconometric models. In this paper we build a measure of potential private-sector value added for the Italian economy that is consistent with the capital accumulation process in the Banca d’Italia’s Quarterly Model — and more generally with the rest of the supply-side block of that model. More specifically, we exploit the fact that the investment function can be thought of as a relationship transforming desired gross additions to capacity output into capital accumulation by means of a conversion factor (the optimal capital/output ratio). Thus, if one removes the component of investment decisions that stems from changes in the relative price of the production factors (i.e., in the optimal capital/output ratio), then a measure of the desired gross addition to capacity may be constructed.The results draw a cyclical picture of the degree of capacity utilisation for the period 1970-1997 that is roughly in line with those produced by the Wharton and Hodrick-Prescott filter approaches, as well as with the pictures resulting from the ISAE, IMF, European Commission and OECD measures of the output gap. Our investment-function-based measure appears to be a promising indicator of the pressure exerted on prices by demand accelerations. Its empirical properties are, on the whole, acceptable and plausible.

The economic consequences of euro area modelling shortcuts

The available empirical evidence suggests that non-negligible differences in economic structures persist among euro area countries. Because of these asymmetries, an area-wide modelling approach is arguably less reliable, from a strictly statistical viewpoint, than a multi-country one. This paper revolves around the following issue: are those (statistically detectable) asymmetries of any practical relevance when it comes to supporting monetary policy decision-making? To answer this question, we compute optimal parameter values of a Taylor-type rule, using two simple area-wide and multi-country models for the three largest economies in the euro area, and compare the corresponding optimized loss functions. The results suggest that the welfare under performance of an area-wide modelling approach is likely to be far from trifling.euro area, aggregation, monetary policy rules

A policy-sensible core-inflation measure for the euro area

Although the concept of core inflation is apparently well defined and intuitively appealing, its practical usefulness has often been questioned on at least two accounts: first, existing core inflation measures are by and large exclusively based on statistical criteria and thus lack a firm theoretical justification; second, there appears to be no generally accepted and plausible criterion to assess the empirical performance of competing measures. Both criticisms are indeed justified. In this paper we propose an approach to build a benchmark measure of core inflation that aims to overcome those drawbacks. Our measure is based on a criterion that explicitly treats core inflation as a wholly artificial concept whose usefulness rests only on its role in defuse inflationary pressures that may be in the pipeline. Our measure is obtained by conveniently combining disaggregate information coming from price sub-indices, as is the case for the most popular core inflation measures. However, we depart from all other approaches by combining the information available in price sub-indices in such a way so as to provide the best guidance to a forward-looking monetary policy-maker. Accordingly, our measure of core inflation is based on the solution of a standard monetary policy optimisation problem. We illustrate our approach using a simple estimated model of the euro-area economy and appraise the performance of a few of the most popular core inflation measures in use. We find, generally speaking, that one cannot recommend that those measures be used to support monetary policy-making.core inflation, optimal monetary policy rules, Eurosystem

A non-parametric model-based approach to uncertainty and risk analysis of macroeconomic forecast

It has increasingly become standard practice to supplement point macroeconomic forecasts with an appraisal of the degree of uncertainty and the prevailing direction of risks. Several alternative approaches have been proposed in the literature to compute the probability distribution of macroeconomic forecasts; all of them rely on combining the predictive density of model-based forecasts with subjective judgment about the direction and intensity of prevailing risks. We propose a non-parametric, model-based simulation approach, which does not require specific assumptions to be made regarding the probability distribution of the sources of risk. The probability distribution of macroeconomic forecasts is computed as the result of model-based stochastic simulations which rely on re-sampling from the historical distribution of risk factors and are designed to deliver the desired degree of skewness. By contrast, other approaches typically make a specific, parametric assumption about the distribution of risk factors. The approach is illustrated using the Bank of Italy’s Quarterly Macroeconometric Model. The results suggest that the distribution of macroeconomic forecasts quickly tends to become symmetric, even if all risk factors are assumed to be asymmetrically distributed.macroeconomic forecasts, stochastic simulations, balance of risks, uncertainty, fan-charts

How deep are the deep parameters?

Policy evaluation based on the estimation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models with aggregate macroeconomic time series rests on the assumption that a representative agent can be identified, whose behavioural parameters are independent of the policy rules. Building on earlier work by Geweke, the main goal of this paper is to show that the representative agent is in general not structural, in the sense that its estimated behavioural parameters are not policyindependent. The paper identifies two different sources of nonstructurality. The latter is shown to be a fairly general feature of optimizing representative agent rational expectations models estimated on macroeconomic data.Structural models, Lucas Critique

Dealing with forward-looking expectations and policy rules in quantifying the channels of transmission of monetary policy

The issue of appraising the transmission process through which monetary policy affects the economy is receiving wider and increasing attention. In Europe, much of the interest in the effects of monetary policy is arguably a reflection of the introduction of the single currency: to the extent that transmission mechanism differ significantly across euro area countries, heterogenous responses of economic activity and prices to the policy instrument should be expected, an occurrence whose policy implications are of major relevance. To gain some insight into the likely causes of those differences recent studies have attempted to identify and assess separately the channels of transmission of monetary policy. This paper proposes a simple methodology to quantify separately the different parts of the overall impulse response that are transmitted through the various mechanisms at play in a model of the economy. It is shown that, under the maintained assumption of linearity, the decomposition of the effects of monetary policy into a number of channels delivered by our approach is exact (i.e., it leaves no unexplained residual). This conclusion holds regardless of the nature of the expectation formation mechanism and the way in which policy decisions are modelled. The features of the proposed approach are illustrated with an empirical application, using a model that features two distinct transmission channels and assumes rational expectations and a monetary policy reaction rule. We show that our approach produces an exact decomposition of the effects of a monetary policy shock. Moreover, and perhaps more interestingly, our approach gives a deeper insight than do standard impulse responses into the specific features of the model that are most relevant in shaping its observed reaction to the shock.Monetary policy transmission channels, decomposition

The Performance and Robustness of Interest-Rate Rules in Models of the Euro Area

In this paper, we examine the performance and robustness of optimized interest-rate rules in four models of the euro area that differ considerably in terms of size, degree of aggregation, relevance of forward-looking behavioral elements, and adherence to microfoundations. Our findings are broadly consistent with results documented for models of the U.S. economy: backward-looking models require relatively more aggressive policies with, at most, moderate inertia; rules that are optimized for such models tend to perform reasonably well in forward-looking models, while the reverse is not necessarily true; and, hence, the operating characteristics of robust rules (i.e., rules that perform satisfactorily in all models) are heavily weighted towards those required by backward-looking models.macroeconomic modelling; model uncertainty; monetary policy rules; robustness; euro area

The performance and robustness of interest-rate rules in models of the euro area

In this paper, we examine the performance and robustness of optimised interest-rate rules in four models of the euro area which differ considerably in terms of size, degree of aggregation, relevance of forward-looking behavioural elements and adherence to micro-foundations. Our findings are broadly consistent with results documented for models of the U.S. economy: backward-looking models require relatively more aggressive policies with at most moderate inertia; rules that are optimised for such models tend to perform reasonably well in forward-looking models, while the reverse is not necessarily true; and, hence, the operating characteristics of robust rules (i.e., rules that perform satisfactorily in all models) are heavily weighted towards those required by backward-looking models. JEL Classification: E31, E52, E58, E61euro area, macroeconomic modelling, Model uncertainty, monetary policy rules, Robustness

Monetary Policy Rules for the Euro Area: What Role for National Information?

Using a simple multi-country econometric model covering the three main countries of the euro area, the paper focuses on the role that can be played by information at the national level in defining the monetary policy of the Union. We find that the performance of a central bank that chooses the nominal interest rate to minimize a standard quadratic loss function of area-wide inflation and output gap improves significantly if the reaction function includes national variables - as opposed to the case in which the interest rate reacts to area-wide variables only. Our results suggest that asymmetries within the euro area are relevant to the central bank; overall, we interpret them as making a case for exploiting the available national information in the conduct of the single monetary policy.monetary policy rules, Eurosystem

The transmission of the global financial crisis to the Italian economy. A counterfactual analysis, 2008-2010.

The world recession triggered by the financial crisis has impacted with extraordinary violence on economic activity in Italy.What has been the contribution of the various channels through which the crisis was transmitted to the Italian economy? What have been the effects stemming from the reaction of economic policies? To address these questions, our paper makes a counterfactual analysis of the Italian economy over the period 2008-2010, exploring a set of “no-crisis†scenarios. We estimate that the events prompted by the financial turmoil subtracted 6.5 percentage points from economic activity over the period 2008-2010. Specifically, crisis factors curtailed GDP growth by about 10 percentage points, while economic policies and automatic stabilizers mitigated the impact by about 3.5 percentage points. According to our results, the effects of the crisis were mostly “imported from abroadâ€; the worsening of domestic financing conditions and of the business and household climates played lesser - though not negligible - roles.global financial crisis, counterfactual simulations, business fluctuations.