Financial Liberalization, the Wealth Effect, and the Demand for Broad Money in Japan

This paper examines the demand for broad money in Japan from 1975 to 1994. In spite of the large shocks resulting from financial liberalization and the subsequent "boom and bust" of the "bubble" economy, the paper confirms that a stage money demand function can still be set up by taking proper account of financial liberalization and the wealth effect, and by adopting an adequate econometric strategy. In addition, a super exogeneity test is conducted, and its implication is considered in the context of the monetary transmission mechanism.

Inflation Targeting and Monetary Policy Activism

We estimate monetary policy activism, defined as responsiveness of the policy interest rate to inflation, among five inflation-targeting countries (the UK, Canada, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand) plus the G3 (the US, Japan and Germany) by applying a time- varying parameter with a stochastic-volatility model. We find that activism of inflation-targeting countries tends to have increased before (not after) the adoption of the inflation-targeting policy framework and that these countries have experienced a decline in activism in recent years, albeit to different degrees. We further explore this result in terms of the constraint of an inflation target range by developing a formal theoretical model in a New Keynesian framework.Inflation-targeting Policy, Monetary Policy Activism, New Keynesian Model, Markov chain Monte Carlo, Time-varying Parameter with Stochastic Volatility Model

Monetary factors and inflation in Japan

Recently, the Bank of Japan outlined a “two perspectives” approach to the conduct of monetary policy that focuses on risks to price stability over different time horizons. Interpreting this as pertaining to different frequency bands, we use band spectrum regression to study the determination of inflation in Japan. We find that inflation is related to money growth and real output growth at low frequencies and the output gap at higher frequencies. Moreover, this relationship reflects Granger causality from money growth and the output gap to inflation in the relevant frequency bands. Keywords: spectral regression, frequency domain, Phillips curve, quantity theory. JEL Numbers: C22, E3, E

Monetary Factors and Inflation in Japan

Recently, the Bank of Japan outlined a two perspectives approach to the conduct of monetary policy that focuses on risks to price stability over different time horizons. Interpreting this as pertaining to different frequency bands, we use band spectrum regression to study the determination of inflation in Japan. We find that inflation is related to money growth and real output growth at low frequencies and the output gap at higher frequencies. Moreover, this relationship reflects Granger causality from money growth and the output gap to inflation in the relevant frequency bands.spectral regression, frequency domain, Phillips curve, quantity theory