Is There a Desirable Rate of Inflation? A Theoretical and Empirical Survey

In this paper, I survey the existing literature and examine three related questions: (1) What inflation rate constitutes the appropriate target for the central bank? (2) What is an operational definition of price stability for the conduct of monetary policy? (3) What is the policy framework for pursuing price stability in practice? In doing so, I emphasize that it is crucially important for a central bank to seek to maintain a price environment that is neither inflationary nor deflationary and is consistent with stability of the economy in the long run. I propose two definitions of price stability, gmeasured price stabilityh and gsustainable price stability.h I argue that g sustainable price stabilityh should be the fundamental goal for monetary policy. Although, from the viewpoint of accountability, gmeasured price stabilityh is important as a quantitative yardstick by which to evaluate policy achievement, it should not be the justification for preventing the central bank from its pursuit of gsustainable price stability.h Since observed changes in price indices are affected by various types of external shocks and measurement errors, it is indeed quite difficult to assess whether the underlying rate of inflation is stable or not. Therefore, even if gmeasured price stabilityh seems to be maintained, a central bank may need to alter interest rates promptly if it judges that the maintenance of gsustainable price stabilityh is at risk. In this sense, it is deemed important to construct a framework for monetary policy designed to maintain policy flexibility with a high degree of transparency by properly ensuring consistency between g measured price stabilityh and gsustainable price stability.h The current policy framework adopted by the Bank of Japan can be viewed as aiming at a kind of gconstrained discretionh by restricting pure discretion under open independence in line with this direction.

Information Content of Implied Probability Distributions: Empirical Studies of Japanese Stock Price Index Options

Empirical studies of the information content of option prices have focused on exploring whether implied volatility contains useful information regarding the future fluctuation of underlying asset prices. If expectation formation in the option markets reflects all the currently available information regarding future price movements, option prices will be useful in forecasting the price fluctuation of underlying assets. This paper extends such an analytical framework to implied probability distribution as a whole and examines its information content by using Japanese stock price index option data (on a daily basis) from mid-1989 to mid-1996. To this end, the following questions are examined: (1) whether the implied probability distribution is a good forecast of the subsequently realized distribution of stock price fluctuations, and (2) whether a leads and lags relationship exists between stock price changes and changes in the shape of the implied probability distribution. The estimation results show that (1) the implied probability distribution contains some information regarding future price movements, but its forecasting ability is not superior to that of the historical distribution, and (2) the shape of the implied probability distribution not only responds to stock price changes but also contains some information on forecasting stock price changes. However, it should be noted that such results are highly sensitive to the choice of sample period, suggesting that the information content depends on macroeconomic and financial market conditions. Therefore, the information contained in an implied probability distribution is difficult to interpret automatically as an information variable for monetary policy, and further studies are needed on how to make use of information contained in implied probability distributions.

Size and composition of the central bank balance sheet: revisiting Japan's experience of the quantitative easing policy

This paper re-examines Japan's experience of the quantitative easing policy in light of the policy responses against the current financial and economic crisis. Central banks use various unconventional measures in the range of financial assets being purchased and in the scale of such purchases. As the scope of such unconventional measures expands, it is often emphasized that the U.S. Federal Reserve policy reactions focus more on the asset side of its balance sheet, the so-called credit easing. By contrast, the Bank of Japan's quantitative easing policy from 2001 to 2006 set a target for the current account balances, the liability side of its balance sheet. It is crucial to understand that central banks combine the two elements of their balance sheets, size and composition, to enhance the overall effects of unconventional policy measures, given constraints on policy implementation.Financial markets ; Monetary policy ; Banks and banking, Central ; Financial crises

Asset Price Fluctuation and Price Indices

Since the late 1980s, the Japanese economy has experienced tremendous rise and fall of asset prices and large fluctuations of real economic activity, while the general price level has remained relatively stable. Such developments have raised the question of whether monetary policy should target asset prices rather than conventional price indices. This paper focuses on how to make use of information inherent with asset price fluctuations in the monetary policy judgment. To this end, it investigates the possibility of incorporating asset price data into inflation measures by extending the conventional price index concept into a dynamic framework. The main conclusion of this paper is as follows. Although the concept of such extensions of the conventional price index is highly evaluated from a theoretical viewpoint, it is difficult for monetary policy makers to expect it to be more than a supplementary indicator for monetary policy judgment. This is because (1) reliability of asset price statistics is quite low, compared with the conventional price indices; and (2) asset price changes do not necessarily mean that the future price changes, because there are a lot of sources for asset price fluctuation besides the private-sector expectation for inflation.

Size and Composition of the Central Bank Balance Sheet: Revisiting Japanfs Experience of the Quantitative Easing Policy

This paper re-examines Japanfs experience of the quantitative easing policy in light of the policy responses against the current financial and economic crisis. Central banks use various unconventional measures in the range of financial assets being purchased and in the scale of such purchases. As the scope of such unconventional measures expands, it is often emphasized that the U.S. Federal Reserve policy reactions focus more on the asset side of its balance sheet, the so- called credit easing. By contrast, the Bank of Japanfs quantitative easing policy from 2001 to 2006 set a target for the current account balances, the liability side of its balance sheet. It is crucial to understand that central banks combine the two elements of their balance sheets, size and composition, to enhance the overall effects of unconventional policy measures, given constraints on policy implementation.Quantitative easing, Credit easing, Unconventional monetary policy, Central bank balance sheet

Measurement errors and quality-adjustment methodology: lessons from the Japanese CPI

This article examines the problems inherent in quality changes/new goods bias in the Consumer Price Index, using the Japanese case as an example. The author proposes a practical way to improve the accuracy of quality adjustments by introducing the hedonic approach to the conventional procedure.Consumer price indexes

Policy Duration Effect under Zero Interest Rates: An Application of Wavelet Analysis

A major feature of recent monetary policy in Japan has been heavy reliance on the so-called policy duration effect. This policy employs a commitment to compensate for the central bank’s inability to lower the interest rate below zero by altering the anticipated course of monetary policy actions. This paper analyzes the behavior of the yield curve and examines the effectiveness and limitations of monetary policy commitment under zero interest rates with four indicators for policy duration effect. Specifically, we extend our previous study (Okina and Shiratsuka (2003)) by applying wavelet analysis to indicators for policy duration effect. As in the previous study, the policy duration effect was found to be highly effective in stabilizing market expectations for the path of short-term interest rates, thereby reducing longer-term interest rates and flattening the yield curve. The policy duration effect, however, failed to reverse deflationary expectations in financial markets.zero interest rate policy, quantitative monetary easing, policy duration effects, policy commitment, wavelet analysis

Asset Price Bubbles, Price Stability, and Monetary Policy: Japan' s Experience

Japan's economy has experienced an extremely large swing against the backdrop of the emergence, expansion, and bursting of asset price bubbles. When examining the emergence and bursting of the bubble economy from the viewpoint of monetary policy management, should the Bank of Japan have given more consideration to asset price fluctuations in formulating its monetary policy? Or, should the Bank not have been perplexed with asset price fluctuations and conducted policies focusing only on the general price level such as inflation targeting? In answering these questions and deciding policy actions, to what extent should the Bank consider financial system problems? This paper aims at forming some tentative answers to these questions.

Asset Price Fluctuations, Structural Adjustments, and Sustained Economic Growth: Lessons from Japan's Experience since the Late 1980s

In this paper, we examine implications of asset price fluctuations and resultant structural adjustments on sustained economic growth, based on Japan's experience since the latter half of the 1980s. In doing so, we offer the view that the protracted economic stagnation in Japan can be seen as a result of the incomplete economic adjustments to significant changes in relative prices, in part triggered by the bursting of the asset price bubble. Such changes in relative prices include movements in both intertemporal and cross-sectional dimensions, which interacted crucially to lower the economy's trend growth. This aspect of Japan's asset price bubble, with its consequences for structural adjustments since the 1990s, is important because it illustrates the specific environment in which the Bank of Japan has to conduct monetary policy: namely, not a standard stabilization policy around a stable growth trend. Rather, it has operated in an environment of unanswered policy management questions coupled with hampered sustained growth.

Policy Duration Effect under the Zero Interest Rate Policy in 1999-2000: Evidence from Japan's Money Market Data

This paper quantifies the policy duration effect of the zero interest rate policy implemented in Japan from February 1999 to August 2000. Our empirical analysis shows that the policy duration effect observed in Japanese financial markets emerged via the expectations channel on the future course of monetary policy actions, supplemented significantly by liquidity effects in the severe financial conditions. This finding leads to the policy implication that the effectiveness of the zero interest rate policy depends crucially on the financial and economic conditions.