This paper draws from Japan's recent monetary experiment to examine the effects of an increase in the inflation target during a liquidity trap. We review Japanese data and examine through a VAR model how macroeconomic variables respond to an identified inflation target shock. We apply these...

This paper examines the presence of asymmetric behavior in exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to CPI inflation in 12 euro area (EA) countries. Using a class of nonlinear smooth transition models, the author tests for asymmetry with respect to the direction and the magnitude of exchange rate...

This paper examines the presence of asymmetric behavior in exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to CPI inflation in 12 euro area (EA) countries. Using a class of nonlinear smooth transition models, the author tests for asymmetry with respect to the direction and the magnitude of exchange rate...

Currency substitution affects the mapping between social welfare and inflation by altering the underlying money demand function and influencing interest rates. In order to explore the essence of this effect, I build a model with working capital under which foreign currency is substituted with...

Several recent studies imply that the response of national saving to fiscal policy is non-monotonic. In this paper, we use two data sets to search for the circumstances in which such non-monotonic responses arise: one refers to a sample of OECD countries, as in previous studies, and one to a...

The microdata underlying U.S. import and export price indexes exhibit frequent product turnover and highly rigid prices. As a consequence, 40% of products are replaced before a single price change is observed and 70% are replaced after two price changes or less. An aggregate price index that...

Central banks can go broke and have done so, although mainly in developing countries. The conventional balance sheet of the central bank is uninformative about the financial resources it has at its disposal and about its ability to act as an effective lender of last resort and market marker of...

Fiat money contains the seeds of its own destruction. It has no intrinsic value and, yet, it can be exchanged for valuable consumption and production goods. As Hahn (1965) shows, this situation puts fiat money's market value or liquidity premium at the brink of collapse. In this paper I will...

The paper studies the behavior of nominal and real wages, average labor productivity, the exchange rate of Bulgarian lev against the dollar, and the world price of oil. It examines the specific parameters of their change in the periods of high and moderate inflation, and outlines the...

The paper studies the behavior of nominal and real wages, average labor productivity, the exchange rate of Bulgarian lev against the dollar, and the world price of oil. It examines the specific parameters of their change in the periods of high and moderate inflation, and outlines the...