As long as Portugal was on the gold standard, the Bank of Portugal, sought to stabilize the currency at the exchange rate to which the country was committed. Because it was subject to political and other constraints, the Bank carried out discount rate interventions excessively sparingly,...

This paper develops a model of a small open economy integrated in a monetary union. The model incorporates the standard nominal and real frictions in the literature. The parameters of the model are calibrated to the Portuguese data and the effects of the standard monetary policy shock are studied.

We derive principles of optimal short run monetary policy in a real business cycles model, with money and with monopolistic firms that set prices one period in advance. The only distortionary policy instruments are the nominal interest rates and the money supplies. In this environment it is...

This paper assesses the relevance of the exchange rate regime for stabilization policy. This regime question cannot be dealt with independently of other institutions, in particular how .fiscal policy is designed. We show that once .fiscal policy is taken into account, the exchange rate regime is...

In this paper, we analyze the implications of price setting restrictions for the conduct of cyclical fiscal and monetary policy. We consider an environment with monopolistic competitive firms, a shopping time technology, prices set one period in advance, and government expenditures that must be...

In this paper we study the effects of quality change on the price index for new passenger cars in Portugal for the years 1997-2001. Hedonic regression models are studied, giving particular emphasis to the relation between the form of the price index and the specification of the hedonic equation...

We study environments with sticky prices, wages or portfolios where it is feasible and optimal to use monetary policy to replicate the allocation under full flexibility. In these environments the optimal policy does not depend on the scope of the frictions. In this sense, the strength of the...

What instruments of monetary policy must be used in order to implement a unique equilibrium? This paper revisits the issues addressed by Sargent and Wallace (1975) on the multiplicity of equilibria when policy isconducted with interest rate rules. We show that the appropriate interestrate...