We show how monetary aggregates can be usefully incorporated in forecasts of inflation. This requires fully disregarding the high-frequency fluctuations blurring the money/inflation relation, i.e., the projection of inflation onto monetary aggregates must be restricted to the low frequencies....

This paper identifies the empirical stylized features of price setting behaviour in Portugal using the micro-datasets underlying the consumer and the producer price indexes. The main conclusions are the following: 1 in every 4 prices change each month; there is a considerable degree of...

This paper compares the monetary transmission mechanism in the US and the 3 largest economies of the euro area. We start by showing that the dynamic responses to a monetary policy shock in each of the four countries are analogous. A model with a small set of frictions that broadly accounts for...

This paper argues that nominal wage inertia is a structural feature in low-inflation economies. Using a quarterly data set for six G7 countries we show that, unlike price inflation, nominal wage inflation responds sluggishly to both monetary and technology shocks. Accounting for this inertial...

This paper argues that the flexible price paradigm is superior to the sticky price paradigm in the context of general equilibrium models. Based on a quarterly data set for six G7 economies, the paper presents two types of evidence showing that prices respond significantly to their underlying...

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...

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...

This paper proposes testable conditions that core inflation measures should satisfy. Trend inflation indicators calculated by Banco de Portugal are tested against this background. The major conclusion is that the so-called “underlying inflation”, the “10% trimmed mean”, and the “25%...

We consider standard cash-in-advance monetary models and show that there are interest rate or money supply rules such that equilibria are unique. The existence of these single instrument rules depends on whether the economy has an infinite horizon or an arbitrarily large but finite horizon.

Monetary policy strategy in Portugal has been presented in recent years as pursuing the final goal of price stability through an exchange rate stability target. This paper argues that a central bank committed to the goal of price stability - meaning low inflation in the medium/long run - can...