Consumption and output responses to fiscal shocks are studied in a model with fiscal foresight. Fiscal foresight reduces both output multipliers and consumption. However, key features such as sticky wages, credit constrained households and elastic labour supply, are able to generate both...

Based on a representation of policymaker’s preferences that capture inflation zone targeting behaviors, we estimate a flexible model of the monetary policy reaction function of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). To address the current debate on the importance of financial asset prices in...

This paper analyses the empirical relationship between inflation and growth using a panel data estimation technique, Multiple Regime Panel Smooth Transition Regression (MR-PSTR), which takes into account the nonlinearities in the data. By using a panel data set for 10 African countries that...

In this paper we investigate the likelihood of a proposed monetary union in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) being successful from the viewpoint of the Generalised Purchasing Power Parity (GPPP) hypothesis and optimum currency area (OCA) theory. We apply Johansen’s...

We test the inertial properties of South African inflation in a Markov-Switching autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average model. This allows us to test for long memory and study the persistence of inflation in multiple regimes. We show that inflation is more volatile and persistent...

We try and detect whether there exists a threshold level of inflation for the US economy over 1801-2013, beyond which it has a negative effect on economic growth. We use a combination of nonparametric (NP) and instrumental variable semiparametric (SNP-IV) methods to obtain inflation thresholds...

We examine the high-frequency response of the rand-dollar nominal rate within ten-minute intervals around five minutes before, five minutes after) official inflation announcements, and show that the rand appreciates (respectively, depreciates) on impact when inflation is higher (respectively,...

The persistence property of inflation is an important issue for not only economists, but, especially for central banks, given that the degree of inflation persistence determines the extent to which central banks can control inflation. Also, not only is the level of inflation persistence that is...

The conduct of inflation targeting is heavily dependent on accurate inflation forecasts. Non-linear models have increasingly featured, along with linear counterparts, in the forecasting literature. In this study, we focus on forecasting South African infl ation by means of non-linear models and...

This paper exploits the Lucas’ (1973) signal extraction model to study the effect of uncertainty in the output-inflation trade-off on inflation, using a monetary model with asymmetric central bank preferences over inflation and output. We show that the implication of the uncertainty is...