Recent research has clarified the nature of measurement errors in U.S. price indexes. Changes in the quality of goods create severe problems. Laspeyres-type indexes suffer from substitution bias from one good to another and from one type of outlet to another. Available evidence suggests that the...

This paper uses Whiteman's(1986) frequency-domain optimization methodology to parameterize the precommitment period in a standard rational expectations policy design model. This allows researchers to adopt an empirical approach to the time consistency issue. That is, the operative commitment...

We use a version of the Fuhrer-Moore model to study the effects of expectations and central bank credibility on the economy's dynamic transition path during a disinflation. Simulations are compared under four different specifications of the model that vary according to the way that expectations...

On strategy for disinflation prescribes a deliberate path towards low inflation. A contrasting opportunistic approach eschews deliberate action and instead waits for unforeseen shocks to reduce inflation. This paper compares the ability of these two approaches to achieve disinflation-and at what...

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between changes in the funds rate and nonborrowed reserves within a reduced form framework that allows the relationship to have two distinct patterns over time. A regime switching model a la Hamilton (1989) is estimated. The two regimes are different...

In 2004 and 2005, long-term interest rates remained remarkably low despite improving economic conditions and rising short-term interest rates, a situation that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan dubbed a "conundrum." We document the extent and timing of this conundrum using two empirical...

This paper describes an empirical framework for analyzing the monetary transmission mechanism through which changes in monetary policy affect real GDP and inflation. The framework reflects the work of a large number of empirical researchers who have built econometric models of the impacts of...

This paper examines the issue of whether differences in money targeting or base-drift procedures between Japan and the U.S. are significant contributing factors to Japan's superior macroeconomic performance over the last decade, and concludes that these procedures probably are not important...

We use vector autoregressions to examine the behavior of the velocities of alternative monetary aggregates, focusing on the role of disinflation and deregulation during the 1980s. By estimating a single system that contains income, prices, interest rates and the components of M3, we are able to...