Standard estimates of the NAIRU or natural rate of unemployment are subject to considerable uncertainty. We show in this paper that using multiple indicators to extract an estimated NAIRU cuts in half uncertainty as measured by variance. The inclusion of an Okun’s Law relation is...

We explore whether forecasting an aggregate variable using information on its disaggregate components can improve the prediction mean squared error over forecasting the disaggregates and aggregating those forecasts, or using only aggregate information in forecasting the aggregate. An implication...

Monitoring and forecasting price developments in the euro area is essential in light of the two-pillar framework of the ECB's monetary policy strategy. This study analyses whether the accuracy of forecasts of aggregate euro area inflation can be improved by aggregating forecasts of subindices of...

The growing number of auction sites on the internet enable game theorists to ask strategic questions on rationality of the observed bidding behavior. The most popular of them (eBay, Amazon.com, AuctionWatch.com and Yahoo!, etc.) operate under similar sets of rules with seemingly small...

This paper characterizes the optimal long-run rate of inflation, consistent with an occasionally binding zero lower bound on nominal interest rates, in a stochastic New Keynesian sticky-price model calibrated to the U.S. economy. This may serve to inform discussions on the design of an...

The authors structurally estimate and evaluate, for the U.S., the E.U., and Canada, various classes of recently-proposed Calvo-type models, using identification-robust methods. The models differ in their assumptions regarding price indexation (when firms cannot re-optimize their pices), in the...

We investigate co-movements in inflation dynamics within and across euro area regions and find it important for monetary policy to monitor regional inflation dynamics to enhance the understanding of aggregate inflation. We employ a model where regional inflation dynamics are explained by common...

This paper is related to a large recent literature studying the Phillips curve in sticky-price equilibrium models. It differs in allowing for the degree of price stickiness to be determined endogenously. A closed-form solution for short-term inflation is derived from the dynamic stochastic...

This paper considers the evidence of “near-rationality†in household inflation expectations, as described by Akerlof, Dickens, and Perry (2000), hereafter ADP. According to ADP, the economic incentive to anticipate inflation varies from agent to agent, and as inflation falls, some...

We study the the emergence of multiple equilibria in models with capital and bonds under various monetary and fiscal policies. We show that the presence of capital is indeed another independent source of local and global multiplicites, even under active policies that yield local determinacy. We...