An approach to decomposing and interpreting the inflation process is proposed. It suggests that the low U.S. inflation rate in recent years reflects a structural development, but that the low levels of unemployment may be a mainly cyclical phenomenon.

In this paper an expectations-augmented Phillips curve relation in an open economy is derived and estimated. As in Rotemberg´s (1982) model firms are assumed to face quadratic price adjustment costs. In addition, second-order costs of changing prices are not included. Consequently the derived...

We set up and estimate a structural unobserved components open economy model for the rate of unemployment and the real exchange rate in Sweden. This approach enables us to simultaneously determine changes in both cyclical and equilibrium rates. Our results show that the Natural Rate/NAIRU has...

This paper considers the evidence of “near-rationality,” as described by Akerlof, Dickens, and Perry (2000). Using detailed surveys of household inflation expectations for the United States and Sweden, we find that the data are generally unsupportive of the near-rationality hypothesis....

In this paper we study 2-state Markov switching VAR models of monthly unemployment and inflation for three countries: Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. The primary purpose is to examine if periods of low inflation are associated with high or low unemployment volatility. We find that...

The Phillips curve has generally been estimated in a linear framework which implies a constant relationship between inflation and unemployment. Lately there have been several studies which claim that the slope of the Phillips curve is a function of macroeconomic conditions and that the...

A new approach is proposed for estimating potential output and the NAIRU. Identification is achieved using Okun’s law and a Phillips curve. The performance of the methodology is exemplified using data from Canada, the UK, and the US.