The “sub-prime” crisis, which led to major turbulence in global financial markets beginning in mid-2007, has posed major challenges for monetary policymakers. We analyze the impact on monetary policy of the widening differential between policy rates and the three-month LIBOR rate, the...

In this paper, we propose a simple econometric framework to disentangle the respective roles of monetary policy inertia and persistent shocks in interest rate rules. We exploit the restrictions of a DSGE model that is confronted with a monetary SVAR. We show that, provided enough informative...

We examine the ability of the New Keynesian Phillips curve to explain U.S. inflation dynamics when inflation forecasts (from the Federal Reserve’s Greenbook and the Survey of Professional Forecasters) are used as a proxy for inflation expectations. The New Keynesian Phillips curve is estimated...

This paper studies when and by how much the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank change their target interest rates. I develop a new non-linear bivariate framework, which allows for elaborate dynamics and potential interdependence between the two countries, as opposed to linear feedback...

This paper investigates the implications of cross-country heterogeneity within the euro area for the design of optimal monetary policy. We build an optimization-based multicountry model (MCM) describing the euro area in which differences between structural parameters across countries are...

In this paper, we study the optimal mix of monetary and macroprudential policies in an estimated two-country model of the euro area. The model includes real, nominal, and financial frictions, and hence both monetary and macroprudential policy can play a role. We find that the introduction of a...

We estimate empirical reaction functions for the European Central Bank (ECB) with ordered-probit techniques, using the ECB's Monthly Bulletin to guide the choice of variables. The results show that policy reacts to the state of the real economy, M3 growth, and exchange rate changes but not to...

We examine the role of the "bias" associated with a monetary policy directive - wording in the directive that concerns possible policy shifts in the period between one FOMC meeting and the next - in FOMC decision making in the Greenspan years. Previous studies have suggested that the bias...

This paper provides an assessment of central bank transparency for the efficiency of monetary policy implementation, using the introduction of balance-of-risks assessments by the Federal Reserve as a testing device. We find that markets anticipated monetary policy decisions equally well under...

This paper studies the welfare implications of financial stability and inflation stabilization as distinct monetary policy objectives. Introducing asymmetric aversion to exchange rate depreciation in the Barro-Gordon model mitigates inflation bias due to credibility problems. The net welfare...