Many empirical studies have found that interest rate increases have a positive effect on the price level. This paper pursues an obvious, but neglected explanation: interest payments are a cost of production that is at least in part passed on to customers. A model shows that the cost- push effect...

We examine the response of a sticky-wage economy to various real and nominal shocks. In addition to variations in hours, we allow for an endogenous response in worker effort per hour. Despite wages being predetermined, the labor market clears through the effort margin. We find that the ability...

We examine the impact of wage stickiness when employment has an effort as well as hours dimension. Despite wages being predetermined, the labor market clears through the effort margin. Consequently, welfare costs of wage stickiness are potentially much, much smaller.

This paper is on monetary policy transmission. First, it asks the question whether industries are affected differently by monetary policy shocks. Here both output and price effects are compared. Second, some industry characteristics are explored which may help to understand the existence of...

Modern monetary policy analysis is built around the concept of an interest rate rule that responds to both inflation and output. This paper evaluates the quantitative implications of having a policy rule target different definitions of the output gap in a New Keynesian model with endogenous...

This paper investigates the asymmetric effects of monetary shocks when the=20 impact of monetary policy on real activity works through state-dependent=20 variables. We use a nonlinear model, the multiple regime smooth transition=20 autoregressive model, that allows the effects of shocks to vary...

This study views inflation targeting as a viable regime for more advanced transition economies. A dynamic approach to the trajectory of disinflation and the flexibility of direct inflation targeting is presented in the context of achieving monetary convergence to the EU/EMU. The candidate...

This study examines the link between various monetary policy regimes and the ability to manage inflation and exchange rate risk premiums in the EU candidate countries as they undergo monetary convergence to the eurozone. The underlying hypothesis is that a system of 'flexible inflation...

We place regional industry structures at centre stage in currency union analysis, decomposing differences between regional and aggregate cycles into 'industry structure' and 'industry cycle' effects. The industry structure effect indicates whether a region's industry structure causes its cycle...

This paper studies the role of collateral constraints in transforming small monetary shocks into large persistent output fluctuations. We do this by introducing money in the heterogeneous-agent real economy of Kiyotaki and Moore (1997). Money enters in a cash-in-advance constraint and is...