This paper examines issues surrounding monetary policy under zero interest rates based on one and a half yearfs experience in Japan. After reviewing the market development in Japan, it summarizes the transmission mechanism of monetary policy under zero nominal interest rates, and considers what...

The paper explores the relationship between financial stability, deflation, and monetary policy. A discussion of narrow liquidity, broad liquidity, market liquidity, and financial distress provides the foundation for the analysis. There are two preliminary conclusions. Equity prices are a...

In January 1997, the U.S. Treasury started issuing Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities (TIPS; hereafter TIPS and indexed bonds interchangeably) and, as of September 2002, a total of 10 issues were being traded on the market, while one issue had already matured. The purpose of this paper is...

This paper addresses the puzzling existence and persistence of a pronounced "middle-risk gap" in Japan's interest rate structure, which reflects an underdeveloped and distorted market for small-firm finance. The paper shows that a confluence of systemic reasons (including a shift away from the...

This paper attempts to view financial crises as the failure of arbitrage among financial markets, and takes the "Japan premium" phenomenon observed in offshore money markets as an important example in favor of this view. In addition, we reconsider, from this perspective, the open market...

This paper explores the financial stability implications of mark-to-market accounting, in particular its tendency to amplify financial cycles and the "reach for yield." Market prices play a dual role. Not only do they serve as a signal of the underlying fundamentals and the actions taken by...

We investigate the relationship between money, short-term interest rates, and scale variables. We use three monetary aggregates: Ml, demand deposits, and cash currency in circulation. Regional cross- sectional data yield stable estimates of the income elasticity of demand deposits that are...

The effects of three different inflationary environments--high inflation, low inflation, and negative inflation--on real output stability are examined by looking at the experiences of Japan and the United States during the last 30 years. I begin by going back to see how things looked from the...

This paper surveys the empirical analyses that examine the effects of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ's) quantitative easing policy (QEP), which was implemented from March 2001 through March 2006. The survey confirms a clear effect whereby the commitment to maintain the QEP fostered the expectations...

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