We explore two popular approaches to empirical analysis of monetary policy: the New Keynesian and the identified vector autoregression approaches. Stylized models of private behavior coupled with simple rules describing policy behavior characterize New Keynesian work. Vector autoregressions...

Romer and Romer (1989, 1994) adopted a "narrative approach" to address the identification problems in time series models of monetary policy. Based on Federal Reserve documents, the Romers created a dummy variable equal to one in periods when the Federal Reserve contracted to offset inflationary...

News - or foresight - about future economic fundamentals can create rational expectations equilibria with non-fundamental representations that pose substantial challenges to econometric efforts to recover the structural shocks to which economic agents react. Using tax policies as a leading...