We estimate a monetary policy rule allowing for possible frequency dependence - i.e. allowing the central bank to respond di¤erently to persistent innovations than to transitory innovations, in both the real-time unemployment rate and the real-time inflation rate. The method is flexible, and...

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an important social index number, central to monetary policy, well being measurement, optimal pricing, and tax and contract escalation. Shelter costs have a large weight in the CPI, so their movements receive much attention. The CPI incorporates two shelter...

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an important social index number, central to monetary policy, well being measurement, optimal pricing, and tax and contract escalation. Shelter costs have a large weight in the CPI, so their movements receive much attention. The CPI incorporates two shelter...

We estimate a monetary policy rule for the US allowing for possible frequency de- pendence - i.e., allowing the central bank to respond differently to persistent innovations than to transitory innovations, in both the real-time unemployment rate and the real-time inflation rate. The estimation...

It is often unclear whether time series displaying substantial persistence should be modelled as a vector autoregression in levels (perhaps with a trend term) or in differences. The impact of this decision on inference is examined here using Monte Carlo simulation. In particular, the size and...

Accumulating microeconomic evidence points both to firm level adjustment lumpiness and to the significant influence of idiosyncratic disturbances. Do these matter for aggregate fluctuations, or do their effects largely vanish upon aggregation? This paper explores the implications of local...

This paper re-examines evidence relating mean inflation to cross- sectional inflation asymmetry, and investigates longitudinal asymmetry in disaggregated price series. The asymmetry test used possesses two important characteristics: it has high power, and it is not dominated by outliers. In...

Most economic models implicitly or explicitly assume that interactions between economic agents are 'global' - in other words, each agent interacts in a uniform manner with every other agent. However, localized interactions between microeconomic agents are a pervasive feature of reality. What are...

Using a recently introduced nonparametric test, I investigate two important and distinct asymmetries in cross-country quarterly macroeconomic time series. Asymmetries are suggested by many theories (old and new), and those discovered aid in the selection of the appropriate nonlinear time series...