This paper examines a number of alternative PCE price inflation measures including overall PCE inflation, PCE inflation excluding food and energy, trimmed mean PCE inflation, component-smoothed inflation, variance-weighted inflation, inflation with weights based on disaggregated regressions, and...

The effects of asset purchase programs on macroeconomic variables are likely to be moderate. We reach this conclusion after simulating the impact of the Federal Reserve’s second large-scale asset purchase program (LSAP II) in a DSGE model enriched with a preferred habitat framework and...

After the current quantitative easing program ends, it would be natural for the FOMC to put monetary policy on hold.

Presented by Charles I. Plosser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia> Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton, Fall Members’ Meeting, October 12, 2011

Presented by Charles I. Plosser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Business Leaders Forum, Villanova School of Business, September 29, 2011>

Several arguments are relevant. (1) In the absence of the zero lower bound (ZLB), the optimal steady-state inflation rate, according to standard reasoning, lies between deflation at the steady-state real interest rate and the Calvo-model value of zero, with calibration indicating a larger weight...

The "unemployment gap" is an important factor in monetary policy decisions. But the size of the gap depends on the level of natural rate of unemployment, which is inherently unobservable. The uncertainty surrounding estimates of the natural rate, and the costs of mismeasuring it, may recommend a...

In linear macroeconomic models, an active Taylor rule for monetary policy can guarantee a locally unique nonexplosive equilibrium. In a series of articles, Benhabib, Schmitt-Grohé, and Uribe looked beyond the local dynamics and showed that active Taylor rules could interact with the zero bound...

Remarks before the Texas A&M Retailing Summit, Dallas, Texas, October 7, 2011 ; "We have filled the gas tanks of the economy with affordable liquidity. What is needed now is for employers to confidently step on the pedal and engage the transmission that will use that fuel to move the great...

Firmly-anchored inflation expectations are widely viewed as playing a central role in the successful conduct of monetary policy. This paper presents estimates of trend inflation, based on information contained in survey expectations, the term structure of interest rates, and realized inflation...