This paper investigates the empirical specification of the Taylor Rule. Building on the New Keynesian paradigm, we derive a general nonlinear specification for the optimal policy rule that nests the standard linear Taylor Rule as a particular case. Using a novel semi-parametric modeling...

This paper extends the family of smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) models by proposing a speci.cation in which the autoregressive parameters follow random walks. The random walks in the parameters capture permanent structural change within a regime switching framework, but in contrast to...