FocusThe paper examines the relationship between monetary policy and market prices through the lens of central bank communication. Central bankers use forward guidance to steer market expectations of future monetary policy moves. At the same time, they rely on market prices to gauge the likely...

Many believe that central banks, such as the Federal Reserve (Fed), have almost total control over some critical interest rates. Serious monetary economists are more sophisticated. They realize that central bank control over interest rates is very far from complete. Nonetheless, central bank...

Bilateral payment flows between banks may provide private information about a borrowing bank's liquidity position. This paper analyses whether private information on the bilateral payment flow of central bank reserves foster peer monitoring or whether the information is used to reduce search...

When the nominal interest rate reaches the zero lower bound (ZLB), a conventional monetary policy, namely, the adjustment of short-term interest rate, may become impractical and ineffective for central banks. Therefore, quantitative easing (QE) is one of the few available policy options of...

In Africa, a number of countries like South Africa have adopted inflation targeting. In Nigeria, different monetary policy regimes have been adopted over the years with rather unsatisfactory success. This study examines inflation targeting in Nigeria and South Africa, using fully modified least...

This paper develops a model based on a target-zone approach in which the dynamics of government bond yields follow a quasi-bounded process, such that the zero lower bound (ZLB) can be breached if the probability leakage condition of the dynamics is met. A one-sided U-shaped bond yield...

This paper uses confidential high-frequency data to investigate the dynamic effects on the government bond market of the central bank asset purchases carried out in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. We find that in response to an outright purchase of long-term bonds: (i) long-term...

This paper studies the term premium in a general equilibrium model with a financial constraint and central bank asset purchases. Structural estimates of the term premium match past empirical measures. Term premium dynamics are policy dependent, with Federal Reserve quantitative easing programs...

National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) modernized monetary policy and transited to the price-based policy framework in January 2019. The Forecasting and Policy Analysis System (FPAS) is the cornerstone for the new forward-looking framework, which mobilizes and organizes resources and sets processes for...

This paper studies the impact of dissent in the ECB's Governing Council on uncertainty surrounding households' inflation expectations. We conduct a randomized controlled trial using the Bundesbank Online Panel Households. Participants are provided with alternative information treatments...