We examine the impact of different degrees of fiscal feedback on debt in an economy with nominal rigidities where monetary policy is optimal. We look at the extent to which different degrees of fiscal feedback enhances or detracts from the ability of the monetary authorities to stabilise output...

We study a credible Markov-perfect monetary policy in an open New Keynesian economy with incomplete financial markets. We demonstrate the existence of two discretionary equilibria. Following a shock the economy can be stabilised either 'quickly' or 'slow', both dynamic paths satisfy conditions...

We generalise the analysis of inflation bias with dynamic Phillips curves in three respects. First, we examine the discretionary (time consistent) solution in cases where the Phillips curve has both a backward looking and forward-looking component. Second, we show that the commitment (time...

We develop the approach of Gokhale et al. (1996), based on the life-cycle model of savings, to decompose the di?erences in the national saving rates between the UK, US and Italy. Our work suggests that the US saving rate is lower principally because Americans on average retire later. In...

A commonly held view is that the life of a monetary policy maker forced to operate under discretion can be improved by the authorities delegating monetary policy objectives that are different from the social welfare function (including interest rate smoothing, price-level targeting and...

What role does the proportion of fixed versus variable rate debt contracts play in the macroeconomy? We explore this issue by integrating borrowing-constrained households with a quantity-optimising banking sector that lends under either fixed or variable rates. Our framework is then used to...

We study stationary discretionary equilibria in dynamic linear-quadratic rational expectations models. Past papers have assumed that this is uniquely determined; we show that such models can have multiple equilibria in some situations. We demonstrate the existence of multiple discretionary...

Discretionary policymakers cannot manage private-sector expectations and cannot co- ordinate the actions of future policymakers. As a consequence, expectations traps and coordination failures can occur and multiple equilibria can arise. In order to utilize the explanatory power of models with...

We study the degree of precommitment that is required to eliminate multiplicity of policy equilibria, which arise if the policy maker acts under pure discretion. We apply a framework developed by Schaumburg and Tambalotti (2007) and Debertoli and Nunes (2010) to a standard New Keynesian model...