The current mainstream approach to monetary policy is based on the New Keynesian model and is expressed in terms of a short-term nominal interest, such as the federal funds rate in the United States. It ignores the role of leverage and also downplays the role of money in basic monetary theory...

The current mainstream approach to monetary policy is based on the New Keynesian model and is expressed in terms of a short-term nominal interest, such as the federal funds rate in the United States. It ignores the role of leverage and also downplays the role of money in basic monetary theory...

In this paper we investigate the relationship between leverage and the level of economic activity in the United States, using quarterly data over the 1951 to 2012 period. We address the question for …five different measures of leverage - —household leverage, non…financial fi…rm...