“Having looked at monetary policy from both sides now, I can testify that central banking in practice is as much art as science. Nonetheless, while practicing this dark art, I have always found the science quEite useful.” 2 Alan S. Blinder

We estimate a forward-looking monetary policy reaction function for the postwar United States economy, before and after Volcker’s appointment as Fed Chairman in 1979. Our results point to substantial differences in the estimated rule across periods. In particular, interest rate policy in the Volcker-Greenspan period appears to have been much more sensitive to changes in expected in�ation than in the pre-Volcker period. We then compare some of the implications of the estimated rules for the equilibrium properties of in�ation and output, using a simple macroeconomic model, and show that the Volcker-Greenspan rule is stabilizing. I.

The purpose of this paper is to survey and discuss inflation targeting in the context of monetary policy rules, to clarify the essential characteristics of in‡ation targeting, to compare inflation targeting to other monetary policy rules, and to draw some conclusions for the monetary policy of

We examine the frequency of price changes for 350 categories of goods and services covering about 70 % of consumer spending, based on unpublished data from the BLS for 1995 to 1997. Compared with previous studies we find much more frequent price changes, with half of goods' prices lasting less than 4.3 months. Even excluding the role of temporary price cuts (sales), we find that half of goods' prices last 5.5 months or less. The frequency of price changes differs dramatically across categories. We exploit this variation to ask how inflation for "flexible-price goods" (goods with frequent changes in individual prices) differs from inflation for "sticky-price goods" (those displaying infrequent price changes). Compared to the predictions of popular sticky price models, actual inflation rates are far more volatile and transient, particularly for sticky-price goods.

This paper examines a model of dynamic price adjustment based on the assumption that information disseminates slowly throughout the population. Compared with the commonly used sticky-price model, this sticky-information model displays three related properties that are more consistent with accepted views about the effects of monetary policy. First, disinflations are always contractionary (although announced disinflations are less contractionary than surprise ones). Second, monetary policy shocks have their maximum impact on inflation with a substantial delay. Third, the change in inflation is positively correlated with the level of economic activity.

The paper extends previous analysis of closed-economy inflation targeting to a small open economy with forward-looking aggregate supply and demand with some microfoundations, and with stylized realistic lags in the different transmission channels for monetary policy. The paper compares targeting of CPI and domestic inflation, strict and exible inflation targeting, and inflation-targeting reaction functions and the Taylor rule. The optimal monetary policy response to several different shocks is examined. Flexible CPI-inflation targeting stands out as successful in limiting not only the variability of CPI inflation but also the variability of the output gap and the real exchange rate. Somewhat counter to conventional wisdom, negative productivity supply shocks and positive demand shocks have similar effects on inflation and the output gap, and induce similar monetary policy responses. The model gives limited support for a so-called monetary conditions index, MCI, of the monetary-policy impact on aggregate d...

Contents 4 A Neo-Wicksellian Framework 1 1 ABasicModeloftheE#ectsofMonetaryPolicy................ 3 1.1 AnIntertemporalISRelation ...................... 4 1.2 ACompleteModel ............................ 9 2 Interest-Rate Rules and Price Stability ..................... 12 2.1 TheNaturalRateofInterest....................... 12 2.2 Conditions for Determinacy of Equilibrium ............... 18 2.3 Determinants of Inflation ......................... 32 2.4 Policy Rules for Inflation Stabilization ................. 41 3 MonetaryPolicyandInvestmentDynamics................... 45 3.1 InvestmentDemandwithStickyPrices................. 46 3.2 OptimalPrice-SettingwithEndogenousCapital............ 51 3.3 ComparisonwiththeBaselineModel .................. 56 3.4 CapitalandtheNaturalRateofInterest ................ 67 Chapter 4 A Neo-Wicksellian Framework for the Analysis of Monetary Policy We are now ready to consider the e#ects of alternative interest-ra

We examine to what extent variants of inflation-forecast targeting can avoid stabilization bias, incorporate history-dependence, and achieve determinacy of equilibrium, so as to reproduce a socially optimal equilibrium. We also evaluate these variants in terms of the transparency of the connection with the ultimate policy goals and the robustness to model perturbations. A suitably designed inflation-forecast targeting rule can achieve the social optimum and at the same time have a more transparent connection to policy goals and be more robust than competing instrument rules.

This paper investigates the predictions of a simple optimizing model of nominal price rigidity for the aggregate price level and the dynamics of inflation. I compare the model’s predictions with those of a perfectly competitive, flexible price ‘benchmark’ model (corresponding to the model of pricing assumed in standard real business cycle models), and evaluate how much the introduction of nominal rigidities improves the model’s fit with the data. The model’s predictions are derived using only the firms optimal pricing problem; taking as given the paths of nominal labor compensation, labor productivity, and output, I determine the implied path of prices predicted by the model. Because prices are not a stationary series, I present my results in terms of the predicted path of the price/unit labor cost ratio, where the parameters characterizing such paths are chosen to maximize the fit with the data. I find that, while the evolution of prices relative to unit labor costs is quite different from what would be predicted by the flexible-price ‘benchmark ’ model, a simple model of nominal price rigidity delivers an extremely close approximation both of the price/unit labor cost ratio and of the inflation series, even under a very simple approach to the measurement of marginal costs. Moreover, the results are robust to modifications of this measure.

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