74 research outputs found
Reflections on the Founding and Evolution of the University of Canterbury Economics Department
No full textThe Department of Economics (which merged with Finance about a decade ago) marks its centenary this December or in 2021, depending on one’s interpretation of the founding date. Alfred Guender and Frank Tay recently discussed the establishment of Economics as a separate academic unit. Frank Tay is the most authoritative person to consult about the department. He joined it as a young lecturer before the Beatles became famous. That was a while ago. And after he retired, Frank wrote a History of Economics as a Field of Study at the University of Canterbury that goes back to 1879
Reflections on the Founding and Evolution of the University of Canterbury Economics Department
No full textThe Department of Economics (which merged with Finance about a decade ago) marks its centenary this December or in 2021, depending on one’s interpretation of the founding date. Alfred Guender and Frank Tay recently discussed the establishment of Economics as a separate academic unit. Frank Tay is the most authoritative person to consult about the department. He joined it as a young lecturer before the Beatles became famous. That was a while ago. And after he retired, Frank wrote a History of Economics as a Field of Study at the University of Canterbury that goes back to 1879
CPI Inflation Targeting and the UIP Puzzle: An Appraisal of Instrument and Target Rules
No full textEmploying an optimizing framework, this paper shows that a target rule dominates a simple instrument rule when the focus of monetary policy is on CPI inflation. The target rule approach produces a systematic relationship between the current CPI inflation rate and the lagged policy instrument that renders the former immune to the stochastic risk premium. No matter how policy parameters are set, the optimal simple instrument rule cannot replicate the superior stabilization results achieved by the target rule approach. The optimal simple instrument rule also fails to account for the UIP puzzle. In contrast, the target rule approach can motivate the widely reported phenomenon whereby high interest rate currencies tend to appreciate. In fact the degree of openness and the central bank’s relative aversion to CPI inflation variability determine the sensitivity of observed changes in the nominal exchange rate to the lagged interest rate differential.CPI Inflation Targeting; UIP Puzzle; Instrument Rule; Target Rule; Optimal Monetary Policy
Optimal discretionary monetary policy in the open economy: Choosing between CPI and domestic inflation as target variables
No full textIn open economy, a choice can be made between two measures of inflation for use as a target variable: CPI inflation or domestic inflation. This paper considers flexible and strict inflation targeting strategies and explores the circumstances under which a domestic inflation target is preferred to a CPI inflation target. This is done from the perspectives of the central bank and society as a whole. The quantitative results of this paper indicate that under suitable conditions the temporal properties of stochastic disturbances are instrumental in determining which inflation target is preferred. The choice of target variable from society’s viewpoint coincides almost perfectly with the choice of the central bank if the utility of the representative household serves as the welfare criterion for society. If qualitative aspects matter in the choice inflation target, then the role of temporal properties of the stochastic disturbances becomes less prominent. Policy conclusions are drawn with the help of a forward-looking model for a small open economy. This model has proper micro-foundations and exhibits two important features. First, the degree of openness affects the parameters of the IS relation and, second, under domestic inflation targeting, the existence of a direct exchange rate channel in the Phillips Curve impairs the perfect stabilising properties of monetary policy in the presence of demand-side disturbances.monetary policy, inflation target
The Timeless Perspective vs. Discretion: Theory and Monetary Policy Implications for an Open Economy
No full textCompared to the standard Phillips curve, an open-economy version that features a real exchange rate channel leads to a markedly different target rule in a New Keynesian optimizing framework. Under optimal policy from a timeless perspective (TP) the target rule involves additional history dependence in the form of lagged inflation. The target rule also depends on more parameters, notably the discount factor as well as two IS and two Phillips curve parameters. Stabilization policy in this open economy model is no longer isomorphic to policy in a closed economy. Because of the additional history dependence in an open economy target rule price level targeting is no longer consistent with optimal policy. The gains from commitment are smaller in economies where the real exchange rate channel exerts a direct effect on inflation in the Phillips curve.CPI Inflation Targeting; UIP Puzzle; Instrument Rule; Target Rule; Optimal Monetary Policy
Optimal discretionary monetary policy in the open economy: Choosing between CPI and domestic inflation as target variables
No full textIn open economy, a choice can be made between two measures of inflation for use as a target variable: CPI inflation or domestic inflation. This paper considers flexible and strict inflation targeting strategies and explores the circumstances under which a domestic inflation target is preferred to a CPI inflation target. This is done from the perspectives of the central bank and society as a whole. The quantitative results of this paper indicate that under suitable conditions the temporal properties of stochastic disturbances are instrumental in determining which inflation target is preferred. The choice of target variable from society’s viewpoint coincides almost perfectly with the choice of the central bank if the utility of the representative household serves as the welfare criterion for society. If qualitative aspects matter in the choice inflation target, then the role of temporal properties of the stochastic disturbances becomes less prominent. Policy conclusions are drawn with the help of a forward-looking model for a small open economy. This model has proper micro-foundations and exhibits two important features. First, the degree of openness affects the parameters of the IS relation and, second, under domestic inflation targeting, the existence of a direct exchange rate channel in the Phillips Curve impairs the perfect stabilising properties of monetary policy in the presence of demand-side disturbances.monetary policy; inflation target
On discretion versus commitment and the role of the direct exchange rate channel in a forward-looking open economy model
No full textIrrespective of whether discretion or commitment to a binding rule guides the conduct of monetary policy, the existence of a direct exchange rate channel in the Phillips Curve causes the behavior of the key economic variables in the open economy to be dramatically different from that in the closed economy. In the open economy, the policymaker can no longer perfectly stabilize real output and the rate of inflation in the face of IS and UIP shocks as well as shocks to foreign inflation. If the exchange rate channel in the Phillips Curve is operative, then in the open economy the policymaker faces an output-inflation tradeoff that differs substantially from its counterpart in the closed economy. ; Our analysis of the conduct of monetary policy reveals that the stabilization bias under discretion is weaker in the open economy relative to the closed economy. In the open economy, a “less conservative central banker”, one that attaches a smaller weight to the variance of inflation in the loss function, can be appointed to replicate the behavior of real output that eventuates under optimal policy. Evaluating the social loss function under discretion and commitment, we find that the existence of a direct exchange rate channel in the Phillips Curve mitigates the pronounced differences between the two strategies that exist in case of high persistence in the stochastic shocks.Monetary policy ; Foreign exchange rates ; Econometric models
The timeless perspective vs. discretion: theory and monetary policy implications for an open economy
No full textThis paper proposes an open-economy Phillips Curve that features a real exchange rate channel. The resulting target rule under optimal policy from a timeless perspective (TP) involves additional history dependence in the form of lagged inflation. The target rule also depends on the discount factor as well as IS and Phillips Curve parameters. This is in sharp contrast to a closed economy where the target rule depends only on the change in the output gap, the current rate of inflation and the structural parameter in the Phillips Curve. Because of the additional history dependence in an open economy, price level targeting is no longer consistent with optimal policy. If a real exchange rate channel does not exist in the Phillips Curve, monetary policy eases in the wake of a positive cost-push disturbance under policy from a TP and is thus diametrically opposed to same under discretion. Maximum gains accrue from commitment relative to discretion in an open economy where the real exchange rate is absent from the Phillips Curve and the policymaker places strong emphasis on maintaining price stability. --Timeless Perspective,Discretion,Price Level Targeting,Exchange Rate Channel
Operating Procedures and the Expectations Theory of the Term Structure of Interest Rates: A Note on the New Zealand Experience from 1989 to 2008
No full textThe operating procedure of a central bank influences in no small measure whether the behavior of interest rates is consistent with the expectations hypothesis. In New Zealand, the predictive content of the term spread improves markedly in the wake of the switch from a quantity-based to a price-based operating procedure in March 1999. The Official Cash Rate system has made it easier for market participants to understand the day-to-day conduct of monetary policy. As a result, market interest rates have become more predictable, thereby contributing to the success of the expectations hypothesis in explaining the behavior of yields on very short-dated financial instruments.
HOW CONSERVATIVE DOES THE CENTRAL BANKER HAVE TO BE? ON THE TREATMENT OF EXPECTATIONS UNDER DISCRETIONARY POLICYMAKING
No full textThis paper explores an issue that arises in the delegation process. The paper shows that a myopic central banker, one who treats expectations as constant in setting discretionary policy, can replicate the behaviour of output and inflation under policy from a timeless perspective. For that to happen, society must delegate a price level target or a speed limit policy to a central banker who is more weight-conservative than society. Copyright 2009 The Author. Journal compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University.
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