Inflation Persistence, Backward-Looking Firms, and Monetary Policy in an Input-Output Economy

Inflation Persistence, Backward-Looking Firms, and Monetary Policy in an Input-Output Economy
Author: Brad E. Strum
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2011-04
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1437980236

This paper studies the implications of inflation persistence (generated by backward-looking price setters) for monetary policy in a New Keynesian "input-output" model -- a model with sticky prices in both intermediate and final goods sectors. Optimal policy under commitment depends on the degree of inflation persistence in both sectors. Under discretion, speed-limit targeting -- targeting the change in the output gap -- outperforms price-level and inflation targeting in the presence of inflation persistence. If inflation persistence is low in the intermediate goods sector, price-level targeting outperforms in inflation targeting despite high inflation persistence in the final goods sector. Illus. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.

Pricing Policies and Inflation Inertia

Pricing Policies and Inflation Inertia
Author: Mr.Michael Kumhof
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2003-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451851049

This paper provides a monetary model with nominal rigidities that differs from the conventional New Keynesian model with firms setting pricing policies instead of price levels. In response to permanent or highly persistent monetary policy shocks this model generates the empirically observed slow (inertial) and prolonged (persistent) reaction of the inflation rate, and also the recession that typically accompanies moderate disinflations. The reason is that firms respond to such shocks mostly through a change in the long-run or inflation updating component of their pricing policies. With staggered pricing policies there is a time lag before this is reflected in aggregate inflation.

Inflation Persistence

Inflation Persistence
Author: Karlygash Kuralbayeva
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

We analyze implications of inflation persistence for business cycle dynamics following terms of trade and risk-premium shocks in a small open economy, under fixed and flexible exchange rate regimes. We show that the country's adjustment paths are slow and cyclical if there is a significant backward-looking element in the inflation dynamics and the exchange rate is fixed. We also show that such cyclical adjustment paths are moderated if there is a high proportion of forward-looking price setters. In contrast, with an independent monetary policy, flexible exchange rate allows to escape severe cycles, supporting the conventional wisdom about the insulation role of flexible exchange rates.

Monetary Policy and Inflation Dynamics

Monetary Policy and Inflation Dynamics
Author: John M. Roberts
Publisher:
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2004
Genre: Phillips curve
ISBN:

"Since the early 1980s, the United States economy has changed in some important ways: Inflation now rises considerably less when unemployment falls and the volatility of output and inflation have fallen sharply. This paper examines whether changes in monetary policy can account for these phenomena. The results suggest that changes in the parameters and shock volatility of monetary policy reaction functions can account for most or all of the change in the inflation-unemployment relationship. As in other work, monetary-policy changes can explain only a small portion of the output growth volatility decline. However, changes in policy can explain a large proportion of the reduction in the volatility of the output gap. In addition, a broader concept of monetary-policy changes--one that includes improvements in the central bank's ability to measure potential output--enhances the ability of monetary policy to account for the changes in the economy"--Abstract.

Inflation and Activity – Two Explorations and their Monetary Policy Implications

Inflation and Activity – Two Explorations and their Monetary Policy Implications
Author: Mr.Olivier J. Blanchard
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 29
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513536613

We explore two issues triggered by the crisis. First, in most advanced countries, output remains far below the pre-recession trend, suggesting hysteresis. Second, while inflation has decreased, it has decreased less than anticipated, suggesting a breakdown of the relation between inflation and activity. To examine the first, we look at 122 recessions over the past 50 years in 23 countries. We find that a high proportion of them have been followed by lower output or even lower growth. To examine the second, we estimate a Phillips curve relation over the past 50 years for 20 countries. We find that the effect of unemployment on inflation, for given expected inflation, decreased until the early 1990s, but has remained roughly stable since then. We draw implications of our findings for monetary policy.

Inflation, Output, and Markup Dynamics with Forward-Looking Wage and Price Setters

Inflation, Output, and Markup Dynamics with Forward-Looking Wage and Price Setters
Author: Louis Phaneuf
Publisher:
Total Pages: 37
Release: 2015
Genre: Business enterprises
ISBN:

We formulate a medium-scale DSGE model that emphasizes a strong interplay between a roundabout production structure and a working capital channel that requires firms to borrow funds to finance the costs of all their variable inputs and not just the wage bill. Despite an absence of backward-looking price and wage indexation, our model is able to account for (i) a persistent and hump-shaped response of inflation to a monetary policy shock, (ii) a large and persistent response of output to a monetary policy shock, (iii) a mild "price puzzle," (iv) a procyclical price markup conditional on a monetary shock, (v) non-inertial responses of inflation to non-monetary shocks, and (vi) a negative unconditional autocorrelation of the first difference of inflation that is consistent with the data. A medium-scale model relying on backward indexation of wages and prices to past inflation fails along several of these dimensions.

Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle

Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle
Author: Jordi Galí
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2015-06-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1400866278

The classic introduction to the New Keynesian economic model This revised second edition of Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle provides a rigorous graduate-level introduction to the New Keynesian framework and its applications to monetary policy. The New Keynesian framework is the workhorse for the analysis of monetary policy and its implications for inflation, economic fluctuations, and welfare. A backbone of the new generation of medium-scale models under development at major central banks and international policy institutions, the framework provides the theoretical underpinnings for the price stability–oriented strategies adopted by most central banks in the industrialized world. Using a canonical version of the New Keynesian model as a reference, Jordi Galí explores various issues pertaining to monetary policy's design, including optimal monetary policy and the desirability of simple policy rules. He analyzes several extensions of the baseline model, allowing for cost-push shocks, nominal wage rigidities, and open economy factors. In each case, the effects on monetary policy are addressed, with emphasis on the desirability of inflation-targeting policies. New material includes the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates and an analysis of unemployment’s significance for monetary policy. The most up-to-date introduction to the New Keynesian framework available A single benchmark model used throughout New materials and exercises included An ideal resource for graduate students, researchers, and market analysts

Still Minding the Gap—Inflation Dynamics during Episodes of Persistent Large Output Gaps

Still Minding the Gap—Inflation Dynamics during Episodes of Persistent Large Output Gaps
Author: Mr.Andre Meier
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2010-08-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1455202231

This paper studies inflation dynamics during 25 historical episodes in advanced economies where output remained well below potential for an extended period. We find that such episodes generally brought about significant disinflation, underpinned by weak labor markets, slowing wage growth, and, in many cases, falling oil prices. Indeed, inflation declined by about the same fraction of the initial inflation rate across episodes. That said, disinflation has tended to taper off at very low positive inflation rates, arguably reflecting downward nominal rigidities and well-anchored inflation expectations. Temporary inflation increases during episodes were, in turn, systematically related to currency depreciation or higher oil prices. Overall, the historical patterns suggest little upside inflation risk in advanced economies facing the prospect of persistent large output gaps.

The Taylor Rule and the Transformation of Monetary Policy

The Taylor Rule and the Transformation of Monetary Policy
Author: Robert Leeson
Publisher: Hoover Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0817914064

A contributors' "who's who" from the academic and policy communities explain and provide perspectives on John Taylor's revolutionary thinking about monetary policy. They explore some of the literature that Taylor inspired and help us understand how the new ways of thinking that he pioneered have influenced actual policy here and abroad.