Search results for "monetary"
showing 10 items of 502 documents
Inflation dynamics in a model with firm entry and (some) heterogeneity
2014
We analyse the incidence of endogenous entry and firm TFP-heterogeneity on the response of aggregate inflation to exogenous shocks. We build up an otherwise standard DSGE model in which the number of firms is endogenously determined and firms differ in their steady state level of productivity. This splits the industry structure into firms of different sizes. Calibrating the different transition rates, across firm sizes and out of the market we reproduce the main features of the distribution of firms in Spain. We then compare the inflation response to technology, interest rate and entry cost shocks, among others. We find that structures in which large (more productive) firms predominate tend…
Macroeconomic Modelling in EMU: How Relevant is the Change in Regime?
2007
We analyse the likely effects of changes in the monetary and financial regimes of EMU countries on the dynamics of output and inflation. In particular, we evaluate the impact of the regime shift on the forecasting performance of reduced-form models. Data for both the pre-EMU and the EMU regimes are generated by a relatively standard open-economy-DSGE model with sticky prices and wages and restricted access to financial markets for some individuals. We find that the effects of the shift in the monetary regime on the processes followed by macroeconomic variables depend on the nature of the shocks hitting the economy. For plausible shocks distributions the reduction in the accuracy of VAR-base…
A Long Term View on the Short Term Co-movement of Output and Prices in a Small Open Economy
2012
- One assumption behind inflation targeting as objective for monetary policy is that inflation rates in the short run to some extent reflect output cycles. The present paper investigates the historical co-movements of output and prices for a small open raw material based economy, in this case Norway 1830 – 2006. Looking at contemporaneous movements we find more often negative correlations between the two variables than positive. The correlations do not give any evidence of causality. However, they may indicate that supply side shocks, often caused by the foreign sector, were more important for historical output cycles in Norway than assumed hitherto
Inflation and optimal monetary policy in a model with firm heterogeneity and Bertrand competition
2018
Abstract We study the joint implications of heterogeneity of total factor productivity and strategic price interactions between firms on the dynamics of inflation and the design of optimal monetary policy. In this setting, more productive firms respond less to shocks affecting their marginal costs than less productive firms. As a consequence, economies with a larger proportion of highly productive firms face a flatter Phillips curve. Moreover, when these two features concur, the Ramsey problem gives rise to an optimal non-zero long run inflation that amplifies the differences in relative prices between more efficient and less efficient firms, thus increasing the market share of the former. …
Market Polarization and the Phillips Curve
2021
The Phillips curve has flattened out over the last decades. We develop a model that rationalizes this phenomenon as a result of the observed increase in polarization in many industries, a process along which a few top firms gain an increasing share of their industry market. In the model, firms compete a la Bertrand and there is exit and endogenous market entry, as well as optimal up and downgrading of technology. Firms with larger market shares find optimal to dampen the response of their price changes, thus cushioning the shocks to their marginal costs through endogenous countercyclical markups. Thus, regardless of its causes (technology, competition, barriers to entry, etc.), the recent i…
On the duration of sovereign ratings cycle phases
2021
Abstract Using long-term sovereign ratings data for a panel of 130 countries over the last three decades, we investigate the duration and determinants of sovereign rating phases through the lens of discrete-time Weibull models. We find that the likelihood of the end of the ‘speculative-grade’ phase increases as time goes by (i.e. there is positive duration dependence), but the ‘investment-grade’ phase is not duration dependent. Thus, for sovereigns rated as speculative, the build-up of reputation as good borrowers is a gradual process, whereas the reputation of investment-grade sovereigns solidifies and remains unchanged as time passes. However, the length of both phases significantly depen…
An Analysis of the Time-Varying Behavior of the Equilibrium Velocity of Money in the Euro Area
2020
Recent developments in inflation and M3 velocity in the euro area have raised serious doubts about the reliability of M3 growth as a pillar of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy. We develop a very flexible and comprehensive state-space framework for modeling the velocity of circulation. Our specification allows for the estimation of different autoregressive alternatives and includes control instruments, whose coefficients can be set up either common or idiosyncratic. This is particularly useful to detect asymmetries in the reaction among countries to common shocks. Our findings first suggest that the downward trend of M3 velocity is mainly explained by the evolution of permanent income, pro…
Price Stability and Inflation Persistence During the International Gold Standard: The Scandinavian Case
2009
In the 1870s the three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden formed the Scandinavian Currency Union. Both the adoption of gold and the monetary union were supposed to lead to price stability in and between these countries. By drawing on new indices of consumer prices the present paper offers an examination of inflation dynamics, defined as price stability and inflation persistence, in the periphery of Scandinavia during the heyday of the international gold standard.
Inflation in a virtual economy – a real or virtual threat?
2014
The aim of the paper is an analysis of the way and circumstances under which inflation can occur in a virtual economy. It is also an attempt to answer the question whether, and in what way virtual inflation may be related to inflation in the real economy. The article is conceptual, because in the present state of statistical data the effects of virtual economies are not carried out, or are generated in a very small number, which makes it impossible to make reliable calculations
Producer Prices in the Transition to a Common Currency
2006
We analyze producer price developments in the transition from a national exchange rate regime to a monetary union. The focus is on the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Stylized facts witness about an exploding gaps in producer-price inflation during the years immediately following the completion of the EMU. Price convergence is found to be an important driver throughout the entire euro period (1999-2005), but with no significant differences in speed compared to the pre euro period. Productivity growth had its primary effect in the first years and effective exchange-rate changes in the later years of the euro period.