A monetary policy rule based on nominal and inflation-indexed Treasury yields

The yields on nominal and inflation-indexed Treasury debt securities can be used to derive a proxy for the inflation expectations of market participants. This paper investigates whether such a measure has provided a useful guide for monetary policy decisions by the Federal Reserve. The results indicate that since 1999, U.S. monetary policy decisions can be effectively characterized by a simple policy rule in which changes in the federal funds rate respond to the forward rate of inflation compensation.