Rational Expectations Models with Anticipated Shocks and Optimal Policy

This paper investigates optimal policy in the presence of anticipated (or news) shocks. We determine the optimal unrestricted and restricted policy response in a general rational expectations model and show that, if shocks are news shocks, the optimal unrestricted control rule under commitment contains a forward-looking element. As an example, we lay out a micro-founded hybrid New Keynesian model and show i) that anticipated cost-push shocks entail higher welfare losses than unanticipated shocks of equal size and ii) that the inclusion of forward-looking elements enhances distinctly the performance of simple optimized interest rate rules.