This paper addresses the real-time versus ex-post properties of the output gap as quantified by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's multivariate (MV) filter, starting with the second quarter of 1997, when the current procedure was implemented. There are three sources of revisions of the output...

I investigate New Zealand's rate of inflation and its deviations from target using two new methods: 1) Rowe's (2002) new way of examining the correlations between inflation deviations from target and indicators. Any significant correlations, whether in a simple or multivariate framework, are...

We use the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's macroeconomic model (FPS) to look at the feasibility of using monetary policy to reduce variability in output, the exchange rate and interest rates while maintaining an inflation target. Our experiment suggests that policy could be altered to increase the...

We examine the informational content of New Zealand data releases using a parametric dynamic factor model estimated with unbalanced real-time panels of quarterly data. The data are categorised into 21 different release blocks, allowing us to make 21 different factor model forecasts each quarter....

The 2002 Policy Targets Agreement (PTA) between the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the government asks the Reserve Bank to target inflation "over the medium term" rather than over an annual target. This medium term objective shifts inflation targeting towards a "halfway-house" between inflation...

Most textbook models explain the operation of monetary policy in terms of how the central bank influences the market rate of interest by managing the supply of its liabilities relative to the demand for them. Yet some central banks no longer operate that way and, instead, set an interest rate...

When base velocity is a stable function of the Federal funds rate (FFR), the money base-nominal GDP targeting rule (McCallum rule) can be re-parameterised and presented in terms of FFR as the policy instrument. Comparison of this McCallum modified policy rule with the popular Taylor rule...

This paper looks at reduced form descriptions of changes in the USD/NZD exchange rate, with emphasis on the interest rate-exchange rate relationship. In the estimated reduced form equations, high domestic short term interest rates relative to foreign interest rates are associated with continued...

This paper examines stabilisation bias - the difference between the inferior macroeconomic outcomes attained with discretionary monetary policy relative to the ideal that could be attained with commitment policy. The paper works within the linear-quadratic framework and represents the monetary...

Many critics of the Taylor rule claim that it is inferior to inflation forecast based (IFB) rules because it is not forward-looking, is not aggressive enough, and because of uncertainty surrounding the output gap. Nevertheless, the Taylor rule serves a constructive purpose because it abstracts...