The paper considers three methods for eliminating the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates and thus for restoring symmetry to domain over which the central bank can vary its policy rate. They are: (1) abolishing currency (which would also be a useful crime-fighting measure); (2) paying...

It is generally thought that members in a monetary union experience a similar level of inflation. This paper verifies this conventional belief. Using regional data, we present statistical evidence of heterogeneous inflation in Japan. Not only does the average inflation differ significantly...

This paper studies the business cycle implications of sectoral heterogeneity in price rigidity using a highly disaggregated multi-sector model. The model is estimated by the Simulated Method of Moments using a mix of aggregate and sectoral U.S. data. The frequencies of price changes implied by...

We investigate the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in China over the past decades with emphasis on the post-Asian crisis period. A factor-augmented VAR method is used to study the effectiveness of monetary policy instruments in stabilizing the Chinese economy. We find that repo rate,...

Monetary policy became more difficult to characterize during and after the mortgage foreclose and financial crises because of a shift to a new credit policy focused on private sector credit and that relies on traditional commercial banking strategies. The new credit policy broke the tight link...

The Bundesbank and the Banque de France held their third joint conference on 19 and 20 May 2011 in Hamburg. The conference was devoted to the challenges that macroeconomic policy – in the form of monetary, fi scal and tax policy – must address in the short and long run.

Recent research has found that the dynamic properties of the New Keynesian model are unorthodox when the nominal interest rate is zero. Improvements in technology and reductions in the labor tax rate lower economic activity and the size of the government purchase output multiplier is very large....

This note discusses Lee Ohanian׳s paper on “Monetary policy in the midst of big shocks”. In particular, it asks what would happen if assumptions are changed so inflation have redistribution effects. Evidence on nominal positions suggests that such effects can be quantitatively important.

The financial turmoil that the 2007 subprime debacle of the US set into motion has raised a welter of puzzling questions for the policy makers across the world. The position seems all the more confusing in the Muslim world where the fast expanding Islamic finance operates in competition with the...

On September 15-16, 2011 the annual Macroeconomics Research Workshop took place at Magyar Nemzeti Bank, Budapest, celebrating its 10th year of existence, out of which it was organized jointly with the CEPR for the 4th time. The workshop's title and main theme was ‘Fiscal Rebalancing, Public...