China’s financial conundrum arises from two sources: (1) its large trade (saving) surplusresults in a currency mismatch because it is an immature creditor that cannot lend in its own currency. Instead foreign currency claims (largely dollars) build up within domestic financialinstitutions. And...

Empirical evidence on whether the euro area monetary transmission process has changed is, at best, mixed. We argue that this inconclusiveness is likely to be due to the fact that existing empirical studies concentrate on the effects of a particular development on a specific transmission channel....

Monetary economics as practiced by central bank modelers has made a great deal of progress in recent years. In a 2002 paper I interviewed research economists at four central banks and surveyed the models in use at those banks. I criticized the models for having lost all touch with statistical...

The mid-1980s began a period that might, in retrospect, be seen as the golden age of monetary policy. Worldwide inflation rates, which had come down from the high levels reached in the 1970s, were at the lowest level seen in a long time. In the real economy, low and stable inflation went along...

n this paper we investigate the effectiveness of Bank Indonesia's and Bank of Thailand's monetary policy communication. We focus on two channels of communication: monetary policy statements, and inter-meeting statements. Although the structure of Bank Indonesia's and Bank of Thailand's monetary...

In a simple New Keynesian model, we derive a closed form solution for the inflationpersistence parameter as a function of the policy weights in the central bank’s Taylorrule. By estimating the time-varying weights that the FED attaches to inflationand the output gap, we show that the...

This paper investigates the effect of interest rate policy on stock marketbubbles and trading behavior in experimental asset markets. For this purpose, weintroduce the possibility of investing in interest bearing bonds to the classicallaboratory asset market design of Smith, Suchanek, and...

This paper extends a New Keynesian model to include roles for currency and depositsas competing sources of liquidity services demanded by households. It showsthat, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the Barnett critique applies: While a Divisiaaggregate of monetary services tracks the true...

Just as monetary policy at the strategic level has undergone significant changes over the years, so has its day-to-day implementation. This paper documents the key features of 17 central banks' monetary operating frameworks as of early 2007 and discusses their major developments over the...

The unfolding financial turmoil in mature economies has prompted the official and private sectors to reconsider policies, business models and risk management practices. Regardless of its future evolution, it already threatens to become one of the defining economic moments of the 21st century....