For empirical purposes it is suggested to approximate the real interest rate gap by a simple transformation of the difference between two nominal interest rates, the central bank's policy rate and the long-term interest rate. The latter contains information on inflationary expectations and...

Based on the equilibrium correction structure of a cointegrated vector autoregression it is rejected that US monetary policy 1988-2002 can be described by a traditional Taylor (1993) rule. Instead we find a stable long-term relationship between the Federal funds rate, the unemployment rate, and...