We analyze the implications of trend growth for optimal monetary policy in the presence of search and matching unemployment. We show that trend growth interacts importantly with the inefficiencies stemming from the labor market. Higher trend growth exacerbates the inefficiencies of the labor...

Over the last few decades, hours worked per capita have declined substantially in many OECD economies. Using the standard neoclassical growth model with endogenous work–leisure choice, we assess the role of trend growth slowdown in accounting for the decline in hours worked. In the model, a...

We embed skill obsolescence and endogenous growth into a New Keynesian model with search‐and‐matching frictions. The model accounts for key features of the Great Recession: the “productivity puzzle” and the “missing disinflation puzzle.” Lower aggregate demand raises long‐term...

In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008 (and the resulting Great Recession) policymakers became concerned about a potential long-term effect of the crisis on the wider economy. For instance, in an ECFIN Economic Brief titled The financial crisis and potential growth: Policy...

With interest rates in most developed countries close to zero, it is not possible for monetary policymakers to stimulate the economy by reducing interest rates. As a result the economy is unusually sensitive to the possibility of deflation, and thoughts turn to fiscal policy in order to...

We analyze optimal monetary policy when a central bank has to learn about an unknown coefficient that determines the effect of surprise inflation on aggregate demand. We derive the optimal policy under active learning and compare it to two limiting cases-certainty equivalence policy and...