Active interest rate policy is frequently recommended based on its merits in reducing macroeconomic volatility and being a simple and transparent policy device. In a standard NewKeynesian model,we show that an even simpler policy, namely an interest rate peg, can be welfare enhancing:The minimum...

Active interest rate policy is frequently recommended based on its merits in reducing macroeconomic volatility and being a simple device. Yet, it might be outperformed by an even simpler policy. A peg can be welfare-enhancing and can uniquely be implemented.

Blanchard (2005) suggested that active interest rate policy might induce unstable dynamics in highly-indebted economies. We examine this in a dynamic general equilibrium model where Calvo-type price rigidities provide a rationale for inflation stabilization. Unstable dynamics can occur when the...

In this paper, we analyze the relation between interest rate targets and money supply in a (bubble-free) rational expectations equilibrium of a standard cash-in-advance model. We examine lump-sum injections of money aimed to implement interest rate sequences that satisfy interest rate target...

We analytically derive the cyclical effects of fiscal policy shocks in a New Neoclassical Synthesis model. Price stickiness has the consequence that a rise in government demand affects labor demand, while at the same time the usual wealth effect boosts labor supply. The strength of the demand...

In this paper, we analyze the relation between interest rate targets and money supply in a (bubble-free) rational expectations equilibrium of a standard cash-in-advance model. We examine contingent monetary injections aimed to implement interest rate sequences that satisfy interest rate target...

This paper considers the nominal and real determinacy of equilibria under an exogenously specified path of interest rates in an economy in which taxation is either lump-sum or distortionary. Under lump-sum taxation, we confirm the well-known finding that equilibria display nominal...

Consensus monetary business cycle theory is hardly able to rationalize why fiscal policy is repeatedly found to stimulate private consumption and why monetary policy should care about Ricardian fiscal policy. In this paper we demonstrate that this changes when government bonds provide liquidity...