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We propose a multicountry quantile factor augmeneted vector autoregression (QFAVAR) to model heterogeneities both across countries and across characteristics of the distributions of macroeconomic time series. The presence of quantile factors allows for summarizing these two heterogeneities in a parsimonious way. We develop two algorithms for posterior inference that feature varying level of trade-off between estimation precision and computational speed. Using monthly data for the euro area, we establish the good empirical properties of the QFAVAR as a tool for assessing the e ects of global shocks on country-level macroeconomic risks. In particular, QFAVAR short-run tail forecasts are more accurate compared to a FAVAR with symmetric Gaussian errors, as well as univariate quantile autoregressions that ignore comovements among quantiles of macroeconomic variables. We also illustrate how quantile impulse response functions and quantile connectedness measures, resulting from the new model, can be used to implemennt joint risk scenario analysis.

We test for bias and efficiency of the ECB inflation forecasts using a confidential dataset of ECB macroeconomic quarterly projections. We investigate whether the properties of the forecasts depend on the level of inflation, by distinguishing whether the inflation observed by the ECB at the time of forecasting is above or below the target. The forecasts are unbiased and efficient on average, however there is evidence of state dependence. In particular, the ECB tends to overpredict (underpredict) inflation at intermediate forecast horizons when inflation is below (above) target. The magnitude of the bias is larger when inflation is above the target. These results hold even after accounting for errors in the external assumptions. We also find evidence of inefficiency, in the form of underreaction to news, but only when inflation is above the target. Our findings bear important implications for the ECB forecasting process and ultimately for its communication strategy.

We analyse the implications of asymmetric monetary policy rules by estimating Markovswitching DSGE models for the euro area (EA) and the US. The estimations show that until mid-2014 the ECB's response to inflation was more forceful when inflation was above 2% than below 2%. Since then, the ECB's policy can be characterised as symmetric, and we quantify the macroeconomic implications of this policy change. We uncover asymmetries also in the Fed's policy, which has responded more strongly in times of crisis. We compute an optimal simple rule for the EA and the US in an environment with the effective lower bound and a low neutral real rate, and find that it prescribes a stronger response to inflation and the output gap when inflation is below target compared to when it is above target. We document its stabilisation properties had this optimal rule been implemented over the last two decades.

We investigate the role played by the media in the expectations formation process of households. Using a novel news-topic-based approach we show that news types the media choose to report on, e.g., fiscal policy, health, and politics, are good predictors of households' stated inflation expectations. In turn, in a noisy information model setting, augmented with a simple media channel, we document that the underlying time series properties of relevant news topics explain the time-varying information rigidity among households. As such, we not only provide a novel estimate showing the degree to which information rigidities among households varies across time, but also provide, using a large news corpus and machine learning algorithms, robust and new evidence highlighting the role of the media for understanding inflation expectations and information rigidities.

We estimate a generic agent-based model in which agents have heterogeneous beliefs about the future price to see to what extent behaviour differs across assets, and what this implies for market stability. We find evidence for behavioural heterogeneity for all asset classes, except for equities. Heterogeneity is especially pronounced for macro-economic variables. Agents update their beliefs frequently in financial markets, and only gradually in the case of macro-economic variables. Consequently, we find that the probability of behavioural bubbles is substantially higher for the macro-economic variables than for financial assets.

We use a TVP-VAR model to investigate possible changes in the time series properties of key Norwegian macroeconomic variables since the 1980s. The sample period is characterised by deregulation, globalization, sizable petroleum revenues, a switch from exchange rate to inflation targeting and adoption of a policy rule for the use of petroleum revenues.We find that the long-run means of CPI and core inflation rates declined significantly until the mid-1990s and have since then remained close to the inflation target of 2.5% from 2001 onwards. The persistence in especially CPI inflation has fallen during the inflation targeting period while the volatility of both inflation rates and the nominal effective exchange rate has increased. We document an increase in the correlations between money market rates and the inflation rates as well as the output gap during the inflation targeting period and a steady decline towards zero in the correlations between money market rates and nominal exchange rate changes. There is evidence of an increase in the correlations between oil prices and the other macroeconomic variables over time. Our counterfactual analysis suggests oil shocks to have been important for output gap and inflation volatility while monetary policy shocks have been important for driving inflation persistence and the correlation of money market rates with macroeconomic variables.

Una versión anterior de este documento se ha presentado como tesis en la Maestría en Economía de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Al intentar explicar los fenómenos inflacionarios, la teoría económica ha utilizado modelos que resultan validos bajo situaciones extremas, como la alta inflación y la inflación baja. Existen, sin embargo, episodios donde el crecimiento de precios se sitúa en un rango intermedio, ni lo suficientemente alto como para representar un inconveniente severo para la actividad económica ni tan bajo como para considerarlo irrelevante. El siguiente trabajo intenta identificar este tipo de episodios al tiempo que se propone un marco conceptual para abordarlos. Finalmente, se intenta observar la forma en la que algunos países han realizado transiciones exitosas desde inflaciones moderadas hacia niveles de inflación baja, In order to explain inflationary episodes, economic theory developed models that have proven to be useful under rather extreme conditions, such as high and low inflation. Nevertheless, there is a wide scope of situations in which inflation stabilizes in a range that cannot be considered neither high enough to represent a severe problem to economic activity nor low enough to be left aside. This paper investigates these kinds of episodes, analyzing its historical occurrence and proposing some theoretical framework to understand its own dynamics. Finally, successful transitions from moderate to low inflation are considered

According to the Taylor principle a central bank should adjust the nominal interest rate by more than one-for-one in response to changes in current inflation. Most of the existing literature supports the view that by following this simple recommendation a central bank can avoid being a source of unnecessary fluctuations in economic activity. The present paper shows that this conclusion is not robust with respect to the modelling of capital accumulation. We use our insights to discuss the desirability of alternative interest rate rules. Our results suggest a reinterpretation of monetary policy under Volcker and Greenspan: The empirically plausible characterization of monetary policy can explain the stabilization of macroeconomic outcomes observed in the early eighties for the US economy. The Taylor principle in itself cannot.

This study reports the outcome of an effort to collect market price data for Norway with a view to constructing monthly price indices from the year 1777 to 1920. The material covers data on commodity prices from agriculture, fishery, dairying, manufacturing and mining. Indices of the wholesale and producer price index families are constructed, using the repeat sales method for constructing the underlying price series. Separate indices for commodity exports and imports are also presented. The new wholesale price index, as well as the export and import price indices, are linked to existing price indices after 1920 and brought forward to the end of 1940. The price indices shed new light on two great wartime inflationary episodes in Norway: 1807-1817 and 1913-1920. In spite of a 61-fold increase in the price level in the first period and a 4-fold increase in the second, it is found that, after inflation had been brought under control, prices reverted to a level consistent with the purchasing power parity principle.

I provide a generalization of Calvo price setting, to include non-overlapping contracts as a special case and embed this in a small DSGE model. The resulting Generalized Phillips Curve (GPC) nests New-Keynesian and Neoclassical versions. I linearize the model around a potentially non-zero trend inflation rate, and estimate it on US data using Bayesian methods, allowing for Markov switching in the variances of structural shocks. I find that the Phillips curve is 100% New Keynesian. There is no evidence of either forward or backward indexation. I illustrate that trend inflation affects the estimation of the Phillips curve.

This paper examines the impact of different types of oil price shocks on the U.S. economy, using a factor-augmented VAR (FAVAR) approach. The results indicate that when examining the effects of oil price shocks, it is important to account for the interaction between the oil market and the macroeconomy. I find that oil demand shocks are more important than oil supply shocks in driving several macroeconomic variables, and that the origin of demand shocks matter. Specifically, the U.S. economy and monetary policy respond differently to global demand shocks that have the effect of raising the price of oil and to oil-specific demand shocks.

With sticky prices, optimizing agents and money in the utility function, I derive the exact analytical solution for optimal monetary policy given a zero lower bound (ZLB) on the interest rate. The Phillips curve is Neo-Classical, and the ZLB is then not a constraint on optimal policy. Optimal policy is history dependent even without a commitment problem and implements a Friedman rule equilibrium. The role of forward guidance in policy is more limited than under a New-Keynesian Phillips curve. The optimal policy rule intercept term is time varying and depends on the variance of the natural real rate.

The Taylor Principle is often used to explain macroeconomic stability (see, e.g., Clarida et al. 2000). The reason is that this simple principle guarantees determinacy, i.e., local uniqueness of rational expectations equilibrium, in many New Keynesian models. However, analyses of determinacy are generally conducted in the context of highly stylized models. In the present paper we use a medium-scale model which combines features that have been shown to explain fairly well post-war U.S. business cycles. Our main result demonstrates that the stability properties of forward-looking interest rate rules are very similar to the corresponding outcomes under current-looking rules. This is in stark contrast with many findings that have been obtained in the context of models whose empirical relevance is limited.

The lumpy nature of plant-level investment is generally not taken into account in the context of monetary theory (see, e.g., Christiano et al. 2005 and Woodford 2005). We formulate a generalized (S,s) pricing and investment model which is empirically more plausible along that dimension. Surprisingly, our main result shows that the presence of lumpy investment casts doubt on the ability of sticky prices to imply a quantitatively relevant monetary transmission mechanism.

We investigate optimal horizons for targeting inflation in response to different shocks and their properties under alternative preferences of an inflation-targeting central bank. Our analysis is based on a well specified macroeconometric model of Norway, but we examine how alternative specifications of its key equations would affect our results. We find that the optimal horizon is highly shock-specific, precluding general conclusions for demand and supply shocks. An extension of the horizon with concern for output and/or interest rate fluctuations beyond some shock-specific level proves counterproductive. The size of a given shock does not affect the horizon unless the central bank cares about interest rate volatility, while its sign does not matter unless the model is non-linear. The optimal horizon in response to a combination of shocks cannot be derived from those for each of the shocks, as different shocks may amplify or modify the effects of each other. In this case, however, sources of shocks as well as their sizes and signs become relevant, leading to complex dynamics of inflation and output. Successful inflation targeting in such cases may require a complex interest rate response. The optimal horizon generally increases with the degree of persistence in a shock and decreases with the strength of stabilisation mechanisms in the model.

This paper explores the existence of downward real wage rigidity (DRWR) in 19 OECD countries, over the period 1973–1999, using data for hourly nominal earnings at industry level. Based on a nonparametric statistical method, which allows for country and year specific variation in both the median and the dispersion of industry wage changes, we find evidence of some downward rigidity of real wages in OECD countries overall, as well as for regions and time periods. There is some evidence that real wage cuts are less prevalent under strict employment protection legislation and high union density. Generally, we find stronger evidence for downward nominal than for downward real wage rigidity.

This paper explores the existence of downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) in 19 OECD countries, over the period 1973-1999, using data for hourly nominal wages at industry level. Based on a novel nonparametric statistical method, which allows for country and year specific variation in both the median and the dispersion of industry wage changes, we reject the hypothesis of no DNWR. The fraction of wage cuts prevented due to DNWR has fallen over time, from 70 percent in the 1970s to 11 percent in the late 1990s, but the number of industries affected by DNWR has increased. DNWR is more prevalent when inflation is high, unemployment is low, union density is high and employment protection legislation is strict.

We consider standard monetary-policy rules with inflation-rate targets and interest-rate or money-growth instruments using a flexible-price, perfect foresight model. There is always a locally-unique target equilibrium. There are also below-target equilibria (BTE) with inflation always below target and constant or asymptotically approaching or eventually reaching a below-target value. Liquidity traps are neither necessary nor sufficient for BTE which can arise if monetary policy keeps the interest rate above a lower bound. We construct monetary-policy rules, that preclude BTE, some of which are monotonic in inflation but all of which are non-differentiable at a point. For standard monetary-policy rules there are plausible fiscal policies that insure uniqueness by precluding BTE; those policies exclude perpetual surpluses and, possibly, perpetual balanced budgets.

We employ information-gap decision theory to derive a robust monetary policy response to Knightian parameter uncertainty. This approach provides a quantitative answer to the question: For a specified policy, how much can our models and data err or vary, without rendering the outcome of that policy unacceptable to a policymaker? For a given acceptable level of performance, the policymaker selects the policy that delivers acceptable performance under the greatest range of uncertainty. We show that such information-gap robustness is a proxy for probability of policy success. Hence, policies that are likely to succeed can be identified without knowing the probability distribution. We adopt this approach to investigate empirically the robust monetary policy response to a supply shock with an uncertain degree of persistence.

We investigate the importance of employing a valid model for monetary policy analysis. Specifically, we investigate the economic significance of differences in specification and empirical validity of models. We consider three alternative econometric models of wage and price inflation in Norway. We find that differences in model specification as well as in parameter estimates across models can lead to widely different policy recommendations. We also find that the potential loss from basing monetary policy on a model that may be invalid, or on a suite of models, even when it contains the valid model, can be substantial, also when gradualism is exercised as a concession to model uncertainty. Furthermore, possible losses from such a practice appear to be greater than possible losses from failing to choose the optimal policy horizon to a shock within the framework of a valid model. Our results substantiate the view that a model for policy analysis should necessarily be empirically valid and caution against compromising this property for other desirable model properties, including robustness.

The output gap (measuring the deviation of output from its potential) is a crucial concept in the monetary policy framework, indicating demand pressure that generates inflation. The output gap is also an important variable in itself, as a measure of economic fluctuations. However, its definition and estimation raise a number of theoretical and empirical questions. This paper evaluates a series of univariate and multivariate methods for extracting the output gap, and compares their value added in predicting inflation. The multivariate measures of the output gap have by far the best predictive power. This is in particular interesting, as they use information from data that are not revised in real time. We therefore compare the predictive power of alternative indicators that are less revised in real time, such as the unemployment rate and other business cycle indicators. Some of the alternative indicators do as well, or better, than the multivariate output gaps in predicting inflation. As uncertainties are particularly pronounced at the end of the calculation periods, assessment of pressures in the economy based on the uncertain output gap could benefit from being supplemented with alternative indicators that are less evised in real time.

What are the consequences for monetary policy design implied by the fact that price setting and investment takes typically place simultaneously at the firm level? To address this question we analyze simple (constrained) optimal interest rate rules in the context of a dynamic New Keynesian model featuring firm-specific capital accumulation as well as sticky prices and wages à la Calvo. We make the case for Taylor type rules. They are remarkably robust in the sense that their welfare implications do not appear to hinge neither on the specific assumptions regarding capital accumulation that are used in their derivation nor on the particular definition of natural output that is used to construct the output gap. On the other hand we find that rules prescribing that the central bank does not react to any measure of real economic activity are not robust in that sense.

Smoothness in aggregate capital accumulation is a necessary condition for New-Keynesian (NK) models to imply a quantitatively relevant monetary transmission mechanism (see, e.g., Woodford 2005). Can that aggregate smoothness be entertained in the context of an NK model featuring lumpy plant-level investment? Our answer is yes. Imperfect competition in goods markets and/or sticky prices are identified as economic mechanisms which render lumpy investment relevant in general equilibrium.

Empirical models of inflation often incorporate equilibrium correction effects based upon levels of prices and input costs. Such models assume that the steady-state price-cost markup is constant, but recent research suggests that this may not be true for the Euro area economy, which has undergone major structural reforms over the last 25 years. We allow for permanent shifts in the markup factor through estimating an inflation equation that includes a time-varying intercept. The model suggests that a reduction in the markup contributed to disinflation in the Euro area during the period 1981-2000. This is a revised version of ECB Working Paper 306 (Bowdler and Jansen (2004)), which was written while the second author was a Research Visitor to DG Research, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, from February through June 2003. The work benefitted greatly from a one week visit from the first author to the same institution in May 2003. The first author acknowledges financial support from a British Academy post-doctoral fellowship. The revision has been carried out while the second author was visiting Department of Economics, University of California San Diego. The hospitality and excellent working conditions offered there are gratefully acknowledged. We are also grateful for the constructive criticism provided by an anonymous ECB referee, and for comments from James Hamilton, Heino Bohn Nielsen and seminar participants at Norges Bank, University of California San Diego and Brunel University. The views expressed in this paper represent exclusively the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Central Bank or Norges Bank.

We discuss some difficulties in a dynamic New-Keynesian model with staggered price setting à la Calvo and a convex capital adjustment cost at the firm level, as considered by Woodford (2003, Ch. 5). It is shown that the implied simultaneous price setting and investment decision has not been analyzed properly. Our work fills that gap by proposing a tractable solution to the key problem of describing the inflation dynamics associated with that structure. We use our framework to assess to what extent capital accumulation matters for inflation and output dynamics.

The paper presents an incomplete competition model (ICM), where inflation is determined jointly with unit labour cost growth. The ICM is estimated on data for the Euro area and evaluated against existing models, i.e. the implicit inflation equation of the Area Wide model (AWM) - cf. Fagan, Henry and Mestre (2001) - and estimated versions of the (single equation) P* model and a hybrid New Keynesian Phillips curve. The evidence from these comparisons does not invite decisive conclusions. There is, however, some support in favour of the (reduced form) AWM inflation equation. It is the only model that encompasses a general unrestricted model and it forecast encompasses the competitors when tested on 20 quarters of one step ahead forecasts. This paper is a revised version of ECB Working Paper No. 322 (Jansen (2004)), which is prepared for presentation at the Econometric Society European Meeting in Madrid 20.-24. August 2004. It was written as part of the project "Modelling wages and prices in the Euro area", while the author was a Research Visitor to DG Research, European Central Bank, Frankfurt from February through June 2003. Parts of the paper will be published in The Econometrics of Macroeconomic Modelling, forthcoming in the series Advanced Texts in Econometrics from Oxford University Press (Bårdsen et al. (2004a)). I am grateful to Øyvind Eitrheim for his permission to include unpublished material from Eitrheim and Jansen (2003). While working on this project, I have received valuable data assistance from Elena Angelini and Alistair Dieppe of DG Research as well as from Mika Tujula and Focco Vijselaar of DG Economics at the ECB. An anonymous ECB referee has provided helpful advice and comments from Christopher Bowdler, Gabriel Fagan, David Hendry, Jérôme Henry, Ricardo Mestre, Ragnar Nymoen and seminar participants at the ECB, Norges Bank, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and University of California San Diego are also gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed in this paper represent exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Central Bank or Norges Bank.

We model capital accumulation in a dynamic New-Keynesian model with staggered price setting à la Calvo. It is assumed that firms do not have access to a rental market for capital. We compare our model with an alternative specification where households accumulate capital and rent it to firms. The difference in implied equilibrium dynamics is large, as we justify by proposing a simple metric. This result invites us to interpret some of the puzzling empirical findings that have been obtained using models with staggered price setting and a rental market for capital as an artefact of this particular set of assumptions.

Annual house price indices for four Norwegian cities are presented for the period from 1819 to 1989. The indices are constructed on the basis of nominal housing transaction prices compiled from the real property registers of the cities. Existing Norwegian house prices indices generally cover a few decades and usually start in the mid-1980s. Hence, we present new information about Norwegian house prices for more than 160 years. The house price indices seem to fit well in with historical events and available indicators of the Norwegian economy. The overall trend in nominal house prices is upward sloping over the two centuries. However, in real terms the picture looks different, in particular in the first half of the twentieth century.

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of low steady-state inflation on wage formation, focusing on four different effects. First, under low inflation, downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) may prevent real wage cuts that would have happened had inflation been higher. Second, wages (and prices) are given in nominal contracts, and inflation affects both how often wages are adjusted, and to what extent wages are set in a forward-looking manner. Third, incomplete labour contracts may provide workers with scope for inflicting costs on the firm without violating the contract, thus forcing the firm to accept a rise in nominal wages. Fourth, if effort depends on wages relative to a reference level, and workers and firms underweight inflation when updating the reference level, positive but moderate inflation may reduce wage pressure. The paper ends by a brief survey of empirical evidence, and a discussion of whether labour markets may adapt to a low inflation environment.

In this paper we investigate the formation of Norwegian import prices of manufactures over the period 1970(1)–1998(3), thereby extending the sample period used in the study by Naug and Nymoen (1996). If international goods markets are perfectly integrated and the law of one price holds, then for a small open economy we would expect import prices to be exogenously given in foreign currency and to fully respond to movements in the exchange rate. However, empirical studies of small open economies have shown that exchange rate changes are not fully reflected in import prices, and that domestic variables have significant effects on import prices. Applying both single-equation and multivariate cointegration analysis we find evidence of a long-run cointegrating relationship between Norwegian import prices, foreign export prices measured in domestic currency, domestic unit labour costs, and the domestic unemployment rate. Our results indicate that exchange rate pass-through is complete in the long run. In contrast, Naug and Nymoen (1996) report a long-run pass-through coefficient of 0.63.

The dynamic properties of the The New Keynesian Phillips curve (NPC) is analysed within the framework of a small system of linear difference equations. We evaluate the empirical results of existing studies which uses ‘Euroland’ and US data. The debate has been centered around the goodness-of-fit, but this is a weak criterion since the NPC-fit is typically well approximated by purely statistical models (e.g., a random walk). Several other parametric tests are then considered, and the importance of modelling a system that includes the forcing variables as well as the rate of inflation is emphasized. We also highlight the role of existing studies in providing new information relative to that which underlies the typical NPC. This encompassing approach is applied to open economy versions of the NPC for UK and Norway.

In an important paper, Fuhrer and Moore (1995) showed that Taylor (1980)’s staggered wage setting model does not exhibit persistence in inflation; they proposed a simple modification, in which workers cared about the real wages of other workers, which solves this problem. However, we argue that the key part of Fuhrer and Moore’s model is not that workers care about the real wages of other workers, but that workers are assumed to care about the past real wages of other workers. When that assumption is replaced by the assumption that workers care about current real wages of other workers, the Fuhrer and Moore model reverts identically to the Taylor model. We also show that a simple model in which workers care about their own past real wages, e.g. because unemployment insurance depends on past wages, as noted in Blanchard and Katz (1999), generates negative autocorrelations in inflation.

The paper describes the influx of mathematical statistics in economics. It focuses on an approach to macroeconometric modelling which is based on fundamental statistical concepts like the joint distribution function of all observable variables for the whole sample period. The methodology relies on valid conditioning and marginalisation of this function in order to arrive at tractable subsystems, which can be analysed with statistical methods. Two case studies - the modelling of the household sector and the modelling of wages and prices in the Norges Bank RIMINI model - highlight this.

Despite the emerging consensus on the validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) between trading countries in the long run, empirical evidence in favour of the PPP theory is scarce in data predominantly exposed to real shocks. This paper tests for PPP between Norway and its trading partners using quarterly observations from the post Bretton Woods period, in which the Norwegian economy has been exposed to numerous real shocks such as frequent revaluations of oil and gas resources through new discoveries and price fluctuations. The paper undertakes an extensive examination of the behaviour of the Norwegian real and nominal exchange rates and shows that it is remarkably consistent with the PPP theory. Moreover, convergence towards the equilibrium level appears relatively fast; our estimate of the half life of a deviation from the equilibrium level is just six quarters. This is partly attributed to the Norwegian government’s policies aimed at preserving the competitiveness of the economy and the system of centralized wage bargaining.

Three classes of inflation models are discussed: Standard Phillips curves, New Keynesian Phillips curves and Incomplete Competition models. Their relative merits in explaining and forecasting inflation are investigated theoretically and empirically. We establish that Standard Phillips-curve forecasts are robust to types of structural breaks that harm the Incomplete Competion model forecasts, but exaggerates forecast uncertainty in periods with no breaks. As the potential biases in after-break forecast errors for the Incomplete Competition model can be remedied by intercept corrections, it offers the best prospect of successful inflation forecasting.