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The aim of the present paper is to verify the predominance of a monetary or fiscal dominance regime in Brazil in the post-Real period. The analysis is based on a model proposed by Canzoneri, Cumby and Diba (2000). This model proposes that there is a relationship between the public debt/GDP and primary surplus/GDP series by using the vector autoregression (VAR) framework and analyzing the impulse response functions. Another aim is the extension of the article written by Muscatelli et al. (2002) about the interactions between monetary and fiscal policies using the Markov-switching vector autoregressive model (MS-VAR) introduced by Krolzig (1997), since the relationship between these policies may not be constant over time. In conclusion, the macroeconomic coordination between monetary and fiscal policies in Brazil was virtually a substitute policy throughout the study period, with a predominantly monetary regime, in opposition to the non-Ricardian policies of the Fiscal Theory of The Price Level.

This paper presents some new estimates for the relationship between inflation and unemployment in Brazil based on a new Keynesian hypothesis about the behavior of the economy. Four main hypotheses are tested and sustained throughout the study: i) agents do not have perfect rationality; ii) the imperfection in the agents expectations generating process may be an important factor in explaining the high persistence (inertia) of Brazilian inflation; iii) inflation does have an autonomous inertial component, without linkage to shocks in individual markets; iv) a non-linear relationship between inflation and unemployment is able to provide better explanations for the inflation-unemployment relationship in the Brazilian economy in the last 12 years. While the first two hypotheses are tested using a Markov Switching based model of regime changes, the remaining two are tested in a context of a convex Phillips Curve estimated using the Kalman filter. Despite the methodological and estimation improvements provided in the paper, the impulse-response functions for the monetary policy presented the same properties shown in the literature that uses Brazilian data.

This article presents some estimates for the Non Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) using Brazilian data. The NAIRU is estimated using both IBGE and DIEESE data. The results show a linear Phillips curve for Brazil, and they are in line with the acceleration of inflation during the eighties and the price stability that followed the Real Plan. (Rev Econ Pol/DÜI)

This paper estimates reduced-form Phillips curves for Brazil with a framework of time series with unobserved components, in the spirit of Harvey (2011). However, we allow for expectations to play a key role using data from the Central Bank of Brazil's Focus survey. Besides GDP, we also use industrial capacity utilization rate and IBC-Br index, as measures of economic activity. Our findings support the view that Brazilian inflation targeting has been successful in reducing the variance of both the seasonality and level of the inflation rate, at least until the beginning of the subprime crisis. Furthermore, inflation in Brazil seems to have responded gradually less to measures of economic activity in recent years. This provides some evidence of a flattening of the Phillips curve in Brazil, a trend previously shown by recent studies for other countries.

This paper analyzes credibility and reputation aspects of the Brazilian economic policy between August 1994 and December 1998. It uses an "external circumstances" model, which can be applied to countries with fixed or crawling-peg exchange rate policies. The model asswnes that no government can conduct its economic policy with the single objective of inflat ion control, thoroughly ignoring the unemployment and growth paths. Therefore, in the presence of "external circumstances" (unexpected exogenous shocks) even a strong anti-inflationary goverrunent can be forced to devalue its exchange rate. The results he re show that the govern ment followed a cons istent policy with inflation control while allowing for a gradual recovery of the competitiveness level. ; Este artigo analisa a credibilidade e a reputação na política econômica brasileira no período de agosto de 1994 a dezembro de 1998. 0 marco teórico empregado tem como base o modelo de "circunstâncias externas", que permite analisar os fatores de credibilidade e reputação durante o funcionamento de um regime de taxa de câmbio fixa ou de crawling peg. 0 modelo parte do pressuposto de que, em geral, nenhum governo pode preocupar-se única e exclusivamente com o objetivo de controlar a inflação, ignorando por completo objetivos de crescimento e emprego. Portanto, e em particular, diante de circunstancias adversas, um governo, ainda que do tipo antiinflação, pode ser levado a desvalorizar a taxa de câmbio. Os resultados aqui apresentados permitem concluir que o governo estava seguindo uma política consistente com a manutenção da estabilidade de preços, enquanto permitia uma recuperação gradual da competitividade.

This paper analyzes credibility and reputation aspects of the Brazilian economic policy between August 1994 and December 1998. It uses an "external circumstances" model, which can be applied to countries with fixed or crawling-peg exchange rate policies. The model asswnes that no government can conduct its economic policy with the single objective of inflat ion control, thoroughly ignoring the unemployment and growth paths. Therefore, in the presence of "external circumstances" (unexpected exogenous shocks) even a strong anti-inflationary goverrunent can be forced to devalue its exchange rate. The results he re show that the govern ment followed a cons istent policy with inflation control while allowing for a gradual recovery of the competitiveness level. ; Este artigo analisa a credibilidade e a reputação na política econômica brasileira no período de agosto de 1994 a dezembro de 1998. 0 marco teórico empregado tem como base o modelo de "circunstâncias externas", que permite analisar os fatores de credibilidade e reputação durante o funcionamento de um regime de taxa de câmbio fixa ou de crawling peg. 0 modelo parte do pressuposto de que, em geral, nenhum governo pode preocupar-se única e exclusivamente com o objetivo de controlar a inflação, ignorando por completo objetivos de crescimento e emprego. Portanto, e em particular, diante de circunstancias adversas, um governo, ainda que do tipo antiinflação, pode ser levado a desvalorizar a taxa de câmbio. Os resultados aqui apresentados permitem concluir que o governo estava seguindo uma política consistente com a manutenção da estabilidade de preços, enquanto permitia uma recuperação gradual da competitividade.

Este artigo utiliza o modelo de fator dinâmico de Stock e Watson para construir um índice coincidente que tenha um fundamento estatístico claro e que possa ser representativo do nível de atividade da indústria de transformação do Rio Grande do Sul. Além deste modelo linear, também é aplicada a metodologia de mudança de regime para caracterizar a assimetria no ciclo dos negócios na indústria do Estado, indicando os momentos de crescimento e queda na atividade econômica do setor com características diferenciadas. Este novo indicador é comparado com o índice de desempenho industrial (IDI) elaborado pela Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Os resultados mostram que tanto o modelo linear quanto o não-linear estimam componentes que são altamente correlacionados como o índice de médias ponderadas atualmente calculado pela FIERGS.

This paper investigates the existence of possible asymmetries in the Central Bank of Brazil's objectives. By assuming that the loss function is asymmetric with regard to positive and negative deviations of the output gap and of the inflation rate from its target, we estimated a nonlinear reaction function which allows identifying and checking the statistical significance of asymmetric parameters in the monetary authority's preferences. For years 2000 to 2007, results indicate that the Central Bank of Brazil showed asymmetric preference over an above-target inflation rate. Given that this behavior may stem from policy decisions in periods of severe crises (e.g., in 2001 and in 2002), we restricted our sample to the 2004-2007 period. We did not find any empirical evidence of any type of asymmetry in the preferences over the stabilization of inflation and of the output gap for this period.

In this paper, we check whether the effects of monetary policy actions on output in Brazil are asymmetric. Therefore, we estimate Markov-switching models that allow positive and negative shocks to affect the growth rate of output in an asymmetric fashion in expansion and recession states. In general, results show that: i) the real effects of negative monetary shocks are larger than those of positive shocks in an expansion; ii) in a recession, the real effects of positive and negative shocks are the same; iii) there is no evidence of asymmetry between the effects of countercyclical monetary policies; and iv) it is not possible to assert that the effects of a positive (or negative) shock are dependent upon the phase of the business cycle.

This study aims to identify the preferences of the monetary authority in the Peruvian regime of inflation targeting through the derivation of optimal monetary rules. To achieve that, we used a calibration strategy based on the choice of values of the parameters of preferences that minimize the square deviation between the true interest rate and interest rate optimal simulation. The results showed that the monetary authority has applied a system of flexible inflation targeting, prioritizing the stabilization of inflation, but without disregarding gradualism in interest rates. On the other hand, concern over output stabilization has been minimal, revealing that the output gap has been important because it contains information about future inflation and not because it is considered a variable goal in itself. Finally, when the smoothing of the nominal exchange rate is considered in the loss function of the monetary authority, the rank order of preferences has been maintained and the smoothing of the exchange rate proved insignificant.