Suchergebnisse

AbstractA sticky price theory of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy shocks based on state-dependent pricing yields two testable implications that do not hold in time-dependent models. First, large monetary policy shocks should yield proportionally larger initial responses of the price level. Second, in a high trend inflation regime, the response of the price level to monetary policy shocks should be larger and real effects smaller. Our analysis provides evidence supporting these non-linear effects in the response of the price level in aggregate US data, indicating state-dependent pricing as an important feature of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.

We study the properties of the optimal interest rate rule under different sources of inflation persistence. In our model, the optimal policy minimizes price dispersion, which depends on the degree of price indexation. When indexation is zero, inflation persistence depends only on the level of trend inflation, the inflation gap is purely forward‐looking and the optimal policy targets inflation stability. Full indexation makes the inflation gap persistent, eliminates the effects of trend inflation and makes the optimal policy target the real interest rate. We compare our results with empirical estimates of the FED's policy in the post‐WWII era.