Suchergebnisse

This brief exposition suggests that the Federal Reserve System temporarily guarantee a lower bound on stock prices in order to escape the current combination of liquidity trap and credit crunch. It shortly discusses reasons for this measure, consequences, and some alternatives. It is meant as a policy suggestion in case the recapitalization of banks, agreed upon in mid-October 2008, turns out to be insufficient for stabilizing financial markets and the downward spiral in asset prices resumes.

National audience ; L'expérimentation en macroéconomie est un domaine en pleine expansion. Cet article défend le point de vue selon lequel les expériences de laboratoire peuvent représenter un outil à la disposition des banquiers centraux et passe en revue la littérature expérimentale consacrée à l'analyse des fonctions des banques centrales. Sont ainsi abordées successivement les études relatives aux canaux par lesquels la politique monétaire affecte les comportements, aux processus de décision, et à la mise en oeuvre de la politique des banques centrales. L'article conclut sur les limites et perspectives de cette approche. Abstract : Experimental macroeconomics is a fast growing field. This paper argues that laboratory experiments can represent a tool for central bankers and reviews the experimental literature on central banking issues. We successively focus on studies related to the monetary policy channels, the decision making process inside central banks, and the implementation of central banks' policy. We conclude the paper by mentioning open issues and raising new avenues for future research.

Purpose: In games with strategic complementarities, public information about the state of the world has a larger impact on equilibrium actions than private information of the same precision, because the former is more informative about the likely behavior of others. This may lead to welfare-reducing "overreactions" to public signals as shown by Morris and Shin (2002). Recent experiments on games with strategic complementarities show that subjects attach a lower weight to public signals than theoretically predicted. The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the welfare effects of public signals accounting for the weights observed in experiments. Design/methodology/approach: Aggregate behavior observed in experiments on games with strategic complementarities can be explained by a cognitive hierarchy model where subjects employ limited levels of reasoning. They respond in a rational way to the non-strategic part of a game and they account for other players responding rationally, but they neglect that other players also account for others' rationality. This paper analyzes the welfare effects of public information under such limited levels of reasoning. Findings: In the model by Morris and Shin (2002) public information is always welfare improving if strategies are derived from such low reasoning levels. The optimal degree of publicity is decreasing in the levels of reasoning. For the observed average level of reasoning, full transparency is optimal, if public information is more precise than private information. If the policy maker has instruments that are perfect substitutes to private actions, the government should secretly respond to its information without disclosing or signaling it to the private sector independent of the degree of private agents' rationality. Originality/value: This paper takes experimental evidence back to theory and shows that the main result obtained by the theory under rational behavior breaks down if theory accounts for the bounded rationality observed in experiments.

National audience ; L'expérimentation en macroéconomie est un domaine en pleine expansion. Cet article défend le point de vue selon lequel les expériences de laboratoire peuvent représenter un outil à la disposition des banquiers centraux et passe en revue la littérature expérimentale consacrée à l'analyse des fonctions des banques centrales. Sont ainsi abordées successivement les études relatives aux canaux par lesquels la politique monétaire affecte les comportements, aux processus de décision, et à la mise en oeuvre de la politique des banques centrales. L'article conclut sur les limites et perspectives de cette approche. Abstract : Experimental macroeconomics is a fast growing field. This paper argues that laboratory experiments can represent a tool for central bankers and reviews the experimental literature on central banking issues. We successively focus on studies related to the monetary policy channels, the decision making process inside central banks, and the implementation of central banks' policy. We conclude the paper by mentioning open issues and raising new avenues for future research.

National audience ; L'expérimentation en macroéconomie est un domaine en pleine expansion. Cet article défend le point de vue selon lequel les expériences de laboratoire peuvent représenter un outil à la disposition des banquiers centraux et passe en revue la littérature expérimentale consacrée à l'analyse des fonctions des banques centrales. Sont ainsi abordées successivement les études relatives aux canaux par lesquels la politique monétaire affecte les comportements, aux processus de décision, et à la mise en oeuvre de la politique des banques centrales. L'article conclut sur les limites et perspectives de cette approche. Abstract : Experimental macroeconomics is a fast growing field. This paper argues that laboratory experiments can represent a tool for central bankers and reviews the experimental literature on central banking issues. We successively focus on studies related to the monetary policy channels, the decision making process inside central banks, and the implementation of central banks' policy. We conclude the paper by mentioning open issues and raising new avenues for future research.

National audience ; L'expérimentation en macroéconomie est un domaine en pleine expansion. Cet article défend le point de vue selon lequel les expériences de laboratoire peuvent représenter un outil à la disposition des banquiers centraux et passe en revue la littérature expérimentale consacrée à l'analyse des fonctions des banques centrales. Sont ainsi abordées successivement les études relatives aux canaux par lesquels la politique monétaire affecte les comportements, aux processus de décision, et à la mise en oeuvre de la politique des banques centrales. L'article conclut sur les limites et perspectives de cette approche. Abstract : Experimental macroeconomics is a fast growing field. This paper argues that laboratory experiments can represent a tool for central bankers and reviews the experimental literature on central banking issues. We successively focus on studies related to the monetary policy channels, the decision making process inside central banks, and the implementation of central banks' policy. We conclude the paper by mentioning open issues and raising new avenues for future research.