Jeffrey C. Fuhrer

The [un]importance of forward-looking behavior in price specifications

The seminal work of Edmund S. Phelps (1978), John B. Taylor (1980), and Guillermo A. Calvo (1983) developed forward-looking models of price determination that imparted inertia to the price level. These models incorporate expectations of future prices and excess demand by imposing constraints (typically lag-lead symmetry constraints) that force future variables to enter the specification. In this paper, the author tests the empirical significance of future prices in specifications like those of Taylor. He finds that expectations of future prices are empirically unimportant in explaining price and inflation behavior. However, the dynamics of a model that includes a purely backward-looking inflation specification differ substantially--and not altogether pleasingly--from those with a forward-looking specification. Copyright 1997 by Ohio State University Press.

Monetary Policy when Interest Rates Are Bounded at Zero

This paper assesses the importance of the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates for the interest-rate channel of monetary policy. We simulate several interest-rate setting policy rules with either high or low inflation targets. We determine the extent to which the zero bound prevents real rates from falling, thus cushioning aggregate output in response to negative spending shocks. For small temporary and large permanent shocks, the output path with zero inflation lies modestly below that for higher inflation. For large shocks persisting a few quarters, differences in output paths across high- and low-inflation scenarios can be larger.

Monetary Policy Shifts and Long-Term Interest Rates

The Pure Expectations Hypothesis (PEH) serves as the benchmark model for the relationship between yields on bonds of different maturities. When coupled with rational expectations, however, empirical renderings of the model fail miserably. I explore the possibility that failure to account for changes in monetary policy regime explains much of the failure of the PEH. Estimating changing monetary regimes in conjunction with the PEH significantly improves its performance. The predicted spread between the long and short rates is highly correlated with the actual spread. The standard deviation of the theoretical spread is nearly identical to that of the actual spread.

Estimating the linear-quadratic inventory model maximum likelihood versus generalized method of moments

Abstract We compare generalized method of moments (GMM) and maximum likelihood (ML) estimators of the parameters of a linear-quadratic inventory model using nondurable manufacturing data and Monte Carlo simulations. Data-based GMM estimates for five normalizations vary widely, generally rejecting the model. The ML estimate generally supports the model. Monte Carlo experiments reveal that the GMM estimates are often biased (apparently due to poor instruments), statistically insignificant, economically implausible, and dynamically unstable. The ML estimates are generally unbiased (even in misspecified models), statistically significant, economically plausible, and dynamically stable. Asymptotic standard errors for ML are 3 to 15 times smaller than for GMM.

Monetary Policy Shifts and the Stability of Monetary Policy Models

Since the publication (1976) of the classic Lucas critique, researchers in empirical macroeconomics have endeavored to specify models that capture the underlying dynamic decision-making behavior of consumers and firms who require forecasts of future events. Recently, a number of researchers have developed simple models that have become the workhorses for monetary policy analysis. The models vary considerably with regard to optimizing foundations and explicit treatment of expectations. However, relatively little effort has been devoted to testing the empirical importance of the Lucas critique for these simple models. Can one find specifications that are policy-invariant? This paper develops and implements a set of tests for several monetary policy models used extensively in the literature. In particular, we attempt to test the robustness of optimizing versus nonoptimizing models to changes in the monetary policy regime. We present evidence that shows that some forward-looking models from the recent literature may be less stable than their better-fitting backward-looking counterparts.

Monetary policy rules and the indicator properties of asset prices

Abstract We investigate relationships between asset prices and inflation in a modern Keynesian model in which monetary policy controls inflation by manipulating the federal funds rate. The indicator properties of asset prices are quite sensitive to the monetary policy rule. Including the asset prices themselves in the reaction function can invert the sense of the indicator properties. Targeting the asset prices is tantamount to targeting the real interest rate: when all of the weight in the reaction function is placed on asset prices, the real rate converges so rapidly that policy loses control of inflation.

Risky Habits: on Risk Sharing, Habit Formation, and the Interpretation of International Consumption Correlations

Standard international economic models with life cycle/permanent income consumption behavior predict that international portfolio diversification leads to high bilateral consumption correlations. Thus international consumption correlations have been empirically estimated as a test of international portfolio diversification and risk sharing. In this paper we investigate the international consumption correlations generated by a more general model which incorporates habit formation in consumption. We show that, in the presence of a common shock, habit formation itself can generate positive international consumption correlations even in the absence of any international risk sharing. Empirical evidence presented in this paper suggests habit formation characterizes consumption behavior among most of the G-7 countries. Thus, the extent of international portfolio diversification may be even lower than that suggested by previous research which studied international consumption correlations.

Towards a compact, empirically-verified rational expectations model for monetary policy analysis

This paper extends the sticky-price models of Fuhrer and Moore (1995a,b) to include explicit, optimization-based consumption and investment decisions. The goal is to use the resulting model for monetary policy analysis; consequently, strong emphasis is placed on empirical validation of the model. I use a canonical formulation of the consumers problem from Campbell and Mankiw (1989), and a time-to-build investment model with costs of adjustment. The restrictions imposed by these models, in conjunction with those imposed on prices and output by the Fuhrer-Moore contracting specification, imply dynamic behavior that is grossly inconsistent with the data.

Forward-Looking Behavior and the Stability of a Conventional Monetary Policy Rule

At the turn of the century, Knut Wicksell proposed a monetary policy rule that has become conventional wisdom: raise interest rates when inflation is above target and vice versa. The authors discover some surprising properties of this rule. When the rule is included in a model in which inflation is driven by the short real rate, the model is unstable. When the rule is combined with a Phillips curve driven by a backward-looking long real rate, the model is unstable. However, when a forward-looking component is added to inflation or the long real rate, the policy stabilizes the rate of inflation. Copyright 1995 by Ohio State University Press.

Chapter 9 – Inflation Persistence ☆

This chapter examines the concept of inflation persistence in macroeconomic theory. It begins by defining persistence — emphasizing the difference between reduced-form and structural persistence. It then examines a number of empirical measures of reduced-form persistence, considering the possibility that persistence may have changed over time. The chapter then examines the theoretical sources of persistence, distinguishing “intrinsic” from “inherited” persistence, and deriving a number of analytical results on persistence, emphasizing the influence of the monetary policy regime. It summarizes the implications for persistence from the literature on imperfect information models, learning models, and so-called “trend inflation models,” providing some new results throughout. Finally, it summarizes the results on persistence from the many studies of disaggregated price data.