Leo Krippner

Measuring the stance of monetary policy in zero lower bound environments

With interest rates near the zero lower bound, I propose a simple framework to indicate the monetary policy stance as a “shadow short rate”. I apply a one-factor model to Japan, provide associated economic intuition, and discuss multiple-factor extensions.

A tractable framework for zero-lower-bound Gaussian term structure models

When nominal interest rates are near their zero lower bound (ZLB), as in many developed economies at the time of writing, it is theoretically untenable to apply the popular class of Gaussian affine term structure models (GATSMs) given their inherent material probabilities of negative interest rates. Hence, I propose a tractable modification for GATSMs that enforces the ZLB, and which approximates the fully arbitrage-free but much less tractable framework proposed in Black (1995). I apply my framework to United States yield curve data, with robust estimation via the iterated extended Kalman filter, and first show that the two-factor results are very similar to those from a comparable Black model. I then estimate two- and three-factor models with longer-maturity data sets to illustrate that my ZLB framework can readily be applied in circumstances would computationally burdensome or infeasible within the Black framework.

A Theoretical Foundation for the Nelson and Siegel Class of Yield Curve Models

This article establishes that most yield curve models within the popular Nelson and Siegel (1987, hereafter NS) class may be obtained as a formal Taylor approximation to the dynamic component of the generic Gaussian affine term structure model outlined in Dai and Singleton (2002). That fundamental theoretical foundation provides an assurance to users of NS models that they correspond to a well-accepted set of principles and assumptions for modeling the yield curve and its dynamics. Indeed, arbitrage-free NS models will parsimoniously and reliably represent the data generated by any Gaussian affine term structure model regardless of its true number of underlying factors and specification, and even non-arbitrage-free NS models will adequately capture the dynamics of the state variables. Combined with the well-established practical benefits of applying NS models, the theoretical foundation provides a compelling case for applying NS models as standard tools for yield curve modeling and analysis in economics and finance. As an illustration, this article develops a two-factor arbitrage-free NS model and applies it to testing for changes in United States yield curve dynamics. The results confirm those of Rudebusch and Wu (2007) based on a latent two-factor essentially affine term structure model: there was a material change in the behavior of the yield curve between the sample prior to 1988 and the sample from 1988 onwards.

Measuring the Stance of Monetary Policy in Conventional and Unconventional Environments

This article introduces an idea for summarizing of the stance of monetary policy with quantities derived from a class of yield curve models that respect the zero lower bound constraint for interest rates. The “economic stimulus measure” aggregates the current and estimated expected path of interest rates relative to the neutral interest rate from the yield curve model. Unlike shadow short rates, economic stimulus measures are consistent and comparable across conventional and unconventional monetary policy environments, and are less subject to variation with modelling choices, as I demonstrate with two and three factor models estimated with different data sets. Full empirical testing of the inter-relationships between ES measures and macroeconomic data remains a topic for future work.

Faster Solutions for Black Zero Lower Bound Term Structure Models

The Black framework offers a theoretically appealing way to model the term structure and gauge the stance of monetary policy when the zero lower bound of interest rates becomes constraining, but it is time consuming to apply using standard numerical methods. I outline a faster Monte Carlo simulation method for Black implementions, illustrate its performance for a one factor model, and then discuss the ready extension to models with multiple factors.

Asset Markets and Monetary Policy Shocks at the Zero Lower Bound

This paper quantifies the impact of monetary policy shocks on asset markets in the United States and gauges the usefulness of a shadow short rate as a measure of conventional and unconventional monetary policy shocks. Monetary policy surprises are found to have had a larger impact on asset markets since short term interest rates reached the zero lower bound. Our results indicate that much of the increased reaction is due to changes in the transmission of shocks and only partly due to larger monetary policy surprises.

Monetary Policy Spillovers across the Pacific when Interest Rates Are at the Zero Lower Bound

To conduct monetary policy effectively, central banks need to understand the transmission of monetary policy into financial markets. In this paper we investigate the effects of Japanese and U.S. monetary policy shocks on their own asset markets, and the spillovers into each others markets. Because short-term nominal interest rates have been effectively zero in Japan since January 1998 and in the United States from late 2008, however, monetary policy shocks cannot be quantified by considering observable changes in short-term market interest rates. Therefore, in our analysis we use a shadow short rate―a quantitative measure of overall conventional and unconventional monetary policy that is estimated from the term structure of interest rates. Our results suggest that the operation of monetary policy at the zero lower bound of interest rates alters the transmission of shocks. In particular, we find a limited response of exchange rates during the first episode of unconventional monetary policy in Japan but a significant impact since 2006.

CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN FINANCE: A COLLECTION OF LITERATURE SURVEYS: CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN FINANCE

Finance plays a critical function in economies and continues to evolve in practice complemented by research, policy, and regulation. The articles in this special issue provide up‐to‐date reviews of contemporary topics in finance. Unconventional monetary policy, implicit bank guarantees, and financial fraud are in various ways associated with rethinks stimulated by the Global Financial Crisis. The topics of inflation risk premia, finance and productivity, angel investing, venture capital, relationship lending, and microfinance have benefitted from increased research associated with more data and use in practice. The final two topics of crowdfunding and crypto‐currencies are the products of recent technological developments.

A Comment on Wu and Xia (2016) from a Macroeconomic Perspective

Counter to the comments in Wu and Xia (2016), I show that the results from macroeconomic models are sensitive to the Shadow Short Rate (SSR) series used. That is, using a standard small macroeconomic vector autorregression model with a range of estimated SSR series obtains counterfactuals for unemployment ranging from 0.4 to 1.8 percentage points, if the Federal Funds Rate rather than the SSR series had been applied in the lower bound period. The counterfactuals for inflation range from -0.2 to -2.2 percentage points. Vetting the various SSR series from several perspectives indicates that some are more preferable than others, but there are reasons to remain cautious on the associated results.

Efficient Jacobian Evaluations for Estimating Zero Lower Bound Term Structure Models

Faster extended Kalman filter estimations of zero lower bound models of the term structure are possible if the analytic properties of the Jacobian matrix for the measurement equation are exploited. I show that such results are straighforward to incorporate, at least in Monte-Carlo-based implementations, and that will facilitate fast and robust estimations of zero lower bound term structure models with the iterated extended Kalman filter.