E40 - Money and Interest Rates: GeneralReturn

This paper presents a theoretical model that is suitable for the analysis of price-setting hetero-geneity in a small open economy. The model is based on Benigno and López-Salido's (2006) work and is one of many examples of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that utilizes heterogeneous price stickiness (e.g., Aoki, 2001; Bodenstein et al., 2008). The model allows analyses of a small open economy by extending the existing multisector models using the mechanisms described by Galí and Monacelli (2005). As a result, the model enables monetary policy analyses that take into account existing sectoral differences in the price-setting mechanisms found in an open economy. In the empirical part of the paper, the model is estimated on data for Poland using Bayesian techniques. The results show that the period 1999-2017 saw significant differences in price stickiness and inflation persistence in the sectors that produce food and energy compared with sectors that produce other goods and services.

Using the factor-augmented vector autoregressive (FAVAR) model proposed by Bernanke et al. (2005), this study explores the effect of monetary policy on a wide range of macroeconomic and financial variables for the US, Canada and the UK. The study makes use of financial data from 1990 to 2016, comprising 55-70 variables of the three major nations to show (1) that factors come with additional informational capability, which summarizes the performance of key macroeconomic variables and (2) the manner in which these variables are affected by contractionary monetary policies. Our findings confirm that monetary policy tightening results in decrease in industrial production, employment, share prices, housing starts and inflation; however, it leads to increase in the three-month treasury bill rate, long-term interest rates and unemployment. Overall, the impact of standardized monetary tightening is similar across the countries studied. These results from the major economies and the inclusion of larger data sets containing more variables would be relevant for policy theorists and practitioners from other countries.

The paper examines money-output and price-output relations in developed countries between 1980 and 2005. We observe that declines in the nominal monetary base are connected with a moderately below-average behaviour of the real output. The same result applies for small positive growth rates of nominal M1 and M2. High growth rates of money are associated with the above-average product growth. We have some evidence that broader monetary aggregates are more closely associated with the real product than narrower monetary aggregates. As opposed to the money-output connection, we show that low inflation was accompanied by high product growth.