HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION OF MONETARY NON-NEUTRALITY: THE INFORMATION EFFECT

Similar documents
High Frequency Identification of Monetary Non-Neutrality

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION OF MONETARY NON-NEUTRALITY: THE INFORMATION EFFECT. Emi Nakamura Jón Steinsson

High Frequency Identification of Monetary Non-Neutrality: The Information Effect

Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs and Economic Activity

State Dependency of Monetary Policy: The Refinancing Channel

On the new Keynesian model

Examining the Bond Premium Puzzle in a DSGE Model

Risk, Uncertainty and Monetary Policy

Lecture 23 The New Keynesian Model Labor Flows and Unemployment. Noah Williams

Lorant Kaszab (MNB) Roman Horvath (IES)

Modeling and Forecasting the Yield Curve

The Dynamic Effects of Forward Guidance Shocks

Technology shocks and Monetary Policy: Assessing the Fed s performance

Empirical Effects of Monetary Policy and Shocks. Valerie A. Ramey

State-Dependent Fiscal Multipliers: Calvo vs. Rotemberg *

The science of monetary policy

Country Spreads and Emerging Countries: Who Drives Whom? Martin Uribe and Vivian Yue (JIE, 2006)

Inflation Dynamics During the Financial Crisis

Monetary and Fiscal Policy

EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PHILLIPS CURVE

Monetary Policy and the Predictability of Nominal Exchange Rates

Learning and the Effectiveness of Central Bank Forward Guidance

Taxes and the Fed: Theory and Evidence from Equities

MA Advanced Macroeconomics: 11. The Smets-Wouters Model

The Extensive Margin of Trade and Monetary Policy

Does a Big Bazooka Matter? Central Bank Balance-Sheet Policies and Exchange Rates

Credit Shocks and the U.S. Business Cycle. Is This Time Different? Raju Huidrom University of Virginia. Midwest Macro Conference

5. STRUCTURAL VAR: APPLICATIONS

The Federal Reserve and Market Confidence

Dual Wage Rigidities: Theory and Some Evidence

A New Measure of Monetary Policy Shocks

Comment. The New Keynesian Model and Excess Inflation Volatility

Asset pricing in the frequency domain: theory and empirics

ECON 815. A Basic New Keynesian Model II

The Optimal Perception of Inflation Persistence is Zero

TFP Persistence and Monetary Policy. NBS, April 27, / 44

Inflation in the Great Recession and New Keynesian Models

State-Dependent Pricing and the Paradox of Flexibility

Monetary Fiscal Policy Interactions under Implementable Monetary Policy Rules

Asset purchase policy at the effective lower bound for interest rates

Asymmetric Information and the Impact on Interest Rates. Evidence from Forecast Data

Estimating Output Gap in the Czech Republic: DSGE Approach

Do Nominal Rigidities Matter for the Transmission of Technology Shocks?

Decomposing the Effects of Monetary Policy Using an External Instruments SVAR

Equilibrium Yield Curve, Phillips Correlation, and Monetary Policy

The Zero Lower Bound

slides chapter 6 Interest Rate Shocks

Introduction to DSGE Models

Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Shocks: Comment

ECON 4325 Monetary Policy Lecture 11: Zero Lower Bound and Unconventional Monetary Policy. Martin Blomhoff Holm

Inflation 11/27/2017. A. Phillips Curve. A.W. Phillips (1958) documented relation between unemployment and rate of change of wages in U.K.

Comment on The Central Bank Balance Sheet as a Commitment Device By Gauti Eggertsson and Kevin Proulx

A Unified Theory of Bond and Currency Markets

The Bond Premium in a DSGE Model with Long-Run Real and Nominal Risks

1.3 Nominal rigidities

LECTURE 8 Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound: Quantitative Easing. October 10, 2018

Credit Frictions and Optimal Monetary Policy

Communications Breakdown: The Transmission of Different Types of ECB Policy Announcements

Monetary policy and long-term real rates *

Nominal Rigidities, Asset Returns, and Monetary Policy

Exercises on the New-Keynesian Model

Keynesian Views On The Fiscal Multiplier

Fiscal Multipliers in Recessions

Monetary Economics. Lecture 11: monetary/fiscal interactions in the new Keynesian model, part one. Chris Edmond. 2nd Semester 2014

Nominal Rigidities, Asset Returns and Monetary Policy

Credit Frictions and Optimal Monetary Policy

Monetary Policy in a New Keyneisan Model Walsh Chapter 8 (cont)

Identification and Price Determination with Taylor Rules: A Critical Review by John H. Cochrane. Discussion. Eric M. Leeper

Evaluation of the transmission of the monetary policy interest rate to the market interest rates considering agents expectations 1

The Forward Guidance Puzzle

The New Keynesian Model

The Dollar During the Global Recession: US Monetary Policy and the Exorbitant Duty

Nominal Rigidities, Asset Returns, and Monetary Policy

Monetary Policy and Market Interest Rates in Brazil

LECTURE 5 The Effects of Fiscal Changes: Aggregate Evidence. September 19, 2018

The Time-Varying Effect of Monetary Policy on Asset Prices

LECTURE 11 Monetary Policy at the Zero Lower Bound: Quantitative Easing. November 2, 2016

Euler Equations and Monetary Policy

Fiscal Consolidations in Currency Unions: Spending Cuts Vs. Tax Hikes

Simple Analytics of the Government Expenditure Multiplier

Credit Frictions and Optimal Monetary Policy. Vasco Curdia (FRB New York) Michael Woodford (Columbia University)

DISCUSSION OF NON-INFLATIONARY DEMAND DRIVEN BUSINESS CYCLES, BY BEAUDRY AND PORTIER. 1. Introduction

Monetary Policy and Long-Term Real Rates *

The Informational Effect of Monetary Policy and the Case for Policy Commitment (Job Market Paper)

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Escaping the Great Recession 1

The Transmission of Monetary Policy through Redistributions and Durable Purchases

Inflation Dynamics During the Financial Crisis

Unemployment Fluctuations and Nominal GDP Targeting

Advanced Topics in Monetary Economics II 1

Is Increased Price Flexibility Stabilizing? Redux

Using federal funds futures contracts for monetary policy analysis

Macroeconomics 2. Lecture 5 - Money February. Sciences Po

CAE Working Paper # Endogenous Money or Sticky Price? Comment on Monetary Non-Neutrality and Inflation Dynamics. Peng-fei Wang. and.

Microeconomic Foundations of Incomplete Price Adjustment

INTERTEMPORAL ASSET ALLOCATION: THEORY

Macroeconomics Field Exam August 2017 Department of Economics UC Berkeley. (3 hours)

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Essays on Monetary Policy with Informational Frictions

Monetary Policy Matters: New Evidence Based on a New Shock Measure

Transcription:

HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION OF MONETARY NON-NEUTRALITY: THE INFORMATION EFFECT Emi Nakamura and Jón Steinsson Columbia University January 2018 Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 1 / 51

THE QUESTION How large are the effects of monetary policy on the real economy? Empirical challenge: Monetary policy is endogenous Example: Fed may wish to counteract a shock to the financial sector by lowering interest rates Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 2 / 51

THE QUESTION How large are the effects of monetary policy on the real economy? Empirical challenge: Monetary policy is endogenous Example: Fed may wish to counteract a shock to the financial sector by lowering interest rates Most common existing approach to identification: Controlling for confounding variables (e.g., Romer-Romer 04, Christiano-Eichenbaum-Evans 99) Worry: Some endogeneity bias may remain (e.g., 9/11) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 2 / 51

HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION Discrete amount of monetary news at time of FOMC announcements Allows for discontinuity based identification Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 3 / 51

HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION Discrete amount of monetary news at time of FOMC announcements Allows for discontinuity based identification We study the response of real interest rates to monetary news in the 30-minute window around FOMC announcements Real yields and forwards (from TIPS) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 3 / 51

HIGH FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION Discrete amount of monetary news at time of FOMC announcements Allows for discontinuity based identification We study the response of real interest rates to monetary news in the 30-minute window around FOMC announcements Real yields and forwards (from TIPS) Identifying assumption: Unexpected changes in interest rates at these times are due to actions and statements of the Fed Not a response to other events that occurred in this narrow window Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 3 / 51

WHY REAL RATES? What can response of real rates tell us? Real rates affect output in all models (RBC and NK) Controversy is over whether monetary policy affect real (as opposed to only nominal) rates Response of real interest rates measurable at high frequency High frequency data key for discontinuity-based identification Allows for greater precision than for variables that do not respond at high frequency (e.g., output and inflation) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 4 / 51

MAIN EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 1. Nominal and real rates move one-for-one several years into the term structure 2. Small response of break-even inflation We show how under conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Implies prices are very sticky (flat Phillips curve) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 5 / 51

MAIN EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 1. Nominal and real rates move one-for-one several years into the term structure 2. Small response of break-even inflation We show how under conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Implies prices are very sticky (flat Phillips curve) 3. But: Tightening of policy raises expected output growth (Blue Chip) Inconsistent with standard models of monetary policy Need new model of monetary policy with information effects Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 5 / 51

FED INFORMATION MODEL FOMC announcements affect private sector beliefs... Not only about monetary policy (conventional view) But also about exogenous fundamentals (e.g. productivity) (as in Romer-Romer 00) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 6 / 51

FED INFORMATION MODEL FOMC announcements affect private sector beliefs... Not only about monetary policy (conventional view) But also about exogenous fundamentals (e.g. productivity) (as in Romer-Romer 00) New model of Fed Information Estimate large information effect 2/3 of shocks are changes in beliefs about exogenous fundamentals Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 6 / 51

FED INFORMATION MODEL FOMC announcements affect private sector beliefs... Not only about monetary policy (conventional view) But also about exogenous fundamentals (e.g. productivity) (as in Romer-Romer 00) New model of Fed Information Estimate large information effect 2/3 of shocks are changes in beliefs about exogenous fundamentals Fed has great deal of power over private sector beliefs Fed fights against itself by increasing pessimism when it unexpectedly loosens policy Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 6 / 51

RELATED LITERATURE Fed information effect Empirical: Romer-Romer 00, Faust-Swanson-Wright 04, Campbell et al. 12 Theoretical: Cukierman-Meltzer 86, Ellingen-Soderstrom 01, Berkelmans 11, Melosi 16, Tang 15, Frankel-Kartik 15, Andrade et al. 16 High-frequency identification of monetary shocks Cook-Hahn 89, Kuttner 01, Cochrane-Piazzesi 02, Gurkaynak-Sack-Swanson 05, Hansen-Stein 15, Gertler-Karadi 15. New Keynesian models of monetary policy: Rotemberg-Woodford 97, Clarida-Gali-Gertler 99, Woodford 03, Christiano-Eichenbaum-Evans 05 Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 7 / 51

High Frequency Estimation of the Effects of Monetary Shocks

FORWARD GUIDANCE Fed uses post-meeting statements to manage expectations about what it is going to do in the future Example: January 28, 2004 No change in Fed Funds Rate, fully anticipated Unexpected change in Fed Funds Rate: 0 bp However, FOMC statement dropped the phrase: policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period Two- and five-year yields jumped 20-25 bp (Discussed in Gurkaynak-Sack-Swanson 05) Implication: Measures of monetary shock should incorporate forward guidance Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 8 / 51

POLICY NEWS SHOCK We follow GSS 05 in basing policy indicator on changes in 5 interest rate futures: Fed Funds future for current month (scaled) Fed Funds future for month of next FOMC meeting (scaled) 3-month Eurodollar futures at horizons of 2Q, 3Q, 4Q Policy News Shock: First principle component of change in these 5 interest rate futures over 30 minute window around scheduled FOMC announcements (also consider 1-day window) (Similar to GSS 05 path factor ) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 9 / 51

DEPENDENT VARIABLES Nominal Treasury zero-coupon yields (Gurkaynak-Sack-Wright 07) Real TIPS zero-coupon yields (Gurkaynak-Sack-Wright 10) TIPS started trading in 1997 Daily data for sample period Jan-2000 to Mar-2014 Baseline sample drops 2008:07-2009:06 Results robust to including apex of crisis or ending sample in 2007 Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 10 / 51

EFFECTS OF POLICY NEWS SHOCK TABLE 1 Response of Interest Rates and Inflation to the Policy News Shock Nominal Real Inflation 2Y Treasury Yield 1.10 1.06 0.04 (0.33) (0.24) (0.18) 5Y Treasury Yield 0.73 0.64 0.09 (0.20) (0.15) (0.11) 10Y Treasury Yield 0.38 0.44-0.06 (0.17) (0.13) (0.08) 2Y Treasury Inst. Forward Rate 1.14 0.99 0.15 (0.46) (0.29) (0.23) 3Y Treasury Inst. Forward Rate 0.82 0.88-0.06 (0.43) (0.32) (0.15) 5Y Treasury Inst. Forward Rate 0.26 0.47-0.21 (0.19) (0.17) (0.08) 10Y Treasury Inst. Forward Rate -0.08 0.12-0.20 (0.18) (0.12) (0.09) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 11 / 51

TWO EMPIRICAL ISSUES 1. Background noise 2. Risk premia vs. Expected future short rates Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 12 / 51

BACKGROUND NOISE Rigobon TABLE 2 Allowing For Background Noise in Interest Rates 10-Year Forward Nominal Real Policy News Shock, 30-Minute Window: OLS Rigobon Policy News Shock, 1-Day Window: OLS Rigobon 2-Year Nominal Yield, 1-Day Window OLS Rigobon (90% CI) -0.08 0.12 [-0.43, 0.28] [-0.12, 0.36] -0.12 0.11 [-0.46, 0.24] [-0.13, 0.35] 0.05 0.15 [-0.20, 0.29] [-0.10, 0.39] -0.51-0.04 [-1.93, -0.08] [-0.51, 0.45] 0.18 0.20 [0.01, 0.35] [0.02, 0.38] -0.51-0.04 [-10.00, -0.21] [-4.57, 0.38] Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 13 / 51

RISK PREMIA VS. EXPECTED REAL RATES Simple view: Effect of policy news shock on long-rates reflects change in future expected interest rates ( forward guidance ) Could these instead be risk premium effects? We argue not (see also Piazzesi-Swanson 08) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 14 / 51

FUTURE SHORT RATES OR RISK PREMIA? Three modes of attack: 1. Look directly at survey expectations (Blue Chip) Not affected by risk premia since direct measure of expectations 2. Affine term structure model (Abrahams et al. 15) Provides a decomposition into changes in expected future short rates and risk premia 3. Mean reversion Do effects on long-term yields appear to mean revert over longer windows Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 15 / 51

FUTURE SHORT RATES OR RISK PREMIA? Three modes of attack: 1. Look directly at survey expectations (Blue Chip) Not affected by risk premia since direct measure of expectations Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 16 / 51

SURVEY EVIDENCE ON RISK PREMIA TABLE D.1 Effects of Monetary Shocks on Survey Expectations Nominal Real Inflation 1 quarter 1.05 1.17-0.12 (0.73) (0.78) (0.24) 2 quarters 1.18 1.63-0.44 (0.75) (0.60) (0.31) 3 quarters 0.99 1.29-0.30 (0.72) (0.78) (0.24) 4 quarters 0.86 1.17-0.32 (0.71) (0.77) (0.23) 5 quarters 0.73 0.59 0.14 (0.89) (0.94) (0.21) 6 quarters 1.84 1.60 0.23 (0.89) (0.88) (0.24) 7 quarters 4.45 4.29 0.17 (1.91) (1.99) (0.27) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 17 / 51

FUTURE SHORT RATES OR RISK PREMIA? Three modes of attack: 1. Look directly at survey expectations (Blue Chip) Not affected by risk premia since direct measure of expectations 2. Affine term structure model (Abrahams et al. 15) Provides a decomposition into changes in expected future short rates and risk premia Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 18 / 51

AFFINE TERM STRUCTURE MODEL TABLE D.2 Response of Expected Future Short Rates and Risk Premia Expected Future Short Rates Risk Premia Nominal Real Nominal Real 2Y Treasury Yield 1.01 0.86 0.09 0.20 (0.27) (0.17) (0.10) (0.18) 5Y Treasury Yield 0.76 0.60-0.04 0.04 (0.16) (0.12) (0.11) (0.14) 10Y Treasury Yield 0.50 0.40-0.12 0.04 (0.11) (0.08) (0.14) (0.14) 2Y Treasury Forward Rate 0.79 0.73 0.35 0.26 (0.24) (0.22) (0.26) (0.21) 3Y Treasury Forward Rate 0.61 0.56 0.21 0.32 (0.19) (0.17) (0.29) (0.25) 5Y Treasury Forward Rate 0.36 0.33-0.11 0.14 (0.08) (0.08) (0.17) (0.17) 10Y Treasury Forward Rate 0.10 0.09-0.18 0.04 (0.02) (0.02) (0.18) (0.12) Decomposition of real and nominal term structure from Abrahams et al. (2015) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 19 / 51

FUTURE SHORT RATES OR RISK PREMIA? Three modes of attack: 1. Look directly at survey expectations (Blue Chip) Not affected by risk premia since direct measure of expectations 2. Affine term structure model (Abrahams et al. 15) Provides a decomposition into changes in expected future short rates and risk premia 3. Mean reversion Do effects on long-term yields appear to mean revert over longer windows Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 20 / 51

MEAN REVERSION TABLE D.3 Mean Reversion Horizon (Trading Days) 2-Year Real Yields 3-Year 5-Year 1 1.06 1.02 0.64 (0.28) (0.31) (0.19) 5 1.01 0.93 0.52 (0.64) (0.68) (0.38) 10 1.35 1.20 0.28 (0.55) (0.57) (0.53) 20 0.88 0.43 0.04 (0.95) (0.94) (0.79) 60 1.96 1.72-0.10 (2.13) (1.92) (1.13) 125 6.16 5.22 2.47 (2.86) (2.50) (1.44) 250 9.58 8.22 4.13 (2.92) (2.97) (1.84) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 21 / 51

SUMMING UP Policy news shock has: Large and persistent effects on real rates...that do not appear to arise from risk premia Small effects on expected inflation Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 22 / 51

Interpretation

WHAT CAN REAL INTEREST RATES TELL US? Fed affects nominal rates change in nominal rates affects real rates change in real rates affects output and inflation Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 23 / 51

WHAT CAN REAL INTEREST RATES TELL US? Fed affects nominal rates change in nominal rates affects real rates change in real rates affects output and inflation 2nd step (real rates output) common to RBC and NK models 1st step (nominal rates real rates) more controversial Our results provide direct evidence on 1st step Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 23 / 51

TEXTBOOK INTERPRETATION OF MONETARY SHOCKS Euler equation: where ˆx t = y t y n t Phillips curve: ŷ t = E t ŷ t+1 σ(î t E t ˆπ t+1 ) ˆx t = E t ˆx t+1 σ(î t E t ˆπ t+1 ˆr n t ) ˆπ t = βe t ˆπ t+1 + κζˆx t Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 24 / 51

SOLVING FORWARD Solve forward Euler equation (assuming r n t ˆx t = σ j=0 Solve forward the Phillips curve: unchanged) to get E t î t+j E t+j ˆπ t+j+1 = σˆr l t ˆπ t = κζ β j E t ˆx t+j j=0 Combine these two: ˆπ t = κζσ j=0 β j E tˆr l t+j Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 25 / 51

WHAT REAL RATES TELL US ˆπ t = κζσ j=0 β j E tˆr l t+j 1. Small response of inflation relative to response of real rates implies: Large amounts of nominal and real rigidities (small κζ) Small value of intertemporal elasticity of substitution (small σ) (or both) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 26 / 51

WHAT REAL RATES TELL US ˆπ t = κζσ j=0 β j E tˆr l t+j 1. Small response of inflation relative to response of real rates implies: Large amounts of nominal and real rigidities (small κζ) Small value of intertemporal elasticity of substitution (small σ) (or both) 2. Output should fall! Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 26 / 51

OUTPUT EXPECTATIONS ACTUALLY RISE! TABLE 3 Response of Expected Growth over Next Year for Different Sample Periods 1995-2014 2000-2014 2000-2007 1995-2000 Policy News Shock 1.01 1.04 0.95 0.79 (0.32) (0.35) (0.32) (0.63) Observations 120 90 52 30 Greenbook Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 27 / 51

SCATTER PLOT: EXPECTED GROWTH Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 28 / 51

IS THIS CRAZY? Maybe not When Fed raises rates, people may conclude that economy is stronger than they thought Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 29 / 51

IS THIS CRAZY? Maybe not When Fed raises rates, people may conclude that economy is stronger than they thought Fed has little private data, but hundreds of PhD economists Following Romer-Romer 00, we call this the Fed Information Effect Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 29 / 51

THE ROLE OF FED INFORMATION Conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Fed conveying information only about its own future policy Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 30 / 51

THE ROLE OF FED INFORMATION Conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Fed conveying information only about its own future policy Public learning about policy maker s preferences Public learning about how policy maker thinks the world works (but not updating own beliefs about how world works) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 30 / 51

THE ROLE OF FED INFORMATION Conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Fed conveying information only about its own future policy Public learning about policy maker s preferences Public learning about how policy maker thinks the world works (but not updating own beliefs about how world works) Fed information view: Fed conveys information about its own future policy but also about current and future exogenous shocks Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 30 / 51

THE ROLE OF FED INFORMATION Conventional interpretation of monetary shocks: Fed conveying information only about its own future policy Public learning about policy maker s preferences Public learning about how policy maker thinks the world works (but not updating own beliefs about how world works) Fed information view: Fed conveys information about its own future policy but also about current and future exogenous shocks Suppose Fed tightens policy... Public infers that Fed is more optimistic about economic outlook... Public updates its own assessment of economic outlook in response Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 30 / 51

HOW TO MODEL FED INFORMATION? Which fundamentals should Fed be modeled as affecting beliefs about? Prior literature assumes Fed signals through actions Very limited signal space Literature about limits to Feds ability to signal Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 31 / 51

HOW TO MODEL FED INFORMATION? Which fundamentals should Fed be modeled as affecting beliefs about? Prior literature assumes Fed signals through actions Very limited signal space Literature about limits to Feds ability to signal Recent empirical evidence makes clear that Fed can signal with statements (forward guidance) Could signal about anything at any horizon Very high dimensional! Crucial to find a parsimonious specification Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 31 / 51

HOW WE MODEL FED INFORMATION Conventional view of monetary policy shocks: Fed conveying information about future monetary policy Fed Information Case: ˆx t = σ j=0 E t (î t+j ˆπ t+j+1 ˆr n t+j) Fed conveys information about future monetary policy but also about current and future natural rates of interest ˆx t = σ j=0 E t (î t+j ˆπ t+j+1 ˆr n t+j) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 32 / 51

HOW WE MODEL FED INFORMATION Conventional view of monetary policy shocks: Fed conveying information about future monetary policy Fed Information Case: ˆx t = σ j=0 E t (î t+j ˆπ t+j+1 ˆr n t+j) Fed conveys information about future monetary policy but also about current and future natural rates of interest ˆx t = σ j=0 E t (î t+j ˆπ t+j+1 ˆr n t+j) In simple model: r n t+j = σ 1 (E t y n t+j+1 y n t+j ) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 32 / 51

FED INFORMATION EFFECT Why model Fed info this way? Tractable with forward guidance shocks Optimal monetary policy for Fed to track natural rate of interest Natural to think of monetary policy as revealing information about natural rate of interest Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 33 / 51

Estimation

FED INFORMATION MODEL Augmented New Keynesian model: Internal habit Lagged term in Phillips curve Monetary policy with Fed information: where r t follows AR(2) Strength of Fed Information: î t E t ˆπ t+1 = r t + φ π ˆπ t E tˆr n t+j = ψe t r t+j. Here ψ governs strength of Fed information Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 34 / 51

ESTIMATION APPROACH Simulated method of moments High frequency moments: Real yields and forwards (2, 3, 5, and 10-year) Break-even inflation (2, 3, 5, and 10-year) Output growth expectations from Blue Chip (monthly responses of 0 qtr to 7 qtr ahead output growth) Weighting matrix: Diagonal: Inverse of standard deviations of moments Off-Diagonal: Zero Bootstrap standard errors Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 35 / 51

ESTIMATION APPROACH Estimate key parameters: Slope of Phillips curve (κζ) Information content of shocks (ψ) Dynamics of shock ( r t assumed to be AR(2)) Fix other parameters: β = 0.99, σ = 0.5, b = 0.9, ω = 2 (standard values) φ π = 0.01 (guarantees determinacy) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 36 / 51

INTUITION What identifies parameters? Path of ˆr n t+j (and thereby strength of Fed information effects) pinned down by survey data on E ty t+j Nominal/real rigidity pinned down by response of inflation (π t) relative to (r t r n t ) ˆπ t+i = κζσ j=0 β j E t+i (ˆr l t+i+j ˆr nl t+i+j) Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 37 / 51

Results

LARGE INFORMATION EFFECT 0.7 0.6 Natural Interest Rate Real Interest Rate 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 38 / 51

MODEL MATCHES INTEREST RATES AND INFLATION 0.7 0.6 0.5 Real Interest Rate Nominal Interest Rate Inflation 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 39 / 51

EXPECTED GROWTH RISES 0.8 0.6 Output Growth Output Gap 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 40 / 51

PHILLIPS CURVE Lots of rigidity: Phillips curve very flat (in line with recent estimates...) κζ 10 4 Shutting down information effect leads to underestimate of slope of the Phillips curve ˆπ t+i = κζσ j=0 β j E t+i (ˆr l t+i+j ˆr nl t+i+j) Table Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 41 / 51

MASSIVE EFFECTS ON EXPECTED OUTPUT 5.0 4.0 3.0 Output Natural Output Output Gap 2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 42 / 51

IS THIS CAUSAL EFFECT? Fed action signals high future growth But this doesn t mean Fed causes high future growth Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 43 / 51

IS THIS CAUSAL EFFECT? Fed action signals high future growth But this doesn t mean Fed causes high future growth Changes in non-monetary fundamentals would have occurred anyway! To assess the causal effect of monetary policy on output, we need to think carefully about the counterfactual Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 43 / 51

IS THIS CAUSAL EFFECT? Fed action signals high future growth But this doesn t mean Fed causes high future growth Changes in non-monetary fundamentals would have occurred anyway! To assess the causal effect of monetary policy on output, we need to think carefully about the counterfactual Proposed counterfactual: People learn about productivity changes when they happen Expect productivity to follow random walk Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 43 / 51

OUTPUT: ACTUAL AND COUNTERFACTUAL 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 Actual Output Counterfactual Output 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 44 / 51

CAUSAL EFFECT WITH FED INFORMATION 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Output Natural Output Output Gap 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 45 / 51

CAUSAL EFFECT OF MONETARY POLICY Fed information can have a causal effect on output But it differs from effect on expected output (most of which would have occurred anyway) Causal effect of information: Good news about future boosts demand today Due to internal habit (capital another channel) Leads natural rate of output to rise Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 46 / 51

SUMMING UP We estimate strong support for two channels of monetary policy: Conventional channel: high interest rate gap lowers output Information channel: Positive news about the future raises output Information effect outweighs conventional channel for our shocks Unexpected monetary contraction can raise output Fed fighting against itself Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 47 / 51

IS MONETARY ECONOMICS BACKWARDS? If monetary contractions are expansionary and vice versa then is monetary economics turned on its head? Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 48 / 51

IS MONETARY ECONOMICS BACKWARDS? If monetary contractions are expansionary and vice versa then is monetary economics turned on its head? No! Most monetary policy is systematic Rules based on public information No information effect Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 48 / 51

CONTRACTIONARY SHOCK: INFO VS. NO INFO 1.0 Output Growth 0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 No information effect With information effect 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 Quarters Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 49 / 51

IMPROVED FIT TO STOCK PRICES TABLE 5 Response of Stock Prices Stock Prices Response in the Data -6.5 (3.9) Response in the Model Baseline -6.8 [-11.5, -1.6] No Fed Information Effect -11.1 [-19.4, -2.5] Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 50 / 51

CONCLUSION Fed has enormous power over real interest rate Nominal and real rates move together several years into term structure But output growth expectations rise in response to tightening! Evidence for two channels: Conventional sticky price channel Information effect Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 51 / 51

Extra Slides

IDENTIFICATION BY HETEROSKEDASTICITY Policy news shock ( i t ) and other variables of interest ( s t ) affected by monetary shock (ɛ t ) and other shocks (η t ) i t = α i + ɛ t + β i η t s t = α s + γɛ t + β s η t Two regimes: Treatment sample: FOMC announcements (R1) Control sample: Other 30-minute/1-day windows (R2) Identification assumption: σ ɛ,r1 > σ ɛ,r2 while σ η,r1 = σ η,r2 Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 1 / 5

IDENTIFICATION BY HETEROSKEDASTICITY i t = α i + ɛ t + β i η t s t = α s + γɛ t + β s η t Given this identification assumption, we have: γ = cov R1( i t, s t ) cov R2 ( i t, s t ) var R1 ( i t ) var R2 ( i t ) If no background noise, you could just run a regression Intuitively, OLS adjusted for normal covariance between s t and i t Back Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 2 / 5

GREENBOOK EVIDENCE If Fed information is important, contractionary monetary policy shocks should occur when Fed is more optimistic than private sector ( policy news shock t = α + β yt,q GB ) yt,q BC + ε t, Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 3 / 5

GREENBOOK EVIDENCE If Fed information is important, contractionary monetary policy shocks should occur when Fed is more optimistic than private sector ( policy news shock t = α + β yt,q GB ) yt,q BC + ε t, If private sector learns from Fed, this difference should narrow after announcement [( ) ( yt+1,q GB BC yt+1,q yt,q GB )] yt,q BC = α + βpolicy news shock t + ε t+1 Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 3 / 5

GREENBOOK EVIDENCE TABLE G.1 Greenbook versus Blue Chip Forecasts Horizon (q): 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Does Fed Relative Optimism Explain Monetary Shocks? β 1.19 1.01 1.21 1.00 1.20 1.89 3.10 1.88 (0.55) (0.74) (0.69) (0.77) (0.90) (1.10) (1.14) (1.64) N 90 90 90 90 90 66 42 22 Does Fed Relative Optimism Reverse in Response to Monetary Shocks? β -4.07-0.45-0.87-0.46-1.66-3.58-1.34-3.04 (1.80) (1.53) (1.30) (1.08) (1.11) (1.31) (1.30) (2.44) N 89 89 89 89 76 55 32 8 Back Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 4 / 5

TABLE 4 Estimates of Structural Parameters x Baseline 0.68 11.2 0.90 0.79 [0.33, 0.84] [0.0, 60.2] [0.83, 0.96] [-0.69, 0.89] No Information 0.00 3.4 0.90 0.79 ( = 0) -- [0.0, 24.1] [0.83, 0.96] [-0.69, 0.89] Full Information 0.99 563 0.90 0.79 ( = 0.99) -- [0, 12538] [0.82, 0.96] [-0.67, 0.89] Lower IES 0.67 13.7 0.90 0.79 ( = 0.25) [0.25, 0.89] [0.0, 94.6] [0.83, 0.96] [-0.69, 0.89] Higher IES 0.68 8.2 0.90 0.79 ( = 1) [0.42, 0.81] [0.0, 44.0] [0.83, 0.96] [-0.69, 0.89] No Habits 1.00 1000 0.90 0.79 (b = 0) [0.92, 1.00] [0, 43236] [0.83, 0.96] [-0.69, 0.89] Back Nakamura and Steinsson (Columbia) Monetary Shocks January 2018 5 / 5