The Macro Effects of the Recent Swing in Financial Conditions
Credit conditions tightened considerably in the second half of 2015 and U.S. growth slowed. We estimate the extent to which tighter credit conditions last year were responsible for the slowdown using the FRBNY DSGE model. We find that growth would have slowed substantially more had the Federal Reserve not delayed liftoff in the federal funds rate.
Hedging Income Fluctuations with Foreign Currency Assets
The world has gone through a process of financial globalization over the past two decades, with countries increasing their holdings of foreign assets and liabilities.
The Effect of Fed Funds Rate Hikes on Consumer Borrowing Costs
Nina Boyarchenko, Sooji Kim, and Matthew Plosser The target federal funds rate has hovered around zero for nearly a decade, and observers are questioning what effect an increase could have on both the financial markets and the real economy. In this post, we examine the historical reaction of loan rates to target rate increases. Specifically, […]
Should Monetary Policy Respond to Financial Conditions?
Bianca De Paoli There’s an ongoing debate about whether policymakers should respond to financial conditions when setting monetary policy. An argument is often made that financial stability concerns are more appropriately dealt with by using regulatory and macroprudential tools. This post offers a theoretical justification for policymakers to monitor and possibly respond to financial conditions […]
How Did Quantitative Easing Interact with Regional Inequality?
Income, or wealth, inequality is not something that central bankers generally worry about when setting monetary policy, the goals of which are to maintain price stability and promote full employment.
Rethinking Mortgage Design
John Campbell, Andreas Fuster, David O. Lucca, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, and James Vickery Because mortgages make up the majority of household debt in most developed countries, mortgage design has important implications for macroeconomic policy and household welfare. As one example, most U.S. mortgages have fixed interest rates—if interest rates fall, existing borrowers need to refinance […]
The Monetary Policy Advice Process at the New York Fed
Research economists discuss their process for providing advice on monetary policy to the New York Fed president ahead of FOMC meetings.
Central Bank Solvency and Inflation
Marco Del Negro and Christopher A. Sims The monetary base in the United States, defined as currency plus bank reserves, grew from about $800 billion in 2008 to $2 trillion in 2012, and to roughly $4 trillion at the end of 2014 (see chart below). Some commentators have viewed this increase in the monetary base […]
Choosing the Right Policy in Real Time (Why That’s Not Easy)
Marco Del Negro, Raiden B. Hasegawa, and Frank Schorfheide Second in a two-part series As an economist, you make policy recommendations at any point in time that depend on what model of the economy you have in mind and on your assessment of the state of the economy. One can see these points play out […]
Combining Models for Forecasting and Policy Analysis
Model uncertainty is pervasive. Economists, bloggers, policymakers all have different views of how the world works and what economic policies would make it better.