June 21, 2008 The Role of Credit Ratings in Managing Credit Risk in Federal Treasury Activities Financial System Review - June 2008 Nancy Harvey, Mervin Merkowsky Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles
Are Temporary Oil Supply Shocks Real? Staff working paper 2022-52 Johan Brannlund, Geoffrey R. Dunbar, Reinhard Ellwanger Hurricanes disrupt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico because producers shut in oil platforms to safeguard lives and prevent damage. We examine the effects of these temporary oil supply shocks on real economic activity in the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, Q, Q3, Q31, Q4, Q41, Q43 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Tail Index Estimation: Quantile-Driven Threshold Selection Staff working paper 2019-28 Jon Danielsson, Lerby Ergun, Casper G. de Vries, Laurens de Haan The most extreme events, such as economic crises, are rare but often have a great impact. It is difficult to precisely determine the likelihood of such events because the sample is small. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C0, C01, C1, C14, C5, C58 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
June 11, 2025 What is a tariff? A tariff is a tax on imports from another country. It can increase the prices consumers and businesses pay for that good. Content Type(s): Explainers Subject(s): Monetary policy, Economy/Economic growth, Inflation, Inflation targeting framework
Sectoral Uncertainty Staff working paper 2022-38 Efrem Castelnuovo, Kerem Tuzcuoglu, Luis Uzeda We propose a new empirical framework that jointly decomposes the conditional variance of economic time series into a common and a sector-specific uncertainty component. We apply our framework to a disaggregated industrial production series for the US economy. We identify unexpected changes in durable goods uncertainty as drivers of downturns, while unexpected hikes in non-durable goods uncertainty are expansionary. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, C55, E, E3, E32, E4, E44 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Variance Premium, Downside Risk and Expected Stock Returns Staff working paper 2017-58 Bruno Feunou, Ricardo Lopez Aliouchkin, Roméo Tedongap, Lai Xi We decompose total variance into its bad and good components and measure the premia associated with their fluctuations using stock and option data from a large cross-section of firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation
Combining Large Numbers of Density Predictions with Bayesian Predictive Synthesis Staff working paper 2023-45 Tony Chernis I show how to combine large numbers of forecasts using several approaches within the framework of a Bayesian predictive synthesis. I find techniques that choose and combine a handful of forecasts, known as global-local shrinkage priors, perform best. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, C5, C52, C53, E, E3, E37 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Housing Affordability and Parental Income Support Staff working paper 2024-28 Jason Allen, Kyra Carmichael, Robert Clark, Shaoteng Li, Nicolas Vincent In many countries, the cost of housing has greatly outpaced income growth, leading to a housing affordability crisis. Leveraging Canadian loan-level data and quasi-experimental variation in payment-to-income constraints, we document an increasing reliance of first-time homebuyers on financial help from their parents, through mortgage co-signing. We show that parental support can effectively relax borrowing constraints—potentially to riskier borrowers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D6, D64, E, E2, E21, E24, G, G1, G18, G5, G51 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
Inflation vs Inclusion: Stabilization Policy in the Wake of the Pandemic Staff working paper 2026-13 Felipe Alves, Giovanni L. Violante As the economy emerges from a crisis, macroeconomic policy confronts a dilemma: a protracted stimulus can foster a more inclusive labor market recovery, yet risks igniting inflation that ultimately undermines workers’ welfare through real income erosion. This tension amplifies in the presence of the ZLB and aggregate capacity constraints. We embed this insight into a quantitative model of the US economy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E24, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52, J, J2, J24, J6, J64 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission
Occasionally Binding Constraints in Large Models: A Review of Solution Methods Staff discussion paper 2021-5 Jonathan Swarbrick Solving macroeconomic models is difficult. One challenge is the occasionally binding constraint of the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. This paper reviews various ways to solve models that include this feature. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C6 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission