Terms-of-Trade and House Price Fluctuations: A Cross-Country Study Staff Working Paper 2017-1 Paul Corrigan Terms-of-trade shocks are known to be key drivers of business cycles in open economies. This paper argues that terms-of-trade shocks were also important for house price fluctuations in a panel of developed countries over the 1994–2015 period. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial stability, Housing, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E32, E5, E51, F, F3, F36, F4, F41
Can the Common-Factor Hypothesis Explain the Observed Housing Wealth Effect? Staff Working Paper 2016-62 Narayan Bulusu, Jefferson Duarte, Carles Vergara-Alert The common-factor hypothesis is one possible explanation for the housing wealth effect. Under this hypothesis, house price appreciation is related to changes in consumption as long as the available proxies for the common driver of housing and non-housing demand are noisy and housing supply is not perfectly elastic. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Housing JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, R, R3, R31
What Fed Funds Futures Tell Us About Monetary Policy Uncertainty Staff Working Paper 2016-61 Jean-Sébastien Fontaine The uncertainty around future changes to the Federal Reserve target rate varies over time. In our results, the main driver of uncertainty is a “path” factor signaling information about future policy actions, which is filtered from federal funds futures data. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E44, E47, G, G1, G12, G13
Monetary Policy, Private Debt and Financial Stability Risks Staff Working Paper 2016-59 Gregory Bauer, Eleonora Granziera Can monetary policy be used to promote financial stability? We answer this question by estimating the impact of a monetary policy shock on private-sector leverage and the likelihood of a financial crisis. Impulse responses obtained from a panel VAR model of 18 advanced countries suggest that the debt-to-GDP ratio rises in the short run following an unexpected tightening in monetary policy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Monetary policy, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): C, C2, C21, C23, E, E5, E52, E58
Quantitative Easing in a Small Open Economy: An International Portfolio Balancing Approach Staff Working Paper 2016-55 Serdar Kabaca This paper studies the effects of quantitative easing (QE) in a small open economy dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model with international portfolio balancing. Portfolios are classified as imperfectly substitutable short-term and long-term subportfolios, each including domestic and foreign bonds. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): International topics, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, F, F4, F41
Comparing Forward Guidance and Neo-Fisherianism as Strategies for Escaping Liquidity Traps Staff Analytical Note 2016-16 Robert Amano, Thomas J. Carter, Rhys R. Mendes What path should policy-makers select for the nominal rate when faced with a liquidity trap during which the effective lower bound binds? Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models, Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5
Capital Flows to Developing Countries: Is There an Allocation Puzzle? Staff Working Paper 2016-53 Josef Schroth Foreign direct investment inflows are positively related to growth across developing countries—but so are savings in excess of investment. I develop an explanation for this well-established puzzle by focusing on the limited availability of consumer credit in developing countries together with general equilibrium effects. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Foreign reserves management, Interest rates, International financial markets JEL Code(s): E, E1, E13, E2, E21, F, F4, F43
Supervising Financial Regulators Staff Working Paper 2016-52 Josef Schroth How much discretion should local financial regulators in a banking union have in accommodating local credit demand? I analyze this question in an economy where local regulators privately observe expected output from high lending. They do not fully internalize default costs from high lending since deposit insurance cannot be priced fairly. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, G, G2, G28, H, H7
Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Framework for Assessing Why and How Staff Discussion Paper 2016-22 Ben Fung, Hanna Halaburda Digital currencies have attracted strong interest in recent years and have the potential to become widely adopted for use in making payments. Public authorities and central banks around the world are closely monitoring developments in digital currencies and studying their implications for the economy, the financial system and central banks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42
Firm-Specific Shocks and Aggregate Fluctuations Staff Working Paper 2016-51 Leonid Karasik, Danny Leung, Ben Tomlin In order to understand what drives aggregate fluctuations, many macroeconomic models point to aggregate shocks and discount the contribution of firm-specific shocks. Recent research from other developed countries, however, has found that aggregate fluctuations are in part driven by idiosyncratic shocks to large firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Firm dynamics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, E23, E24, E3, L, L6