Seppo Honkapohja
- 25 November 2005
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 555Details
- Abstract
- We study how the use of judgement or "add-factors" in macroeconomic forecasting may disturb the set of equilibrium outcomes when agents learn using recursive methods. We isolate conditions under which new phenomena, which we call exuberance equilibria, can exist in standard macroeconomic environments. Examples include a simple asset pricing model and the New Keynesian monetary policy framework. Inclusion of judgement in forecasts can lead to self-fulfilling fluctuations, but without the requirement that the underlying rational expectations equilibrium is locally indeterminate. We suggest ways in which policymakers might avoid unintended outcomes by adjusting policy to minimize the risk of exuberance equilibria.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E61 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→Policy Objectives, Policy Designs and Consistency, Policy Coordination - Network
- ECB conference on monetary policy and imperfect knowledge
- 1 February 2002
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 127Details
- Abstract
- Recent models of monetary policy have analyzed the desirability of different optimal and ad hoc interest rules under the restrictive assumption that forecasts of the private sector and the central bank are homogenous. In this paper, we study the implications of heterogeneity in forecasts of the central bank and private agents for the performance of interest rules from the learning viewpoint.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
D84 : Microeconomics→Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty→Expectations, Speculations
- 1 February 2002
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 124Details
- Abstract
- Full commitment in monetary policy leads to equilibria that are superior to those from optimal discretionary policies. Different types of reactions functions to implement and instrument rules to approximate full commitment have been proposed in the literature. We assess optimal reaction functions and instrument rules, in terms of whether they lead to an RE equilibrium that is both locally determinate and stable under adaptive learning by private agents. The reaction function that appropriately depends explicitly on private expectations performs best on both counts.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
D84 : Microeconomics→Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty→Expectations, Speculations
- 1 January 2002
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 120Details
- Abstract
- An economy exhibits structural heterogeneity when the forecasts of different agents have different effects on the determination of aggregate variables. We study how different forms of heterogeneity in structure, forecasts and adaptive learning rules affect the conditions for convergence of adaptive learning towards rational expectations equilibrium. Results are applied to the market model with supply lags, a New Keynesian model of interest rate setting and the monetary inflation model with heterogenous agents.
- JEL Code
- D83 : Microeconomics→Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty→Search, Learning, Information and Knowledge, Communication, Belief
C62 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Mathematical Methods, Programming Models, Mathematical and Simulation Modeling→Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
E30 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→General