IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/buseco/v51y2016i4d10.1057_s11369-016-0014-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A New Framework to Estimate the Near-Term Path of the Fed Funds Rate

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Bullard

    (Wells Farge Securities)

  • Azhar Iqbal

    (Wells Farge Securities)

  • John Silvia

    (Wells Farge Securities)

Abstract

We propose a forward-looking method to estimate the path for the federal funds target rate. We utilize six-month out probabilities of inflationary and disinflationary pressures, along with a labor market index, to estimate the fed funds rate. We further suggest that due to the changing nature of economies and impending risks to the economic outlook, a time-varying method (consistent with the nature of risks) would help decision makers to improve effective decision making. Our econometric results suggest disinflation (or disinflationary pressure), not inflationary pressure, best explains fed funds rate movements from the 1990s forward. Based on June 2016 data, there is a 55 percent chance that the inflation rate would stay below 1.5 percent during the next six months. The recent higher disinflationary pressure probability may be one reason the FOMC has repeatedly lowered its path for the fed funds rate. Unfortunately, the low-inflation zombie is real.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Bullard & Azhar Iqbal & John Silvia, 2016. "A New Framework to Estimate the Near-Term Path of the Fed Funds Rate," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 239-247, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:buseco:v:51:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1057_s11369-016-0014-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s11369-016-0014-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s11369-016-0014-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s11369-016-0014-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Athanasios Orphanides & Volker W. Wieland, 2008. "Economic projections and rules of thumb for monetary policy," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 90(Jul), pages 307-324.
    2. John Silvia & Azhar Iqbal, 2015. "An Ordered Probit Approach to Predicting the Probability of Inflation/Deflation," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 50(1), pages 12-19, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Azhar Iqbal & Sam Bullard & John Silvia, 2019. "Are yield-curve/monetary cycles’ approaches enough to predict recessions?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 61-68, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kurozumi, Takushi & Van Zandweghe, Willem, 2010. "Labor market search, the Taylor principle, and indeterminacy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 851-858, October.
    2. Bletzinger, Tilman & Wieland, Volker, 2013. "Estimating the European Central Bank's "Extended Period of Time"," IMFS Working Paper Series 74, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    3. Azhar Iqbal & John Silvia, 2016. "Is Predicting Recessions Enough?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 248-259, October.
    4. Rülke, Jan-Christoph & Tillmann, Peter, 2011. "Do FOMC members herd?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 176-179.
    5. Issing Otmar & Wieland Volker, 2013. "Monetary Theory and Monetary Policy: Reflections on the Development over the last 150 Years," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(3), pages 423-445, June.
    6. Paul Hubert, 2015. "The Influence and Policy Signalling Role of FOMC Forecasts," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(5), pages 655-680, October.
    7. Szafranek, Karol, 2019. "Bagged neural networks for forecasting Polish (low) inflation," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1042-1059.
    8. Pao‐Lin Tien & Tara M. Sinclair & Edward N. Gamber, 2021. "Do Fed Forecast Errors Matter?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 686-712, June.
    9. Bletzinger, Tilman & Wieland, Volker, 2016. "Forward guidance and "lower for longer": The case of the ECB," IMFS Working Paper Series 102, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    10. Levrero, Enrico Sergio, 2022. "The Taylor Rule and its Aftermath: Elements for an Interpretation along Classical-Keynesian lines," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP59, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    11. Gabriel, Vasco J. & Levine, Paul & Spencer, Christopher, 2009. "How forward-looking is the Fed? Direct estimates from a 'Calvo-type' rule," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 92-95, August.
    12. Hinterlang, Natascha, 2019. "Predicting Monetary Policy Using Artificial Neural Networks," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203503, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Wieland, Volker & Wolters, Maik, 2013. "Forecasting and Policy Making," Handbook of Economic Forecasting, in: G. Elliott & C. Granger & A. Timmermann (ed.), Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 239-325, Elsevier.
    14. Hamza Bennani, 2016. "Measuring Monetary Policy Stress for Fed District Representatives," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 63(2), pages 156-176, May.
    15. Kurozumi, Takushi & Van Zandweghe, Willem, 2012. "Learning about monetary policy rules when labor market search and matching frictions matter," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 523-535.
    16. Paul Hubert, 2011. "Do central banks forecast influence private agents ? Forecasting performance vs. signals," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2011-20, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    17. Wolters, Maik H., 2012. "Estimating monetary policy reaction functions using quantile regressions," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 342-361.
    18. Guido Schultefrankenfeld, 2020. "Appropriate monetary policy and forecast disagreement at the FOMC," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 223-255, January.
    19. Azhar Iqbal & John E. Silvia, 2016. "Does Deflation Threaten the Global Economy?," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(2), pages 189-212, June.
    20. Creel, Jérôme & Hubert, Paul, 2015. "Has Inflation Targeting Changed The Conduct Of Monetary Policy?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 1-21, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:buseco:v:51:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1057_s11369-016-0014-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.