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Credit Frictions and Optimal Monetary Policy

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Author Info
Vasco Curdia () (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
Michael Woodford () (Columbia University - Department of Economics)

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Abstract

We extend the basic (representative-household) New Keynesian [NK] model of the monetary transmission mechanism to allow for a spread between the interest rate available to savers and borrowers, that can vary for either exogenous or endogenous reasons. We find that the mere existence of a positive average spread makes little quantitative difference for the predicted effects of particular policies. Variation in spreads over time is of greater significance, with consequences both for the equilibrium relation between the policy rate and aggregate expenditure and for the relation between real activity and inflation. Nonetheless, we find that the target criterion - a linear relation that should be maintained between the inflation rate and changes in the output gap - that characterizes optimal policy in the basic NK model continues to provide a good approximation to optimal policy, even in the presence of variations in credit spreads. We also consider a "spread-adjusted Taylor rule," in which the intercept of the Taylor rule is adjusted in proportion to changes in credit spreads. We show that while such an adjustment can improve upon an unadjusted Taylor rule, the optimal degree of adjustment is less than 100 percent; and even with the correct size of adjustment, such a rule of thumb remains inferior to the targeting rule.

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Paper provided by Columbia University, Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers with number 0809-02.

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Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:clu:wpaper:0809-02

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  1. Bernanke, Ben S. & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1999. "The financial accelerator in a quantitative business cycle framework," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1341-1393 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Clarida, Richard & Galí, Jordi & Gertler, Mark, 1999. "The Science of Monetary Policy: A New Keynesian Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 2139, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Lawrence Christiano & Cosmin Ilut & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2008. "Monetary policy and stock market boom-bust cycles," Working Paper Series 955, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Smets, Frank & Wouters, Rafael, 2007. "Shocks and Frictions in US Business Cycles: A Bayesian DSGE Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 6112, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Marvin Goodfriend & Bennett T. McCallum, 2007. "Banking and interest rates in monetary policy analysis: a quantitative exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1990. "Liquidity and interest rates," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 237-264, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Mark Gertler & Simon Gilchrist & Fabio M. Natalucci, 2007. "External Constraints on Monetary Policy and the Financial Accelerator," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2-3), pages 295-330, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Marvin Goodfriend, 2005. "Narrow money, broad money, and the transmission of monetary policy," Proceedings, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), pages 276-303. [Downloadable!]
  9. Ricardo Lagos & Randall Wright, 2005. "A Unified Framework for Monetary Theory and Policy Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(3), pages 463-484, June.
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  10. Julio Rotemberg & Michael Woodford, 1997. "An Optimization-Based Econometric Framework for the Evaluation of Monetary Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 297-361 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  11. Tommaso Monacelli & Ester Faia, 2005. "Optimal Interest Rate Rules, Asset Prices and Credit Frictions," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 452, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Yuki Teranishi, 2008. "Optimal Monetary Policy under Staggered Loan Contracts," IMES Discussion Paper Series 08-E-08, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan. [Downloadable!]
  13. Lawrence J. Christiano & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2003. "The Great Depression and the Friedman-Schwartz hypothesis," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 1119-1215.
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  14. Taylor, John B., 1993. "Discretion versus policy rules in practice," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 195-214, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Frank Smets & Raf Wouters, 2003. "An Estimated Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model of the Euro Area," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(5), pages 1123-1175, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Benigno, Pierpaolo & Woodford, Michael, 2006. "Linear-Quadratic Approximation of Optimal Policy Problems," CEPR Discussion Papers 5964, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Pierpaolo Benigno & Michael Woodford, 2005. "Inflation Stabilization And Welfare: The Case Of A Distorted Steady State," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(6), pages 1185-1236, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Fuerst, Timothy S., 1992. "Liquidity, loanable funds, and real activity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 3-24, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Ichiro Fukunaga & Masashi Saito, 2009. "Asset Prices and Monetary Policy," IMES Discussion Paper Series 09-E-21, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan. [Downloadable!]
  2. Tobias Adrian & Hyun Song Shin, 2009. "Money, liquidity, and monetary policy," Staff Reports 360, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Pierre-Richard Agénor & Koray Alper, 2009. "Monetary Shocks and Central Bank Liquidity with Credit Market Imperfections," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 120, Economics, The Univeristy of Manchester. [Downloadable!]
  4. Aqib Aslam & Emiliano Santoro, 2008. "Bank Lending, Housing and Spreads," Discussion Papers 08-27, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics, revised Nov 2008. [Downloadable!]
  5. Ethan Cohen-Cole & Enrique Martinez-Garcia, 2008. "The balance sheet channel," Quantitative Analysis Unit Working Paper QAU08-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
  6. Alfonso Palacio Vera, 2008. "The "New consensus"and the Post-Keynesian approach to the analysis of liquidity traps," Documentos de trabajo de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales 08-03, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. [Downloadable!]
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