Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Implementation of Monetary Policy: How Do Central Banks Set Interest Rates?

Contents:

Author Info

  • Benjamin M. Friedman
  • Kenneth N. Kuttner

Abstract

Central banks no longer set the short-term interest rates that they use for monetary policy purposes by manipulating the supply of banking system reserves, as in conventional economics textbooks; today this process involves little or no variation in the supply of central bank liabilities. In effect, the announcement effect has displaced the liquidity effect as the fulcrum of monetary policy implementation. The chapter begins with an exposition of the traditional view of the implementation of monetary policy, and an assessment of the relationship between the quantity of reserves, appropriately defined, and the level of short-term interest rates. Event studies show no relationship between the two for the United States, the Euro-system, or Japan. Structural estimates of banks’ reserve demand, at a frequency corresponding to the required reserve maintenance period, show no interest elasticity for the U.S. or the Euro-system (but some elasticity for Japan). The chapter next develops a model of the overnight interest rate setting process incorporating several key features of current monetary policy practice, including in particular reserve averaging procedures and a commitment, either explicit or implicit, by the central bank to lend or absorb reserves in response to differences between the policy interest rate and the corresponding target. A key implication is that if reserve demand depends on the difference between current and expected future interest rates, but not on the current level per se, then the central bank can alter the market-clearing interest rate with no change in reserve supply. This implication is borne out in structural estimates of daily reserve demand and supply in the U.S.: expected future interest rates shift banks’ reserve demand, while changes in the interest rate target are associated with no discernable change in reserve supply. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implementation of monetary policy during the recent financial crisis, and the conditions under which the interest rate and the size of the central bank’s balance sheet could function as two independent policy instruments.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16165.pdf
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 16165.

as in new window
Length:
Date of creation: Jul 2010
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16165

Note: ME
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Leonardo Bartolini & Alessandro Prati, 2003. "The execution of monetary policy: a tale of two central banks," Staff Reports 165, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  2. John C. Williams & John B. Taylor, 2009. "A Black Swan in the Money Market," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 58-83, January.
  3. Demiralp, Selva & Jorda, Oscar, 2001. "The Announcement Effect: Evidence from Open Market Desk Data," Working Papers 01-4, University of California at Davis, Department of Economics.
  4. Jens H. E. Christensen & Jose A. Lopez & Glenn D. Rudebusch, 2009. "Do central bank liquidity facilities affect interbank lending rates?," Working Paper Series 2009-13, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
  5. Okina, Kunio & Shirakawa, Masaaki & Shiratsuka, Shigenori, 2001. "The Asset Price Bubble and Monetary Policy: Japan's Experience in the Late 1980s and the Lessons: Background Paper," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 19(S1), pages 395-450, February.
  6. Todd Keister & James J. McAndrews, 2009. "Why are banks holding so many excess reserves?," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Dec.
  7. Paolo Angelini, 2008. "Liquidity And Announcement Effects In The Euro Area," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 67(1), pages 1-20, March.
  8. Lenza, Michele & Pill, Huw & Reichlin, Lucrezia, 2010. "Monetary policy in exceptional times," CEPR Discussion Papers 7669, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  9. A. R. Pagan & J. C. Robertson, 1998. "Structural Models Of The Liquidity Effect," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 202-217, May.
  10. Alessandro Prati & Giuseppe Bertola & Leonardo Bartolini, 2000. "Day-To-Day Monetary Policy and the Volatility of the Federal Funds Interest Rate," IMF Working Papers 00/206, International Monetary Fund.
  11. Marcin Kacperczyk & Philipp Schnabl, 2009. "When Safe Proved Risky: Commercial Paper During the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009," NBER Working Papers 15538, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. Seth Carpenter & Selva Demiralp, 2008. "The Liquidity Effect in the Federal Funds Market: Evidence at the Monthly Frequency," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1), pages 1-24, 02.
  13. Ashcraft, Adam & Garleanu, Nicolae Bogdan & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2010. "Two Monetary Tools: Interest Rates and Haircuts," CEPR Discussion Papers 8000, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  14. Peersman, Gert & Smets, Frank, 1999. "The Taylor Rule: A Useful Monetary Policy Benchmark for the Euro Area?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 85-116, April.
  15. Tobias Adrian & Karin Kimbrough & Dina Marchioni, 2010. "The Federal Reserve's Commercial Paper Funding Facility," Staff Reports 423, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  16. Daniel L. Thornton, 2001. "Identifying the liquidity effect at the daily frequency," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jul, pages 59-82.
  17. Shigenori Shiratsuka, 2010. "Size and Composition of the Central Bank Balance Sheet: Revisiting Japanfs Experience of the Quantitative Easing Policy," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 28, pages 79-106, November.
  18. Uesugi, Iichiro, 2002. "Measuring the Liquidity Effect: The Case of Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 289-316, September.
  19. Claudio Borio & Piti Disyatat, 2010. "Unconventional Monetary Policies: An Appraisal," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 78(s1), pages 53-89, 09.
  20. Piti Disyatat, 2008. "Monetary policy implementation: Misconceptions and their consequences," BIS Working Papers 269, Bank for International Settlements.
  21. Seth B. Carpenter & Selva Demiralp, 2006. "Anticipation of Monetary Policy and Open Market Operations," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 2(2), May.
  22. Daniel L. Thornton, 1998. "The Federal Reserve's operating procedure, nonborrowed reserves, borrowed reserves and the liquidity effect," Working Papers 1998-009, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  23. Andrew T.. Levin & Volker Wieland & John Williams, 1999. "Robustness of Simple Monetary Policy Rules under Model Uncertainty," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy Rules, pages 263-318 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  24. Joseph Gagnon & Matthew Raskin & Julie Remache & Brian Sack, 2011. "Large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve: did they work?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue May, pages 41-59.
  25. Parkin, Michael, 1978. "A Comparison of Alternative Techniques of Monetary Control under Rational Expectations," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 46(3), pages 252-87, September.
  26. Selva Demiralp, 2001. "Monetary policy in a changing world: rising role of expectations and the anticipation effect," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-55, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  27. Carpenter, Seth & Demiralp, Selva, 2006. "The Liquidity Effect in the Federal Funds Market: Evidence from Daily Open Market Operations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(4), pages 901-920, June.
  28. Daniel L. Thornton, 2005. "Open market operations and the federal funds rate," Working Papers 2005-063, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  29. Michael J. Fleming & Warren B. Hrung & Frank M. Keane, 2009. "The Term Securities Lending Facility: origin, design, and effects," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Feb.
  30. repec:fip:fedlpr:y:1995:i:may:p:33-54 is not listed on IDEAS
  31. Gary B. Gorton & Andrew Metrick, 2009. "Securitized Banking and the Run on Repo," NBER Working Papers 15223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  32. Todd Keister & Antoine Martin & James McAndrews, 2008. "Divorcing money from monetary policy," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 41-56.
  33. Ulrich Bindseil & Franz Seitz, 2001. "The supply and demand for Eurosystem deposits - the first 18 months," Working Paper Series 44, European Central Bank.
  34. Steen Ejerskov & Clara Martin Moss & Livio Stracca, 2003. "How does the ECB allot liquidity in its weekly main refinancing operations? A look at the empirical evidence," Working Paper Series 244, European Central Bank.
  35. James McAndrews & Asani Sarkar & Zhenyu Wang, 2008. "The effect of the Term Auction Facility on the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate," Staff Reports 335, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  36. Gertler, Mark & Karadi, Peter, 2011. "A model of unconventional monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 17-34, January.
  37. Sargent, Thomas J & Wallace, Neil, 1975. ""Rational" Expectations, the Optimal Monetary Instrument, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(2), pages 241-54, April.
  38. David Bowman & Etienne Gagnon & Mike Leahy, 2010. "Interest on excess reserves as a monetary policy instrument: the experience of foreign central banks," International Finance Discussion Papers 996, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  39. Kenneth D. Garbade & John C. Partlan & Paul J. Santoro, 2004. "Recent innovations in Treasury cash management," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Nov.
  40. Daniel L. Thornton, 2009. "The effect of the Fed’s purchase of long-term treasuries on the yield curve," Economic Synopses, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  41. Spence Hilton & Warren B. Hrung, 2010. "The Impact of Banks’ Cumulative Reserve Position on Federal Funds Rate Behavior," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 6(3), pages 101-118, September.
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 in new window

Cited by:
  1. Alfonso Palacio-Vera, 2011. "Quantitative Easing, Functional Finance, and the "Neutral" Interest Rate," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_685, Levy Economics Institute, The.
  2. Carla Soares & Paulo M.M. Rodrigues, 2010. "Determinants of the EONIA spread and the financial turmoil of 2007-2009," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
  3. Kotaro Ishi & Kenji Fujita & Mark R. Stone, 2011. "Should Unconventional Balance Sheet Policies be Added to the Central Bank Toolkit? A Review of the Experience So Far," IMF Working Papers 11/145, International Monetary Fund.
  4. Carrera, César, 2012. "Políticas de Encajes y Modelos Económicos," Working Papers 2012-006, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16165

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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