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Household’s Preferences and Monetary Policy Inertia

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Flamini

    (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield)

  • Andrea Fracasso

Abstract

The estimation of monetary policy rules suggests that the interest rates set by central banks move with a certain inertia. Although a number of hypotheses have been suggested to explain this phenomenon, its ultimate origin is unclear, thus delineating this issue as a modern "puzzle" in monetary economics. We show that household's preferences can play an important role in determining optimal interest rate inertia. Importantly, this can occur even when the central bank has negligible preferences for smoothing the interest rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Flamini & Andrea Fracasso, 2009. "Household’s Preferences and Monetary Policy Inertia," Working Papers 2009002, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2009002
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. Flamini, Alessandro & Fracasso, Andrea, 2011. "Household's preferences and monetary policy inertia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 64-67, April.
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    6. Michael Woodford, 1999. "Optimal Monetary Policy Inertia," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 67(s1), pages 1-35.
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    8. Cinzia Alcidi & Alessandro Flamini & Andrea Fracasso, 2011. "Policy Regime Changes, Judgment and Taylor rules in the Greenspan Era," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(309), pages 89-107, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Flamini, Alessandro, 2022. "Institutional mandates for macroeconomic and financial stability," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Alessandro Flamini, 2012. "Interest Rate Forecasts in Inflation Targeting Open-Economies," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 381-408.
    3. Flamini, Alessandro & Fracasso, Andrea, 2011. "Household's preferences and monetary policy inertia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 64-67, April.
    4. Flamini, Alessandro & Milas, Costas, 2015. "Distribution forecast targeting in an open-economy, macroeconomic volatility and financial implications," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 89-105.
    5. Flamini Alessandro, 2012. "Economic Stability and the Choice of the Target Inflation Index," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-37, April.
    6. Alessandro Flamini & Costas Milas, 2014. "Open-economy Distribution Forecast Targeting, Macroeconomic Volatility and Financial Implication," DEM Working Papers Series 080, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal monetary policy; interest rate smoothing; household's preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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