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Do the Central Banks of Australia and New Zealand Behave Asymmetrically? Evidence from Monetary Policy Reaction Functions

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  • ÖZER KARAGEDIKLI
  • KIRDAN LEES

Abstract

We test for evidence of asymmetric behaviour in the monetary policy reaction functions of the central banks of Australia and New Zealand. For the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, we found little evidence of asymmetric behaviour, whereas the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) appears to react more aggressively to negative output relative to positive output gaps of the same size. We impose additional structure on our model to help distinguish whether the asymmetric response originates from non‐linearity in the inflation equation or from non‐linearity in an approximate representation of the RBA's preferences over macroeconomic outcomes. We find that the preferences of the RBA may drive the asymmetry: the RBA appears to dislike negative output gaps more than positive output gaps of the same magnitude. We show this generates only a small increase in the conditional mean of inflation that is statistically indistinguishable from the target rate of inflation.

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  • Özer Karagedikli & Kirdan Lees, 2007. "Do the Central Banks of Australia and New Zealand Behave Asymmetrically? Evidence from Monetary Policy Reaction Functions," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 131-142, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:83:y:2007:i:261:p:131-142
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2007.00389.x
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    1. Vašíček, Bořek, 2012. "Is monetary policy in the new EU member states asymmetric?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 235-263.
    2. Baxa, Jaromír & Horváth, Roman & Vašíček, Bořek, 2014. "How Does Monetary Policy Change? Evidence On Inflation-Targeting Countries," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 593-630, April.
    3. Bjørnland, Hilde C. & Gerdrup, Karsten & Jore, Anne Sofie & Smith, Christie & Thorsrud, Leif Anders, 2011. "Weights and pools for a Norwegian density combination," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 61-76, January.
    4. Julia Ratcliffe & Ross Kendall, 2019. "Monetary policy strategy in New Zealand," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, vol. 82, pages 1-25, April.
    5. Ikeda, Taro, 2010. "Time-varying asymmetries in central bank preferences: The case of the ECB," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 1054-1066, December.
    6. Kerry B. Hudson & Joaquin L. Vespignani, 2014. "Understanding the Deviations of the Taylor Rule: A New Methodology with an Application to Australia," CAMA Working Papers 2014-78, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    7. Jacob Punnoose & Amber Wadsworth, 2018. "Estimated policy rules for different monetary regimes: Flexible inflation targeting versus a dual mandate," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Analytical Notes series AN2018/11, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    8. Hudson, Kerry & Vespignani, Joaquin L., 2015. "Understanding the Taylor Rule in Australia," MPRA Paper 104679, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Thanaset Chevapatrakul & Juan Paez-Farrell, 2014. "Monetary Policy Reaction Functions in Small Open Economies: a Quantile Regression Approach," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(2), pages 237-256, March.

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