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Why were changes in the federal funds rate smaller in the 1990s?

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  • Arabinda Basistha

    (Department of Economics, West Virginia University, USA)

  • Richard Startz

    (Department of Economics, University of Washington, USA)

Abstract

We identify two major changes in the dynamics of the federal funds rate in the 1990s. We model the desired rate in a two-regime setting, one when the Fed makes no change and the other when the Fed is moving the desired rate to a new level. We find that the 1990s saw a longer duration in the no-change regime as well as smaller changes in the other regime. The smaller changes were neither due to a less aggressive Fed nor due to lower volatility of the fundamentals. In fact, the Fed responded more aggressively to changes in fundamentals in the 1990s. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Arabinda Basistha & Richard Startz, 2004. "Why were changes in the federal funds rate smaller in the 1990s?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(3), pages 339-354.
    • Handle: RePEc:jae:japmet:v:19:y:2004:i:3:p:339-354
    DOI: 10.1002/jae.745
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Mark W. Watson, 1999. "Explaining the increased variability in long-term interest rates," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Fall, pages 71-96.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bennani, Hamza & Kranz, Tobias & Neuenkirch, Matthias, 2018. "Disagreement between FOMC members and the Fed’s staff: New insights based on a counterfactual interest rate," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 139-153.
    2. 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.
    3. Arabinda Basistha & Richard Startz, 2022. "Monetary shock measurement and stock markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(2-3), pages 685-706, March.

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