IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/apk/nottec/2403.html

Natural Real Interest Rate in an Open Small Economy: the Costa Rica´s Case

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Segura-Rodriguez

    (Department of Economic Research, Central Bank of Costa Rica)

Abstract

This study updates the Costa Rica’s natural real interest rate (NRIT) estimate for the period between 2010’s first quarter and 2023’s third quarter. I use two different methodologies for this estimation: Holston, Laubach and Williams (2023)’s semi-structural model and a structural VAR proposed by Brzoza-Brzezina (2002). This study’s methodological contribution is to estimate an extension of Holston-Laubach-Williams framework to incorporate conditions that are inherent in an open and small economy. The main result is that the natural real interest rate has oscilated between 1, 18% and 1, 47% during the period in analysis, and has been in the interval between 1, 36% and 1, 44% after 2022. Further, I check that the real interest rate gap correlation with other economic variables, like output gap, inflation and real exchange gap, shows a sign that is expected. Finally, I conclude that the Central Bank’s monetary policy has been consistent with its objective of maintaning a low inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Segura-Rodriguez, 2024. "Natural Real Interest Rate in an Open Small Economy: the Costa Rica´s Case," Notas Técnicas 2403, Banco Central de Costa Rica.
    • Handle: RePEc:apk:nottec:2403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repositorioinvestigaciones.bccr.fi.cr/handle/20.500.12506/394
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michał Brzoza-Brzezina, 2002. "Estimating the Natural Rate of Interest: A SVAR Approach," NBP Working Papers 27, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    2. John C. Williams, 2023. "Measuring the Natural Rate of Interest: Past, Present, and Future," Speech 96178, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Holston, Kathryn & Laubach, Thomas & Williams, John C., 2017. "Measuring the natural rate of interest: International trends and determinants," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(S1), pages 59-75.
    4. Christiano, Lawrence J. & Eichenbaum, Martin & Evans, Charles L., 1999. "Monetary policy shocks: What have we learned and to what end?," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 65-148, Elsevier.
    5. Kathryn Holston & Thomas Laubach & John C. Williams, 2023. "Measuring the Natural Rate of Interest after COVID-19," Staff Reports 1063, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Thomas Laubach & John C. Williams, 2003. "Measuring the Natural Rate of Interest," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 1063-1070, November.
    7. Thomas Laubach & John C. Williams, 2015. "Measuring the natural rate of interest redux," Working Paper Series 2015-16, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gleb Kurovskiy, 2020. "Disentanglement of natural interest rate shocks and monetary policy shocks nexus," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 59, pages 128-143.
    2. Kurovskiy, Gleb, 2019. "Disentanglement of natural interest rate shocks and monetary policy shocks nexus," MPRA Paper 97547, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kei Imakubo & Haruki Kojima & Jouchi Nakajima, 2018. "The natural yield curve: its concept and measurement," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 551-572, September.
    4. Buncic, Daniel, 2024. "Econometric issues in the estimation of the natural rate of interest," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Bielecki, Marcin & Brzoza-Brzezina, Michał & Błażejowska, Aneta & Kuziemska-Pawlak, Kamila & Szafrański, Grzegorz, . "Szacunki i projekcje naturalnej stopy procentowej dla Polski i strefy euro," Gospodarka Narodowa-The Polish Journal of Economics, Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie / SGH Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 2024(3).
    6. Zhengyang Jiang & Arvind Krishnamurthy & Hanno Lustig, 2021. "Foreign Safe Asset Demand and the Dollar Exchange Rate," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(3), pages 1049-1089, June.
    7. Sandra Daudignon & Oreste Tristani, 2022. "Monetary policy and the drifting natural rate of interest," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 22/1057, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    8. KRAIZBERG, Elli, 2025. "The Shadow Default-Free Real Rate Of Return," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 29(3), pages 49-81, September.
    9. Morris, Stephen D., 2020. "Is the Taylor principle still valid when rates are low?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95, May.
    11. Belke, Ansgar & Klose, Jens, 2018. "Equilibrium real interest rates, secular stagnation, and the financial cycle: Empirical evidence for euro-area member countries," Ruhr Economic Papers 743, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Brand, Claus & Goy, Gavin W & Lemke, Wolfgang, 2020. "Natural rate chimera and bond pricing reality," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224546, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Mite Miteski & Magdalena Petrovska & Artan Sulejmani, 2023. "Measuring the natural interest rate for the Macedonian economy: a multi-model approach," Working Papers 2023-02, National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia.
    14. Klose, Jens, 2020. "Equilibrium real interest rates for the BRICS countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    15. Stijn Claessens & M. Ayhan Kose, 2017. "Asset Prices and Macroeconomic Outcomes: A Survey," CAMA Working Papers 2017-76, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    16. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vítor & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2022. "On the international co-movement of natural interest rates," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Anthony J Evans, 2020. "The natural rate of interest: An estimate for the United Kingdom," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 24-35, February.
    18. Mark A. Wynne & Ren Zhang, 2018. "Estimating the natural rate of interest in an open economy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1291-1318, November.
    19. Clemens Grafe & Sara Grut & Lorenzo Rigon, 2018. "Neutral Interest Rates in CEEMEA - Moving in Tandem with Global Factors," Russian Journal of Money and Finance, Bank of Russia, vol. 77(1), pages 6-25, March.
    20. Ansgar Belke & Jens Klose, 2017. "Equilibrium Real Interest Rates and Secular Stagnation: An Empirical Analysis for Euro Area Member Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(6), pages 1221-1238, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:apk:nottec:2403. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Departamento de Investigación Económica (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bccrrcr.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.