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Monetary Policy Uncertainty

Author

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  • Lucas F. Husted
  • John H. Rogers
  • Bo Sun

Abstract

We construct new measures of uncertainty about Federal Reserve policy actions and their consequences - monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) indexes. We show that, under a variety of VAR identification schemes, positive shocks to uncertainty about monetary policy robustly raise credit spreads and reduce output. The effects are of comparable magnitude to those of conventional monetary policy shocks. We evaluate the usefulness of our MPU indexes, and examine the influence of Fed communication. Our analysis suggests that policy rate normalization that is accompanied by reduced uncertainty can help neutralize the contractionary effects of the rate increases themselves.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucas F. Husted & John H. Rogers & Bo Sun, 2017. "Monetary Policy Uncertainty," International Finance Discussion Papers 1215, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:1215
    DOI: 10.17016/IFDP.2017.1215
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    2. Dong, Xiyong & Yoon, Seong-Min, 2019. "What global economic factors drive emerging Asian stock market returns? Evidence from a dynamic model averaging approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 204-215.
    3. Danilo Cascaldi-Garcia & Deepa Dhume Datta & Thiago Revil T. Ferreira & Olesya V. Grishchenko & Mohammad R. Jahan-Parvar & Juan M. Londono & Francesca Loria & Sai Ma & Marius del Giudice Rodriguez & J, 2020. "What is Certain about Uncertainty?," International Finance Discussion Papers 1294, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Saltzman, Bennett & Yung, Julieta, 2018. "A machine learning approach to identifying different types of uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 58-62.
    5. Yifei Cai, 2018. "Predictive Power of us Monetary Policy Uncertainty Shock on Stock Returns in Australia and New Zealand," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 470-488, December.
    6. Gu, Xin & Zhu, Zixiang & Yu, Minli, 2021. "The macro effects of GPR and EPU indexes over the global oil market—Are the two types of uncertainty shock alike?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Chao Liang & Feng Ma & Lu Wang & Qing Zeng, 2021. "The information content of uncertainty indices for natural gas futures volatility forecasting," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(7), pages 1310-1324, November.
    8. Yifei Cai & Angeliki Menegaki, 2021. "FDI, growth and trade partisan conflict in the US: TVP-BVAR approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1335-1362, March.
    9. Mei, Dexiang & Zeng, Qing & Cao, Xiang & Diao, Xiaohua, 2019. "Uncertainty and oil volatility: New evidence," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 155-163.
    10. Díaz, Juan D. & Hansen, Erwin & Cabrera, Gabriel, 2021. "Economic drivers of commodity volatility: The case of copper," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Bodilsen, Simon & Eriksen, Jonas N. & Grønborg, Niels S., 2021. "Asset pricing and FOMC press conferences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Ruipeng Liu & Rangan Gupta & Elie Bouri, 2021. "Conventional and Unconventional Monetary Policy Rate Uncertainty and Stock Market Volatility: A Forecasting Perspective," Working Papers 202178, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    13. Dario Caldara & Chiara Scotti & Molin Zhong, 2021. "Macroeconomic and Financial Risks: A Tale of Mean and Volatility," International Finance Discussion Papers 1326, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Arce-Alfaro, Gabriel & Blagov, Boris, 2021. "Monetary policy uncertainty and inflation expectations," Ruhr Economic Papers 899, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy uncertainty; VAR identification; FOMC communication;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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