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Monetary policy and natural disasters in a DSGE model: how should the Fed have responded to Hurricane Katrina?

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  • Benjamin D. Keen
  • Michael R. Pakko

Abstract

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, speculation arose that the Federal Reserve might respond by easing monetary policy. This paper uses a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model to investigate the appropriate monetary policy response to a natural disaster. We show that the standard Taylor (1993) rule response in models with and without nominal rigidities is to increase the nominal interest rate. That finding is unchanged when we consider the optimal policy response to a disaster. A nominal interest rate increase following a disaster mitigates both temporary inflation effects and output distortions that are attributable to nominal rigidities.

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  • Benjamin D. Keen & Michael R. Pakko, 2007. "Monetary policy and natural disasters in a DSGE model: how should the Fed have responded to Hurricane Katrina?," Working Papers 2007-025, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2007-025
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    Cited by:

    1. Eduardo Cavallo & Ilan Noy, 2009. "The Economics of Natural Disasters: A Survey," Research Department Publications 4649, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    2. Allan Wright & Patrice Borda, 2016. "Macroeconomic Fluctuations Under Natural Disaster Shocks in Central America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 97076, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Toshiki JINUSHI & Nobuyuki ISAGAWA & Kozo HARIMAYA, 2013. "Monetary Policy and Natural Disasters: An Extension and Simulation Analysis in the Framework of New Keynesian Macroeconomic Model," APIR Discussion Paper Series 1001783, Asia Pacific Institute of Research.
    4. Celso Brunetti & John Caramichael & Matteo Crosignani & Benjamin Dennis & Gurubala Kotta & Donald P. Morgan & Chaehee Shin & Ilknur Zer, 2022. "Climate-related Financial Stability Risks for the United States: Methods and Applications," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2022-043, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Mitsuhiro Okano, 2013. "Monetary Policy and Natural Disasters: An Extension and Simulation Analysis in the Framework of New Keynesian Macroeconomic Model," APIR Discussion Paper Series 32, Asia Pacific Institute of Research.
    6. Eduardo Cavallo & Ilan Noy, 2010. "The Aftermath of Natural Disasters: Beyond Destruction," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(2), pages 25-35, July.
    7. Liu, Yawen & Cui, Qi & Liu, Yu & Zhang, Jinzhu & Zhou, Meifang & Ali, Tariq & Yang, Lingyu & Feng, Kuishuang & Hubacek, Klaus & Li, Xinbei, 2021. "Countermeasures against economic crisis from COVID-19 pandemic in China: An analysis of effectiveness and trade-offs," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 482-495.
    8. Allan Wright & Patrice Borda, 2020. "Macroeconomic Fluctuations Under Natural Disaster Shocks in Central America and he Caribbean [DSGE-Cycles]," Working Papers hal-02532193, HAL.
    9. Wright, Allan & Borda, Patrice, 2016. "Macroeconomic Fluctuations Under Natural Disaster Shocks in Central America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8039, Inter-American Development Bank.

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    Keywords

    Monetary policy - United States; Natural disasters - Economic aspects;

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