Quantitative New Keynesian Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy

Abstract: This thesis consists of four self-contained essays.Essay 1 compares the dynamic behaviour of an estimated New Keynesian sticky-price model with one-period delayed effects of monetary policy shocks to the dynamics of a structural vector autoregression model. The model is estimated with Bayesian techniques on German pre-EMU data. The dynamics of the sticky-price model following either a demand shock or monetary policy shock are qualitatively and quantitatively comparable to those of the estimated structural VAR. When compared to the delayed-effects model, an alternative model with contemporaneous effects of monetary policy is rejected according to the posterior-odds ratio criterion.Essay 2 addresses the transmission of exchange-rate variations in an estimated, small open-economy model. In contrast to the standard New Open Economy Macroeconomics framework, imported goods are treated here as material inputs to production. The resulting model structure is transparent and tractable while also able to account for imperfect pass through of exchange-rate shocks. The model is estimated with Bayesian methods on German data and the key finding is that a substantial depreciation of the nominal exchange rate leads to only modest effects on CPI inflation. An extended version of the model reveals that relatively small weight is placed on foreign consumption.Essay 3 (with Annika Alexius) analyses the strong responses of long-term interest rates to shocks that are difficult to explain with standard macroeconomic models. Augmenting the standard model to include a time-varying equilibrium real interest rate generates forward rates that exhibit considerable movement at long horizons in response to movements of the policy-controlled short rate. In terms of coefficients from regressions of long-rate changes on short-rate movements, incorporating a time-varying natural rate explains a significant fraction of the excess sensitivity puzzle.Essay 4 (with Pär Österholm) argues that the common finding of a large and significant coefficient on the lagged interest rate in Taylor rules may be the consequence of misspecification, specifically an omitted variables problem. Our Monte Carlo study shows that omitting relevant variables from the estimated Taylor rule can generate significant partial-adjustment coefficients, despite the data generating process containing no interest-rate smoothing. We further show that misspecification leads to considerable size distortions in two recently proposed tests to distinguish between interest-rate.