Staff Reports
Optimal Interest Rate Rules and Inflation Stabilization versus Price-Level Stabilization
February 2012 Number 546
JEL classification: E30, E31, E52, E58

Author: Marc P. Giannoni

This paper compares the properties of interest rate rules such as simple Taylor rules and rules that respond to price-level fluctuations—called Wicksellian rules—in a basic forward-looking model. By introducing appropriate history dependence in policy, Wicksellian rules perform better than optimal Taylor rules in terms of welfare and robustness to alternative shock processes, and they are less prone to equilibrium indeterminacy. A simple Wicksellian rule augmented with a high degree of interest rate inertia resembles a robustly optimal rule—that is, a monetary policy rule that implements the optimal plan and is also completely robust to the specification of exogenous shock processes.

Available only in PDF pdf  41 pages / 405 kb
For a published version of this report, see Marc P. Giannoni, "Optimal Interest Rate Rules and Inflation Stabilization versus Price-Level Stabilization," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (April 2014): 110-29.
Tools
E-mail Alerts
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Statement. You can learn more about how we use cookies by reviewing our Privacy Statement.   Close