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Taylor Rule or optimal timeless policy? Reconsidering the Fed's behavior since 1982

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  • Minford, Patrick
  • Ou, Zhirong

Abstract

We compare three standard New Keynesian models differing only in their representations of monetary policy—the Optimal Timeless Rule, the original Taylor Rule and another with ‘interest rate smoothing’—with the aim of testing which if any can match the data according to the method of indirect inference. We find that the Optimal Timeless Rule performs the best, either with calibrated parameters or with estimated parameters. This model can also account for the widespread finding of apparent ‘Taylor Rules’ and smoothed interest rates in the data, even though neither of these represents the true policy.

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  • Minford, Patrick & Ou, Zhirong, 2013. "Taylor Rule or optimal timeless policy? Reconsidering the Fed's behavior since 1982," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 113-123.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:32:y:2013:i:c:p:113-123
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2013.01.029
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    Cited by:

    1. Vo Le & David Meenagh & Patrick Minford & Michael Wickens & Yongdeng Xu, 2016. "Testing Macro Models by Indirect Inference: A Survey for Users," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1-38, February.
    2. Patrick Minford & Zhirong Ou & Michael Wickens, 2015. "Revisiting the Great Moderation: Policy or Luck?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 197-223, April.
    3. Paul De Grauwe, 2012. "Lectures on Behavioral Macroeconomics," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 9891.
    4. Le, Vo Phuong Mai & Meenagh, David & Minford, Patrick & Wickens, Michael, 2015. "Small sample performance of indirect inference on DSGE models," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2015/2, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    5. Krogh, Tord S., 2015. "Macro frictions and theoretical identification of the New Keynesian Phillips curve," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 191-204.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Identification; Monetary policy; Optimal Timeless Rule; Taylor Rules; Indirect inference; Wald statistic;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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