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A note on the fed’s power to lower inflation

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  • Ray C. Fair

    (Yale University)

Abstract

This note argues that the Fed does not have much effect on inflation expectations and that its effect on aggregate demand, and thus on inflation, is modest. Econometric results suggest that a short term interest rate increase of 1.0 percentage point results in a decrease in inflation of 0.43 percentage points after five quarters. The unemployment rate is 0.17 percentage points higher. Therefore, lowering inflation by 2 percentage points, if this is needed, requires about a 4 to 5 percentage point increase in the interest rate, with the full effect taking about five quarters.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray C. Fair, 2022. "A note on the fed’s power to lower inflation," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 56-63, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:buseco:v:57:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s11369-022-00254-7
    DOI: 10.1057/s11369-022-00254-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ray C. Fair, 2021. "What do price equations say about future inflation?," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 118-128, July.
    2. Ray C. Fair, 2021. "What Do Price Equations Say About Future Inflation?," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2287, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    3. Robin Greenwood & Andrei Shleifer, 2014. "Expectations of Returns and Expected Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 714-746.
    4. Fuhrer, Jeffrey C, 1997. "The (Un)Importance of Forward-Looking Behavior in Price Specifications," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(3), pages 338-350, August.
    5. Fair, Ray C, 1978. "The Sensitivity of Fiscal Policy Effects to Assumptions about the Behavior of the Federal Reserve," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(5), pages 1165-1179, September.
    6. Barbara Rossi, 2019. "Forecasting in the Presence of Instabilities: How Do We Know Whether Models Predict Well and How to Improve Them," Working Papers 1162, Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Ray C Fair, 2020. "Some important macro points," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(3), pages 556-578.
    8. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Kumar, Saten & Pedemonte, Mathieu, 2020. "Inflation expectations as a policy tool?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Ray C. Fair, 2017. "Household Wealth and Macroeconomic Activity: 2008–2013," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2-3), pages 495-523, March.
    10. Barbara Rossi, 2021. "Forecasting in the Presence of Instabilities: How We Know Whether Models Predict Well and How to Improve Them," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1135-1190, December.
    11. Ray C. Fair, 2000. "Testing the NAIRU Model for the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 64-71, February.
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