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Why Do Central Banks Smooth Interest Rates?

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  • Gabriel Srour

Abstract

It is commonly observed that central banks respond gradually to economic shocks, moving the interest rate in small discrete steps in the same direction over an extended period of time. This paper examines the empirical evidence regarding central banks' smoothing of interest rates, paying particular attention to the case of Canada. It then reviews the alternative explanations of the stylized facts that have recently emerged in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Srour, 2001. "Why Do Central Banks Smooth Interest Rates?," Staff Working Papers 01-17, Bank of Canada.
    • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:01-17
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    6. Philip Lowe & Luci Ellis, 1997. "The Smoothing of Official Interest Rates," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Philip Lowe (ed.),Monetary Policy and Inflation Targeting, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    7. Tiff Macklem & Alain Paquet & Louis Phaneuf, 1996. "Asymmetric Effects of Monetary Policy: Evidence from the Yield Curve," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 42, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal.
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    9. repec:bla:manchs:v:67:y:1999:i:0:p:1-35 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Ronald J. Balvers & Thomas F. Cosimano, 1994. "Inflation Variability and Gradualist Monetary Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(4), pages 721-738.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Montoro, Carlos, 2007. "Monetary policy committees and interest rate smoothing," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19752, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Castelnuovo, Efrem, 2003. "Taylor rules, omitted variables, and interest rate smoothing in the US," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 55-59, October.
    3. Castelnuovo Efrem, 2006. "The Fed's Preference for Policy Rate Smoothing: Overestimation Due to Misspecification?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Aragón, Edilean Kleber da Silva Bejarano & Portugal, Marcelo Savino, 2009. "Central Bank preferences and monetary rules under the inflation targeting regime in Brasil," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 29(1), May.
    5. Efrem Castelnuovo, 2002. "Squeezing the Interest Rate Smoothing Weight with a Hybrid Expectations Model," Macroeconomics 0211006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Edilean Kleber da Silva Bejarano Aragón & Marcelo Savino Portugal, 2008. "Nonlinearities in Central Bank of Brazil’s reaction function: the case of asymmetric preferences," Anais do XXXVI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 36th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 200807151356590, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    7. Hommes, Cars & Massaro, Domenico & Weber, Matthias, 2019. "Monetary policy under behavioral expectations: Theory and experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 193-212.
    8. Efrem Castelnuovo, 2003. "Taylor Rules and Interest Rate Smoothing in the US and EMU," Macroeconomics 0303002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Efrem Castelnuovo, 2007. "Taylor Rules And Interest Rate Smoothing In The Euro Area," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 75(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Zbynek Stork, 2011. "A DSGE model of the Czech economy: a Ministry of Finance approach," EcoMod2011 3007, EcoMod.
    11. René Lalonde & Nicolas Parent, 2006. "The Federal Reserve's Dual Mandate: A Time-Varying Monetary Policy Priority Index for the United States," Staff Working Papers 06-11, Bank of Canada.
    12. Milan Bouda, 2014. "The New Keynesian Dsge Model and Alternative Monetary Policy Rules in the Czech Republic," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(1), pages 41-55.
    13. Katsuhiro Oshima, 2021. "Heterogeneous beliefs, monetary policy, and stock price volatility," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 79-125, March.
    14. Zbynek Stork, 2016. "Term Structure of Interest Rates: Macro-Finance Approach," EcoMod2016 9566, EcoMod.
    15. Katsuhiro Oshima, 2019. "Subjective Beliefs, Monetary Policy, and Stock Price Volatility," KIER Working Papers 1012, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    16. Jim Engle-Warnick & Nurlan Turdaliev, 2010. "An experimental test of Taylor-type rules with inexperienced central bankers," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 13(2), pages 146-166, June.
    17. Katsuhiro Oshima, 2019. "Heterogeneous Beliefs, Monetary Policy, and Stock Price Volatility," KIER Working Papers 1013, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    18. Paulo R. Mota & Abel L. C. Fernandes, 2019. "The Dynamic Adjustment Of Central Banks’ Target Interest Rate: The Case Of The Ecb," FEP Working Papers 613, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    19. Gerberding, Christina & Worms, Andreas & Seitz, Franz, 2004. "How the Bundesbank really conducted monetary policy: An analysis based on real-time data," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2004,25, Deutsche Bundesbank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary policy implementation;

    JEL classification:

    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit

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