The Opportunity Cost of Money and the Relevance of Monetary Policy

Over the past decade, researchers have identified monetary policy surprises using highfrequency movements in futures contract prices. Based on this identification strategy, the evidence suggests that contractionary monetary policy surprises are significantly related to decreases in output and the price level. In other words, monetary policy is relevant. With more than a decade of data with nominal rates at or near the zero lower bound and interest on reserves, the open question is whether this relevance depends on the opportunity cost of holding money. We test this hypothesis, reporting impulse responses that are relevant when opportunity costs are greater than zero, but irrelevant when opportunity costs are close to zero. Hence, we conclude that monetary policy is conditionally relevant.