Junko Koeda and Bin Wei
Working Paper 2023-16
October 2023
Abstract:
Forward guidance provides monetary policy communication for an economy at the effective lower bound (ELB). In this paper, we consider both calendar- and outcome-based forward guidance about the timing of liftoff. We develop a novel macro-finance shadow rate term structure model by introducing unspanned macro factors and an outcome-based liftoff condition. We estimate the model using the maximum likelihood method with extended Kalman filter. Based on the estimation results, we show that outcome-based forward guidance is indeed effective and has significant monetary-easing effects on the real economy in both ELB periods of the global financial crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we find that the overall impact on the unemployment rate is about 0.8 percent during both the GFC and the pandemic, but outcome-based forward guidance contributes more in the former than in the latter ELB period (about 0.30 percent versus 0.15 percent).
JEL classification: E43, E44, E52, E58
Key words: forward guidance, effective lower bound (ELB), liftoff, term structure, shadow rate, macro finance, unspanned macro factors
https://doi.org/10.29338/wp2023-16
The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve System. Any remaining errors are the author's responsibility.
Please address questions regarding content to Junko Koeda, Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University; or Bin Wei, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
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