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Working Paper
A dynamic model of export competition, policy coordination and simultaneous currency collapse
This paper offers a game-theoretic interpretation of the recent currency crisis in Asia. Specifically, we argue that the 'price wars during booms' logic of Rotemberg and Saloner (1986) can be used to explain the nearly simultaneous devaluation of several Asian currencies during the summer of 1997. The idea is as follows. Since each of these countries relies heavily on exports to the U.S. pressures for competitive devaluations naturally arise. ; We view the historical tendency of these countries to peg to the dollar as a way to avoid these pressures. However, it must be in the ...
Working Paper
Expectations, credibility, and disinflation in a small macroeconomic model
We use a version of the Fuhrer-Moore model to study the effects of expectations and central bank credibility on the economy's dynamic transition path during a disinflation. Simulations are compared under four different specifications of the model that vary according to the way that expectations are formed (rations versus adaptive) and the degree of central bank credibility (full versus partial). In general, the various specifications exhibit qualitatively similar behavior and can reasonably approximate the trend movements in U.S. macro variables during the Volcker disinflation of the early ...
Working Paper
Asymmetry in the bivariate relationship between output and interest rates
This paper investigates whether an asymmetry is present in the Granger-causal relationship between output and a set of interest rates and their spreads, across expansionary and contractionary business cycle phases in post 1950 U.S. Non-structural VAR models of monthly industrial production and three interest rates and four spreads are estimated for expansion and contraction samples. This study finds asymmetry in the bivariate relationship between the output and the financial variables across the two samples. Most of the interest rates and the spreads that were observed to Granger-cause output ...
Journal Article
Banking system developments in the four Asian tigers
Journal Article
Financial regulation and banking sector performance: a comparison of bad loan problems in Japan and Korea
We estimate the bad loan rate in Japan and Korea for 1973-1992 using data on defaults on notes issued by the corporate sector. This method exploits institutional features common in both countries which suggest a close linkage between default on notes and default on bank borrowing. Our main findings are as follows. First, the pattern of the estimated bad loan rate series generally conforms to past business cycle patterns in both countries. Second, the bad loan rate is substantially higher in Korea than Japan. Lastly, a much tighter linkage is observed for Japan between the bad loan rate ...
Working Paper
Regime switching in the dynamic relationship between the federal funds rate and nonborrowed reserves
This paper examines the dynamic relationship between changes in the funds rate and nonborrowed reserves within a reduced form framework that allows the relationship to have two distinct patterns over time. A regime switching model a la Hamilton (1989) is estimated. The two regimes are different in such characteristics as average changes in the interest rate, and volatility. The historical aerate of the API inflation rate is significantly higher in the high growth and more volatile regime. Innovations in money growth are associated with a strong anticipated inflation effect in the high ...
Journal Article
Federal Reserve credibility and inflation scares
We develop a simple, quantitative model of the U.S. economy to demonstrate how an "inflation scare " may occur when the Federal Reserve lacks full credibility. In particular, we show that the long-term nominal interest rate may undergo a sudden increase if an adverse movement in the inflation rate triggers a deterioration in the public's beliefs about the Federal Reserve's commitment to maintaining low inflation in the future. We find that simulations from our model capture some observed patterns of U.S. interest rates in the 1980s.
Working Paper
Expectations, credibility, and disinflation in a small macroeconomic model
A study of the effects of expectations and central bank credibility on the economy's dynamic transition path during a disinflation. Using a version of the Fuhrer-Moore model, it compares simulations under different specifications that vary according to the way expectations are formed and the degree of central bank credibility.
Journal Article
Modeling the time-series behavior of the aggregate wage rate
This paper looks at the time-series behavior of the real wage relative to that of productivity. Given an exogenous, nonstationary process for productivity, we use a simple model of dynamic labor demand to show that the real wage and the marginal product of labor will be cointegrated if the representative firm chooses the profit-maximizing level of employment. Data for the postwar period satisfy this condition. On the basis of this result we estimate a vector error correction model containing prices, wages, and productivity and examine the dynamic relationships among these variables. This ...