{"title":"Unraveling News: Reconciling Conflicting Evidence","authors":"Maria Bolboaca, Sarah Fischer","doi":"10.1515/BEJM-2019-0208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/BEJM-2019-0208","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper addresses the lack of consensus in the empirical literature regarding the effects of technology diffusion news shocks. We attribute the conflicting evidence to the wide diversity in terms of variable settings, productivity series used, and identification schemes applied. We analyze the different identification schemes that have been employed in this literature. More specifically, we impose short- and medium-run restrictions to identify a news shock. The focus is on the medium-run identification maximizing at and over different horizons. We show that the identified news shock depends critically on the applied identification scheme and on the maximization horizon. We also investigate the importance of the information content of the model and of the productivity measure used. We find that models which either contain a large set of macroeconomic variables or include variables that are strongly forward looking deliver more robust results. Moreover, we show that the productivity series used may influence results, but there is convergence of findings for newer total factor productivity series vintages. Our conclusion is that news shocks have expansionary properties.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"8 8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132327671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Agricultural Trade and Structural Change: Evidence from Paraguay","authors":"C. Blanco","doi":"10.1515/BEJM-2020-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/BEJM-2020-0020","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We study how international trade affects structural change in an agricultural exporting country. For this purpose, we calibrate a three-sector growth model to quantify the role of international trade in explaining structural change patterns observed in Paraguay. This country experienced a significant rise in net agricultural exports as a percentage of aggregate output during the period 1962–2012. We find the following results. First, international trade is crucial to explain the sectoral composition of employment in this country. The model including trade explains 84.2% of observed changes in employment shares during this period, while the model without trade can only account for 35.6% of observed changes. Second, employment in agriculture remains large in order to satisfy foreign demand. Third, employment shifts directly from agriculture into services in the long run, bypassing manufacturing. These patterns can only be explained by the rise in net agricultural exports.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"20 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114029573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"COVID Social Distancing and the Poor: An Analysis of the Evidence for England","authors":"P. Basu, C. Bell, T. Edwards","doi":"10.1515/BEJM-2020-0250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/BEJM-2020-0250","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Social distancing is a matter of individuals’ choices as well as of regulation. We analyse weekly panel data on such behaviour for English Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLAs) from March to July 2020, paying attention to the influence of poverty, as measured by free school meals provision. Panel regressions suggest that, although more stringent regulation and slightly lagged local cases of infection increase social distancing, both effects are weaker in UTLAs with higher levels of poverty, in part because of poor housing, and also because shortage of money has forced the poor to keep working. Thus motivated, we develop a two-class (rich/poor) model, in which a Nash non-cooperative equilibrium arises from individual choices in a regulatory regime with penalties for non-compliance. The model yields results in keeping with the empirical findings, indicating the desirability of generous measures to furlough workers in low-paid jobs as a complement to the stringency of general regulation.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"171 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131959243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charles Gottlieb, Jan Grobovšek, Markus Poschke, F. Saltiel
{"title":"Lockdown Accounting","authors":"Charles Gottlieb, Jan Grobovšek, Markus Poschke, F. Saltiel","doi":"10.1515/bejm-2020-0251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bejm-2020-0251","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We use an accounting framework to evaluate the aggregate impact of a common lockdown policy for 85 countries. We find that poorer countries devote more labor to essential activities that are unaffected by the lockdown, while richer countries can more easily substitute non-essential employment with work from home. The lockdown generates an employment response that is U-shaped in income: it drops by 32% in the poorest quintile of the distribution, by 36% in the middle quintile, and by 31% in the richest quintile. Annualized GDP declines by 39% in the bottom three quintiles and by 31% in the richest quintile. Agriculture, an essential sector, is key in sustaining employment and economic activity in poorer countries.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"734 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132440071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Did the FED React to Asset Price Bubbles?","authors":"Marc-André Luik, Dennis Wesselbaum","doi":"10.1515/BEJM-2020-0116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/BEJM-2020-0116","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper investigates whether the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) reacted to asset price bubbles before the Great Recession and whether this affected macroeconomic variables. We estimate a DSGE model featuring a financial accelerator and a process for asset price bubbles with different Taylor-rule specifications. We find that a Taylor-rule with a feedback to Tobin’s Q and bubble shocks fits best. Our findings suggest that the FED followed a cleaning rather than a leaning approach prior to the global financial crisis (GFC). Then, we perform a counterfactual analysis and show that this policy created a lower interest rate prior to the GFC compared to a standard Taylor-rule without feedback to financial variables.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"123 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131841912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fabián Valencia, Richard Varghese, Weijia Yao, Juan F. Yépez
{"title":"Handle with Care: Regulatory Easing in Times of COVID-19","authors":"Fabián Valencia, Richard Varghese, Weijia Yao, Juan F. Yépez","doi":"10.5089/9781513570631.001.A001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513570631.001.A001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The policy response to the COVID-19 shock included regulatory easing across many jurisdictions to facilitate the flow of credit to the economy and mitigate a further amplification of the shock through tighter financial conditions. Using an intraday event study, this paper examines how stock prices – a key driver of financial conditions – reacted to regulatory easing announcements in a sample of 18 advanced economies and 8 emerging markets. It finds that regulatory easing announcements contributed to looser financial conditions but effects varied across sectors and tools. News about regulatory easing led to lower valuations for financial sector stocks, mainly in jurisdictions with relatively lower capital buffers. These results stand in stark contrast with valuations of non-financial sector stocks, which increased in response to regulatory relief announcements, particularly in industries that are more dependent on bank financing. The effects also differed across tools. Valuations declined and financial conditions tightened following announcements related to easier bank capital regulation while equity valuation rose and financial conditions loosened after those about liquidity regulation.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130705471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leaning-Against-the-Wind: Which Policy and When?","authors":"Daeha Cho, Junghwan Mok, Myungkyu Shim","doi":"10.1515/bejm-2019-0142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bejm-2019-0142","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper quantitatively examines which of the following three widely-used leaning-against-the-wind policies is effective in stabilizing aggregate fluctuations: i) a monetary policy that responds to the loan-to-GDP ratio, ii) a countercyclical LTV policy, and iii) a countercyclical capital requirement policy. In particular, we estimate a New Keynesian model with financial frictions using U.S. data and find that a monetary policy rule that responds positively to the loan-to-GDP ratio Amplifies the macroeconomic fluctuations while a countercyclical LTV policy has almost no effect. On the contrary, a countercyclical capital requirement policy is the most desirable in stabilizing GDP, inflation, and loans. However, the stabilization effect of the optimal countercyclical capital requirement policy is concentrated during periods in which financial shocks played a large role.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125356011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Delegating Optimal Monetary Policy Inertia in a Small-Open Economy","authors":"D. Ida, Mitsuhiro Okano","doi":"10.1515/bejm-2020-0181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bejm-2020-0181","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper explores the delegation of several targeting regimes in a small open new Keynesian (NK) model and examines how central banks overcome stabilization bias in a small open NK model. Results indicate that both speed limit and real exchange rate targeting can carry the isomorphic properties of optimal monetary policy over to the closed economy. In addition, neither nominal income growth targeting nor CPI inflation targeting replicates a commitment policy. These findings provide new implications for optimal monetary policy in an open economy.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129058336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Progressive Taxation and Robust Monetary Policy","authors":"Kazuki Hiraga, Kohei Hasui","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3742103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3742103","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Recent monetary policy analyses show the profound implications of progressive taxation for monetary policy. This paper investigates how progressive taxation on labor income changes the effect of model uncertainty by introducing robust control. We obtained the following results: (i) Higher progressive taxation decreases the effect of model uncertainty on the inflation rate, output gap, and interest rate. (ii) A sufficiently higher progressive taxation brings the economy into the determinate equilibrium even if the model uncertainty is strong. According to these results, we conclude that progressive taxation on labor income is effective in mitigating the effects of model uncertainty in terms of variance and equilibrium determinacy.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127226316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing Targeted Containment Policies to Fight COVID-19","authors":"Ariadne Checo, F. Grigoli, J. Mota","doi":"10.1515/bejm-2020-0260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bejm-2020-0260","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The large economic costs of full-blown lockdowns in response to COVID-19 outbreaks, coupled with heterogeneous mortality rates across age groups, led to question non-discriminatory containment measures. In this paper we provide an assessment of the targeted approach to containment. We propose a SIR-macro model that allows for heterogeneous agents in terms of mortality rates and contact rates, and in which the government optimally bans people from working. We find that under a targeted policy, the optimal containment reaches a larger portion of the population than under a blanket policy and is held in place for longer. Compared to a blanket policy, a targeted approach results in a smaller death count. Yet, it is not a panacea: the recession is larger under such approach as the containment policy applies to a larger fraction of people, remains in place for longer, and herd immunity is achieved later. Moreover, we find that increased interactions between low- and high-risk individuals effectively reduce the benefits of a targeted approach to containment.","PeriodicalId":431854,"journal":{"name":"The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116157227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}