Surprising comparative properties of monetary models: Results from a new model database

Volker Wieland and John Taylor

No 1261, Working Paper Series from European Central Bank

Abstract: In this paper we investigate the comparative properties of empirically-estimated monetary models of the U.S. economy. We make use of a new database of models designed for such investigations. We focus on three representative models: the Christiano, Eichenbaum, Evans (2005) model, the Smets and Wouters (2007) model, and the Taylor (1993a) model. Although the three models differ in terms of structure, estimation method, sample period, and data vintage, we find surprisingly similar economic impacts of unanticipated changes in the federal funds rate. However, the optimal monetary policy rules are different in the different models. Simple model-specific policy rules that include the lagged interest rate, inflation and current and lagged output gaps are not robust. Some degree of robustness can be recovered by using rules without interest-rate smoothing or with GDP growth deviations from trend in place of the output gap. However, improvement vis-à-vis other models, comes at the cost of significant performance deterioration in the original model. Model averaging offers a much more effective strategy for improving the robustness of policy rules. JEL Classification: E12, E52, E61

Keywords: model uncertainty; monetary policy rules; Monetary policy transmission; New-Keynesian models; robustness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Surprising Comparative Properties of Monetary Models: Results from a New Model Database (2012)
Working Paper: Surprising comparative properties of monetary models: Results from a new model database (2012)
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