FCI-star

Ricardo Caballero (), Tomás E. Caravello and Alp Simsek

No 33952, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Monetary policy transmits through broad financial conditions—interest rates, asset prices, credit spreads and exchange rates—rather than through the policy rate alone. Yet current frameworks remain anchored around r*, the neutral interest rate. We introduce FCI*, the neutral level of financial conditions that closes expected output gaps, within a framework where financial conditions and macroeconomic shocks drive economic activity with inertia. Conceptually, FCI* reflects macroeconomic developments rather than financial market valuations, making it more stable than r*, which responds to both macroeconomic and financial factors. We estimate FCI* using a two-equation model along the lines of Laubach and Williams (2003) with 1990-2024 data. Our empirical estimates reveal three findings. First, estimated FCI* remained stable after the 2008 crisis while r* declined persistently due to asset price declines. Second, since the observed FCI reflects financial market shocks, large FCI gaps emerge especially during recessions. Third, at times of rapid monetary policy changes, FCI gaps more accurately reflect the effective policy stance because FCI is driven by forward-looking markets; for example, FCI gaps correctly identified the 2022 tightening when interest rate measures still suggested accommodation.

JEL-codes: C32 E43 E44 E52 E58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg, nep-mac and nep-mon
Note: AP EFG ME
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w33952.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33952

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w33952
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().