Monetary Policy Loss Functions: Two Cheers for the Quadratic

P. Schellekens and Jagjit Chadha

Cambridge Working Papers in Economics from Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge

Abstract: The authors examine the implications for the optimal interest rate rule that follow from relaxing the assumption that the policy-maker's loss function is quadratic. They investigate deviations from quadratics for both symmetric and asymmetric preferences for a single target and find that (i) other characterisations of risk aversion than implied by the quadratic only affect dead-weight losses, unless there is multiplicative uncertainty; and (ii) asymmetries affect the optimal rule under both additive and multiplicative uncertainty but result in interest rate paths observationally similar, and in some cases equivalent, to those implied by a shifted quadratic. The results suggest that in the context of monetary policy-making the convenient assumption of quadratic losses may not be that drastic after all.

Keywords: Loss functions; Uncertainty; Optimal monetary policy rules (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E42 E52 E61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Monetary policy loss functions: two cheers for the quadratic (1999)
Working Paper: Monetary policy loss functions: two cheers for the quadratic
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