The [un]importance of forward-looking behavior in price specifications

Jeffrey Fuhrer

No 95-6, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Abstract: The seminal work of Phelps, Taylor, and Calvo developed forward-looking models of price determination that imparted inertia to the price level. These models incorporate expectations of future prices and excess demand by imposing constraints (typically lag-lead symmetry constraints) that force future variables to enter the specification. In this paper, I test the empirical significance of future prices in specifications like those of Taylor. I find that expectations of future prices are empirically unimportant in explaining price and inflation behavior. However, the dynamics of a model that includes a purely backward-looking inflation specification differ significantly-and not altogether pleasingly-from those with a forward-looking specification.

Keywords: Prices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

Published in Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 29, no. 3 (August 1997): 338-50.

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Related works:
Journal Article: The (Un)Importance of Forward-Looking Behavior in Price Specifications (1997)
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