Review for final.
August 14, 2014
August 12, 2014
Lecture 23 on Wednesday 8/13/2014
Brief Outline of Topics Covered in Lecture 23
Chapter 24 The Role of Expectations in Monetary Policy
The Lucas Critique of Econometric Policy Evaluation
Rules versus Discretion
- Discretion and Time-Inconsistency
- Types of rules
- The case for rules
- The case for discretion
- Constrained Discretion
The role of credibility and a nominal anchor
Credibility and aggregate demand shocks
- Positive and negative AD shocks
- AS shocks
- Credibility and anti-inflation policy
Extra Reading:
Tim Duy:
Heading Into Jackson Hole, by Tim Duy: The Kansas City Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole conference is next week, and all eyes are looking for signs that Fed Chair Janet Yellen will continue to chart a dovish path for monetary policy well into next year. Indeed, the conference title itself - "Re-Evaluating Labor Market Dynamics" - points in that direction, as it emphasizes a topic that is near and dear to Yellen's heart. My expectation is that no hawkish surprises emerge next week. Despite continued improvement in labor markets, Yellen will push the Fed to hold back on aggressively tightening monetary policy. And with inflation still below target, wage growth constrained, and inflation expectations locked down, she holds all the leverage to make that happen.
Today we received the June JOLTS report, a lagging, previously second-tier report elevated to mythic status by Yellen's interest in the data. The report revealed another gain in job openings, leading to further speculation that labor slack is quickly diminishing:
Anecdotally, firms are squealing that they can't find qualified workers. Empirically, though, they aren't willing to raise wages. Neil Irwin of the New York Times reports on the trucking industry as a microcosm of the US economy:
Yet the idea that there is a huge shortage of truck drivers flies in the face of a jobless rate of more than 6 percent, not to mention Economics 101. The most basic of economic theories would suggest that when supply isn’t enough to meet demand, it’s because the price — in this case, truckers’ wages — is too low. Raise wages, and an ample supply of workers should follow.But corporate America has become so parsimonious about paying workers outside the executive suite that meaningful wage increases may seem an unacceptable affront. In this environment, it may be easier to say “There is a shortage of skilled workers” than “We aren’t paying our workers enough,” even if, in economic terms, those come down to the same thing.The numbers are revealing: Even as trucking companies and their trade association bemoan the driver shortage, truckers — or as the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls them, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers — were paid 6 percent less, on average, in 2013 than a decade earlier, adjusted for inflation. It takes a peculiar form of logic to cut pay steadily and then be shocked that fewer people want to do the job.
A "peculiar form of logic" indeed, but one that appears endemic to US employers nonetheless. Meanwhile, from Business Insider:
Profit margins are still getting wider."With earnings growth (6.7%) rising at a faster rate than revenue growth (3.1%) in Q2 and in future quarters, companies have continued to discuss cost-cutting initiatives to maintain earnings growth rates and profit margins," said FactSet's John Butters on Friday.This comes at a time when profit margins are already at historic highs.Ever since the financial crisis, sales growth has been weak. However, corporations have been able to deliver robust earnings growth by fattening profit margins. Much of this has been done by laying off workers and squeezing more productivity out of those on the payroll.
Margins serve as a line of defense against inflation. In fact, I would imagine that Yellen's ideal world is one in which margins are compressing because stable inflation expectations prevent firms from raising prices while tight labor markets force wage growth higher. A goldilocks scenario from the Fed's perspective. This is also the scenario that is most likely to foster the tension in the FOMC as Fed's hawks argue for immaculate inflation while doves battle back about actual inflation. In any event, until wage growth actually accelerates, the likelihood of any meaningful, self-sustaining inflation dynamic remains very, very low.
Separately, a second justification for a moderate pace of tightening emerges. Via Reuters:
Approaching a historic turn in U.S. monetary policy, Janet Yellen has staked her tenure as chair of the Federal Reserve on a simple principle: she'd rather fight inflation than another economic downturn.Interviews with current and former Fed officials indicate that Yellen and core decision-makers at the U.S. central bank are determined not to raise interest rates too early and risk hurting the fragile U.S. economy......The nightmare scenario she wants to avoid is hiking rates only to see financial markets and the economy take such a hit that she has to backtrack. Until the Fed has gotten rates up from the current level near zero to more normal levels, it would have little room to respond if the economy threatened to head into another recession.
Gasp! Is the reality of the zero bound finally sinking in at the Fed? The basic argument is that the Fed needs to at least risk overshooting to pull interest rates into a zone that allows for normalized monetary policy during the next recession. And given that the Fed knows how to effectively tame inflation while stimulating the economy at the zero bound in more challenging, the costs of overshooting are less than the costs of undershooting.
(Note that I suspect overshooting in this context is the 2.25-2.5% range, but that still provides more leeway than a 2.25% cap.)
In addition, Yellen can point out that since the disinflation of the early 90's, the Fed has not faced an inflation problem, but instead has struggled with three recessions. This on the surface suggests that monetary policy has erred in being too tight on average.
Bottom Line: Anything other than a dovish message coming from the Jackson Hole conference will be a surprise. Tight labor markets alone will not justify an aggressive pace of tightening. An aggressive pace requires that those tight labor markets manifest themselves into higher wage growth and higher inflation. Yellen seems content to normalize slowly until she sees the white in the eyes of inflation.
August 10, 2014
August 08, 2014
August 07, 2014
August 06, 2014
Lecture 19 on Thursday 8/7/2014
Brief Outline of Topics Covered in Lecture 19
Chapter 22 Aggregate Demand and Supply Analysis [continued]
Equilibrium of AS and AD
- SR and LR response to AD shocks
- SR and LR response to AS shocks
Chapter 23 Monetary Policy Theory [probably won't get to this chapter]
Response of monetary policy to shocks
- Response to an AD Shock
- Response to a permanent supply shock
- Response to a temporary supply shock
- Summary
Extra Reading
Tim Duy:
Fed Hawks Squawk, by Tim Duy: How much leeway does Fed Chair Janet Yellen have in her campaign to hold interest rates low for a considerable period after asset purchases end later this year? If you listen to Fed hawks, you would believe that she is quickly running out of room. Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher argued that the liftoff date for interest rates is creeping forward. From Reuters:
"I think the committee, as I listen to them and I can only speak for myself around that table during two days of discussion, is coming in my direction, so I didn’t feel the need to dissent,” Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Fox Business Network."We are going to have to move the date of liftoff further forward than had been projected the last time we issued the 'dots'” he said, referring to the official Fed forecasts for short-term interest rates, last issued in June.
At the time of the June FOMC meeting, the most recent read on the unemployment rate was 6.3% (May), while the July rate was just a nudge lower at 6.2%. The inflation rate (core-PCE) at the time of the June FOMC meeting was 1.43% (April), compared to 1.49% in June. So the Fed is arguably just a little closer to its goals, but enough to dramatically move forward the dots just yet? Not sure about that, but a downward lurch of unemployment in the next report would likely elicit a reaction in the dots. If the dots don't move, Fisher promises a dissent at the next FOMC meeting.
The pace of the tightening, however, is in my opinion more important than the timing of the first rate hike. Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker argues that the pace of rate hikes will be more aggressive than currently anticipated by market participants. Via Craig Torres at Bloomberg:
Investors may be underestimating the pace at which the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates over the next two years, said Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.Short-term interest-rate markets have for months priced in a slower tempo of increases than policy makers themselves forecast. That’s risky because the misalignment, a bet against a rate path that the central bank alone controls, could lead to volatility if traders have to adjust rapidly, Lacker said.“When there is that kind of gap, it gets your attention,” Lacker, a consistent critic of the Fed’s record easing who votes on policy next year, said in an Aug. 1 interview at his Richmond office overlooking the James River. “It wouldn’t be good for it to be closed with great rapidity.”
How much should we listen to Lacker? Torres notes correctly that Lacker's track record on policy is not exactly the greatest:
Lacker’s forecasts haven’t always been on target, which he’s acknowledged in his speeches. In a March 2012 dissent, he indicated the federal funds rate would have to rise “considerably sooner” than late 2014 “to prevent the emergence of inflationary pressures,” according to minutes of the meeting. The benchmark rate is still close to zero, and inflation is below the Fed’s target.
ISI's Krishna Guha suggests that the market expects that Fed Chair Janet Yellen's forecast will win the day. Via Matthew Boes:
"The market now appears to be tracking a guesstimate of the 'Yellen dot' rather than the median"—ISI's Krishna Guha pic.twitter.com/rhlox9dJe3
— Matthew B (@boes_) August 4, 2014
Where to begin? First, it is worth dispensing with the myth of "immaculate inflation." Fed hawks seem to believe that low unemployment is sufficient to send inflation screaming higher. They see the 1970s under ever carpet, behind every closet door. But the relationship between unemployment and inflation is simply very weak:
Generally, inflation has been within a range of 1.0% to 2.5% since the disinflation of the early 1990s. No immaculate inflation. What is missing to generate that immaculate inflation? Inflation expectations. After the decline in inflation expectations in the early 1980's:
inflation expectations have been remarkably stable:
As long as inflation expectations remain anchored, immaculate inflation remains unlikely. Stable inflation expectations thus clearly give Yellen room to pursue a less aggressive normalization strategy. Note that this does not mean waiting until inflation expectations begin to rise before tightening. Remember that the reason that inflation expectations remain anchored is because the Fed does in fact tighten policy in when conditions point toward above-target inflation. The Fed learned in the early 1980s that they do in fact have substantial control over inflation expectations, and they intend to retain that control. But without conditions that argue for a real threat to those expectations - including, notably, actual inflation above the 2.25% in the context of faster wage growth - Yellen will have justification to resist an aggressive pace of tightening.
Moreover, Yellen still has tepid wage growth on her side. And if unemployment dips below 6% as seem inevitable by the end of this year, I suspect we will move into a critical test of the Yellen hypothesis. Consider the relationship between wage growth and unemployment:
The downward slop looks obvious, but becomes even clearer if we isolate some of the movement associated with recessions:
At the moment, wage growth is on the soft side of where we might expect given the unemployment rate, consistent with Yellen's position. If that situation continues, then it follows that Yellen will have a strong hand to play with the FOMC. Lack of wage growth by itself would argue for a very gradual pace of rate hikes even in the face of higher inflation. Yellen - and the majority of the FOMC - will not see a threat to inflation expectations at the current pace of wage growth.
Bottom Line: At the moment, we are focused on wages as the missing part of the higher rate equation. But that is too narrow of an analysis. Also on Yellen's side is low actual inflation and anchored inflation expectations. To be sure, the Fed will be under increasing pressure to begin normalizing policy if unemployment drops below 6%. At that point the Fed will be sufficiently close to their objectives that they will believe the odds of falling behind the curve will rise in the absence of movement toward policy normalization. But without a more pressing threat to inflation expectations from a combination of actual inflation in excess of the Fed's target and wage growth to support that inflation, Yellen has room to normalize policy at a gradual pace. For now, the data is still on her side and the hawks will remain frustrated, much as they have for the past several years.
August 05, 2014
August 04, 2014
August 01, 2014
Lecture 15 on Friday 8/1/2014
Brief Outline of Topics Covered in Lecture 15
Chapter 21 The Monetary Policy and Aggregate Demand Curves [cont.]
The LM Curve and how it relates to the MP curve
- Derive the LM curve from Md-Ms diagram
- Shifts in the LM curve
Monetary and fiscal policy effectiveness
The Aggregate Demand Curve
- Shifts in the AD curve
Extra Reading:
Tim Duy once again:
July Employment Report, by Tim Duy: The overall tenor of the July employment report was consistent with the song that Yellen and Co. are singing. Labor markets are generally improving at a moderate pace, yet despite relatively low unemployment, there is plenty of reason to believe considerable slack remains in the economy.
The headline nonfarm payroll number was a ho-hum gain of 209K with some small upward revisions for the previous two months. Steady above 200k gains this year are lifting the 12-month moving average of jobs higher:
In the context of the range of indicators that Fed Chair Janet Yellen has drawn specific attention to:
Consistent with the consensus of the FOMC as revealed at the conclusion of this week's FOMC meeting, measures of underutilization of labor remain elevated. Notable is the flat wage growth - clearly a ball in Yellen's court. Moreover, these numbers should override any enthusiasm over yesterday's ECI report, which is obviously overtaken by events.
In other news, inflation remains below target:
although pretty much right at target over the past three months:
Numbers like these gave the Fed reason to upgrade its inflation outlook this week. If these numbers can hold up for the next several months, you will see the year-over-year number gradually converge to the Fed's target, clearing the way for the Fed's first rate hike in the middle of next year (my preference remains the second quarter over the third).
On the whole, these data continue to argue for a very gradual pace of tightening. The Fed will be in rush to normalize policy until labor underutilization approaches normal levels and wage growth accelerates. Since it's Friday and everyone is looking forward to the weekend, we can avoid re-inventing the wheel on this topic and just refer to Binyamin Appelbaum's report on the FOMC meeting, in which he quotes some random commentator:
The Fed’s chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, and her allies have taken a more cautious view, arguing that the decline in the unemployment rate appears to overstate the improvement in the labor market, because it counts only people who are looking for work. Ms. Yellen has said she expects some people who dropped out of the labor force to return as the economy continues to improve, and she has pointed to tepid wage growth as evidence that it remains easy to find workers.“The recovery is not yet complete,” she told Congress this month.The statement suggested that the committee continued to back Ms. Yellen’s view, said Tim Duy, a professor of economics at the University of Oregon.“The committee as a whole is still willing to give Yellen the benefit of the doubt,” Mr. Duy said. “And honestly they have good reason. Until you get upward pressure on wages, it is terribly difficult to say that she’s wrong.”In recent conversations with Oregon businesses, Mr. Duy said, he heard repeatedly that it was becoming harder to hire workers, but also that businesses were unwilling to offer higher wages as an inducement, because they doubted their ability to recoup the cost through increased sales or higher prices.
Bottom Line: Nothing here to change the outlook for monetary policy.
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