Actual interest rates versus hypothetical interest ratesresulting from the Taylor rulein the euro area and the United States

Abstract

The aim of the article is to examine the degree of matching actual interest rates with hypothetical ones, calculated on the basis of original and modified (with greater GDP gap significance when setting interest rates) Taylor rule. The analysis was conducted for the two largest world economies by nominal GDP, i.e. the euro area and the United States of America for the period 2001—2017.Two hypotheses were tested in the article. Firstly, the actual interest rates of the Europe-an Central Bank are more strongly correlated with the rates resulting from the original Taylor rule. Secondly, the actual interest rates of the Federal Reserve System are more strongly correlated with the rates arising from the modified Taylor rule. On the basis of the conducted analysis, the first hypothesis was confirmed, while the second one was rejected.However, it should be noted that the results of the study could be different were it not for the economic crisis, macroeconomic destabilization and lack of the possibility of reducing interest rates related to zero lower bound. That particularly applies to the second hypothesis and the 2008—2017 sub-period.