Exogenous influences on long-term inflation expectation deviations: Evidence from Chile

We shed new light on the anchoring of long-term euro area inflation expectations since the crisis by using micro evidence from a new survey at high (weekly) frequency. We find that long-term inflation expectations remained well anchored to the ECB’s inflation aim, which has acted as a focal point. By contrast, we find no evidence that professional forecasts (reported by Consensus Economics) acted as focal points. But there are subtle signs of long-term inflation expectations not being perfectly well-anchored. Using measures based on the distribution of inflation expectations from a quarterly survey, namely uncertainty based on the full distribution, the probability of expected long-term inflation lying between 1.5% and 2.5%, and the effect of short-term on long-term deflation risk, we find that long-term euro area inflation expectations have remained well-anchored, and have become better-anchored between 2011 and 2018.

We provide new evidence on the level and probability distribution of consumers’ longterm expectations of inflation in the euro area and the Netherlands, using a representative Dutch survey. We find that consumers’ long-term (ten years ahead) euro area inflation expectations are not well anchored at the ECB’s inflation aim. First, median long-term euro area inflation expectations are 4%, 2pp above the ECB’s inflation aim of 2%. Second, individual probability distributions of long-term euro area inflation expectations show that expected probabilities of higher inflation (2pp or more above the ECB’s inflation aim) are much higher, at 28% on average, than those of lower inflation (2pp or more below the ECB’s inflation aim), at 12%. This suggest that the de-anchoring of Dutch consumers’ long-term euro area inflation expectations is mainly due to expected high inflation, rather than to expected low inflation (or deflation). This finding is in contrast to recent concerns by ECB monetary policymakers about a possible de-anchoring of long-term inflation expectations on the downside. Furthermore, we find that consumers’ long-term euro area inflation expectations are significantly higher if respondents have lower incomes. Based on measures of anchoring calculated directly from individual consumers’ probability distributions of expected long-term inflation, namely the probability of inflation being close to target, the probability of inflation being far above target, and the probability of deflation, we also find that long-term euro area inflation expectations are better anchored for consumers with higher net household income.

This paper investigates the relationship between changes in euro area short-term and long-term market-based inflation expectations from January 2005 to September 2018, also devoting special attention to the relevance of the oil market. The full sample is split into three subsets related to different economic and financial landscapes. To model the conditional mean and the variance–covariance structure, a VAR-CCC-GARCH specification with oil effects in the volatility proves to be a preferable approach compared to other multivariate GARCH models. In general, the conditional correlation between changes in short-term and long-term inflation compensation appears as constant and relatively low in each subset, though increasing since mid-2014. Furthermore, there are no signs of fundamental deviations in how changes in short-term inflation expectations affect changes in longer-term expectations and vice versa. There is evidence that changes in short-term inflation expectations tend to respond to the movements of oil prices over time, while changes in longer-term ones started responding to crude dynamics after mid-2008. On the whole, these findings are relevant for analysts, investors and especially for the policymakers who charged with ensuring price stability.

This public policy brief examines the relationship between trend inflation and commodity price increases and finds that evidence from recent decades supports the notion that commodity price changes do not affect the long-run inflation rate. Evidence from earlier decades suggests that effects on inflation expectations and wages played a key role in whether commodity price movements altered trend inflation. This brief is based on a memo to the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as background to a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

This paper solves a standard New Keynesian model in terms of risk-neutral expectations and estimates it using a cross-section of longer-dated financial assets at a single point in time. Inflation risk premia appear in the theory and cause inflation to deviate from its target on average. We re-estimate the model based on each day’s closing prices to capture high-frequency changes in the expected path of the economy. Our estimates show that financial markets reacted to the post-COVID surge in inflation with higher short-run inflation expectations, an increase in the inflation risk premium, and an increase in the long-run neutral real rate, 𝑟∗, while long-term inflation expectations remained well anchored. Our model produces long term inflation forecasts that outperform several standard alternative measures.

Inflation, deflation, and uncertainty: What drives euro-area option-implied inflation expectations, and are they still anchored in the sovereign debt crisis?

We tackle two questions in this paper: In the sovereign debt crisis, what moves the euro area inflation outlook and has the firm anchoring of medium to long-term inflation expectations been touched? Deriving densities from a new data set on options on the euro area harmonized index of consumer prices provides us with the full distribution of inflation expectations. The daily data set allows us to analyze effects of monetary policy announcements and macro news in a time varying event study framework despite the short sample period from 2009 to 2013. Due to renewed fears of deflation we compare option-implied and statistical density functions to gain insight into deflation risk. Inflation expectations show a decreasing mean but growing uncertainty especially since the intensification of the sovereign debt crisis in mid-2011. Around the same time the influence of monetary policy announcements on inflation expectations diminished. Tail events such as deflation although still contained became more probable. The impact of macroeconomic news to explain inflation probabilities overall decreased and shifted towards countries more affected by the crisis. Concerning the anchoring of inflation expectations the paper provides a twofold result: The mean and low sensitivity to actual news speak for anchored inflation expectations whereas the growing uncertainty reveals market participants concerns about possible extreme inflation or deflation outcomes in the future.

Inflation literacy and inflation expectations: Evidence from Austrian household survey data

We provide new insights on the formation of inflation expectations - in particular at a time of great financial and economic turmoil - by evaluating results from a survey conducted from July 2009 through July 2010. Participants in this survey answered a weekly questionnaire about their short-, medium- and long-term inflation expectations. Participants received common information sets with data relevant to euro area inflation. Our analysis of survey responses reveals several interesting results. First, our evidence is consistent with long-term expectations having remained well anchored to the ECB's definition of price stability, which acted as a focal point for long-term expectations. Second, the turmoil in euro area bond markets triggered by the Greek fiscal crisis influenced short- and medium-term inflation expectations but had only a very small impact on long-term expectations. By contrast, longterm expectations did not react to developments of the euro area wide fiscal burden. Third, participants changed their expectations fairly frequently. The longer the horizon, the less frequent but larger these changes were. Fourth, expectations exhibit a large degree of timevariant non-normality. Fifth, inflation expectations appear fairly homogenous across groups of agents at the shorter horizon but less so at the medium- and long-term horizons.

Inflation expectations in the wake of the war in Ukraine

This paper introduces structural VAR analysis as a tool for investigating the anchoring of inflation expectations. We show that US consumers' inflation expectations are anchored in the long run because macro-news shocks are long-run neutral for long-term inflation expectations. The identification of structural shocks helps to explain why inflation expectations deviate from the central bank's target. Our results indicate that the recent decline in long-term inflation expectations does not result from deanchoring macro-news but can be attributed to downward adjustments in consumers' expectations about the central bank's inflation target.

We provide new insights on the formation of inflation expectations - in particular at a time of great financial and economic turmoil - by evaluating results from a survey conducted from July 2009 through July 2010. Participants in this survey answered a weekly questionnaire about their short-, medium- and long-term inflation expectations. Participants received common information sets with data relevant to euro area inflation. Our analysis of survey responses reveals several interesting results. First, our evidence is consistent with long-term expectations having remained well anchored to the ECB's definition of price stability, which acted as a focal point for long-term expectations. Second, the turmoil in euro area bond markets triggered by the Greek fiscal crisis influenced short- and mediumterm inflation expectations but had only a very small impact on long-term expectations. By contrast, long-term expectations did not react to developments of the euro area wide fiscal burden. Third, participants changed their expectations fairly frequently. The longer the horizon, the less frequent but larger these changes were. Fourth, expectations exhibit a large degree of time-variant non-normality. Fifth, inflation expectations appear fairly homogenous across groups of agents at the shorter horizon but less so at the medium- and long-term horizons.

This study examines the impact of macroeconomic shocks, represented by exchange rate volatility, on inflation expectations. Using data for the period 2006:04-2023:11 and the structural VAR method, the analysis examines the direct effect of macroeconomic shocks on short-term inflation expectations and the indirect effect on long-term inflation expectations. The results have shown that macroeconomic shocks have a direct effect on short-term inflation expectations and an indirect effect on long-term inflation expectations via short-term inflation expectations, which is referred to in the literature as the pass-through effect and shows that the uncertainty channel is active. Our results suggest that the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), which wants to keep short- and long-term inflation expectations under control, should also take into account macroeconomic shocks, represented by exchange rate shocks, when determining policy instruments.

This chapter examines whether the effects of a positive inflation expectations shock differ from those of an adverse aggregate supply shock. This includes assessing the role of positive aggregate demand shock and comparing it to those of the positive inflation expectations shock and an adverse aggregate supply shock. Evidence indicates that the concurrence of the adverse supply shocks and positive inflation expectations shocks can have devastating effects on economic activity. The repo rate is adjusted aggressively to a positive aggregate demand shock. This aggressive increase in the repo rate to a demand shock translates into a quick decline in the response of inflation expectations. Financial market participants do indeed believe that the monetary policy authority deals decisively with positive aggregate demand shocks. Hence, monetary policy conduct may have earned credibility in dealing with demand-driven inflationary shocks. But the absence of demand pressures plays a limited role in mitigating the inflationary effects of supply shocks and inflation expectations.

Long-term inflation expectations taken from the Survey of Professional Forecasters are a major source of information for monetary policy. Unfortunately, they are published only on a quarterly basis. This article investigates the daily information content of market-based measures, such as inflation-linked swaps and breakeven inflation rates, for the next survey outcome. Using a mixed data sampling approach, we find that professionals account for the daily dynamics of market-based measures when they submit their long-term inflation expectations. We propose a daily indicator of professionals’ inflation expectations that outperforms alternative indicators that ignore the high-frequency dynamics of market-based measures. To illustrate the usefulness of the new indicator, we provide new evidence on the (re-)anchoring of U.S. inflation expectations.