Monetary Policy Shocks Research Articles

How do analyst recommendations on banks respond to monetary policy news? An application to the Eurozone

ABSTRACT We assess the extent to which stock analysts consider European Central Bank monetary policy decisions when formulating their investment recommendations on European banks from 2002 to 2020. To identify monetary policy shocks, we extract monetary policy factors from high-frequency rate movements surrounding monetary policy announcements. Our findings indicate that stock analysts are more concerned with non-standard (or unconventional) monetary policy measures than standard policy measures. We also demonstrate that analysts interpret restrictive (accommodative) monetary surprises as positive (negative) news for bank financial health, particularly during periods characterized by high levels of financial uncertainty. Finally, we emphasize that the reaction of stock recommendations to rate- and forward guidance-related decisions is primarily influenced by the implicit disclosure of information on the economic outlook by the ECB along with its monetary policy decision.

The Rise of AI Pricing: Trends, Driving Forces, and Implications for Firm Performance

We document key stylized facts about the time-series trends and cross-sectional distributions of AI pricing and study its implications for firm performance, both on average and conditional on monetary policy shocks. We use the universe of online job posting data from Lightcast to measure the adoption of AI pricing. We infer that a firm is adopting AI pricing if it posts a job opening that requires AI-related skills and contains the keyword “pricing.” At the aggregate level, the share of AI-pricing jobs in all pricing jobs has increased by more than tenfold since 2010. The increase in AI-pricing jobs has been broad-based, spreading to more industries than other types of AI jobs. At the firm level, larger and more productive firms are more likely to adopt AI pricing. Moreover, firms that adopted AI pricing experienced faster growth in sales, employment, assets, and markups, and their stock returns are also more sensitive to high-frequency monetary policy surprises than non-adopters. We show that these empirical observations can be rationalized by a simple model where a monopolist firm with incomplete information about the demand function invests in AI pricing to acquire information.

International transmission of monetary policy shocks and the bank lending channel: Evidence from Australia

International transmission of monetary policy shocks and the bank lending channel: Evidence from Australia

Monetary shocks and house prices in Europe

PurposeThe aim of this study is to analyse the effect of conventional and unconventional monetary policy shocks on housing price dynamics in Europe (2000–2020). We propose a pan-European comparative analysis at a city market level, contrary to the previous literature.Design/methodology/approachWe build a quarterly market dataset for 13 European cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, London, Birmingham and Manchester). We proceed in two steps. First, we develop a structural VAR (vector autoregression) model. Second, we conduct a forecast error variance decomposition analysis.FindingsWe show that a contractionary policy rate has a negative influence on house prices with relevant differences. A balance sheet shock displays a heterogeneous effect on housing prices. Globally, we observe that a conventional monetary policy shock explains a larger share of total housing price variance than an unconventional monetary policy shock. Finally, our results report that conventional and unconventional monetary policy shocks have a greater impact in more liberalized credit markets.Originality/valueWe develop a pan-European analysis of house prices at a market level for a sample of 13 European cities. A parsimonious structural VAR model is used to study the dynamics of conventional and unconventional monetary policies on house prices in major European markets: Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, London, Birmingham and Manchester. Our results highlighting the relative importance of conventional and unconventional monetary shocks, identify the existence of heterogeneous effects of monetary policies in European city markets.

Using functional shocks to assess conventional and unconventional monetary policy in Canada

AbstractWe develop a new series of Canadian monetary policy shocks for the time period 1986 to 2023. Our shocks are constructed as the daily change in the Nelson–Siegel yield curve factors on days of monetary policy events such as announcements of the short‐run policy rate and speeches by Bank of Canada officials. This allows us to look at both conventional and unconventional monetary policy. We find that tighter monetary policy lowers inflation and GDP. Monetary policy shocks, however, often twist the yield curve, potentially offsetting changes in the short‐run policy rate. Finally, speeches also tend to move the yield curve with similar effects on inflation and GDP as formal policy announcements.

Measuring the U.S. monetary noise shocks

AbstractAgents' beliefs regarding future monetary policy changes influence their current decisions. However, these expectations may not always materialize in the future. This study shows that the monetary fundamental shocks (exogenous changes consistent with expectations) stabilize output and inflation, while the noise shocks (biased beliefs that fail to be realized in the future) increase economic fluctuations. Moreover, factors that amplify financial frictions—the spread between the capital return of entrepreneurs and the risk‐free interest rate of a central bank—can increase anticipation effects associated with these two types of monetary policy shocks.

Is firm-level political risk priced in the corporate bond market?

We investigate whether political risk is priced in the cross-section of corporate bond returns by using a text-based measure of firm-level political risk. We document a positive and significant political risk premium after controlling for bond and firm characteristics, conventional risk factors, and exposure to aggregate economic policy uncertainty. Bonds with higher political and credit risk, as well as smaller, more illiquid, and longer maturity corporate bonds exhibit a larger political risk premium. Time-series analysis indicates that monetary policy shocks and common shocks in the equity and bond market exhibit a statistically significant and positive association with the political risk premium. Our findings reveal the importance of idiosyncratic political risk beyond common risk factors and aggregate economic policy uncertainty.

Monetary policy and house price heterogeneity: Evidence from the U.K

This paper investigates the effects of monetary policy shocks on regional house prices in the U.K. The empirical results indicate significant heterogeneity in the impact of monetary policy on regional house prices. Focusing on the source of heterogeneity, the paper suggests a demand-side factor to be a major driver. The regions with relatively affordable housing exhibit higher sensitivity to monetary policy than those with less affordable housing. The prevailing view that region-specific housing supply constraints and regional housing supply elasticity are responsible for the heterogeneous response of regional house prices to monetary policy shocks is not confirmed by the empirical findings.

Household Excess Savings and the Transmission of Monetary Policy

Household savings rose above trend in many developed countries after the onset of COVID-19. Given its link to aggregate consumption, the presence of these "excess savings" has raised questions about their implications for the transmission of monetary policy. Using a panel of euro-area economies and high-frequency monetary policy shocks, we document that household excess savings dampen the effects of monetary policy on economic activity and inflation, especially during the pandemic period. To rationalize our empirical findings, we build a New Keynesian model in which households use savings to self-insure against counter-cyclical unemployment and consumption risk.

WITHDRAWN: the Impact of Monetary Policy on the Liquidity of Bond Market——Based on Chinese Local Government Bond Market

The bond market serves dual roles in fiscal and financial spheres, playing a crucial role in coordinating monetary policy. This paper investigates the impact of quantitative and price-based monetary policies on the liquidity level of China’s bond market. A comprehensive index measuring the liquidity of the local bond market is constructed using a combination weighting method that integrates the entropy method and the coefficient of variation. Employing the time-varying stochastic volatility structure vector autoregression (TVP-SV-SVAR) model on data spanning from 2013 to 2021, the study empirically compares the impulse response of local bond market liquidity to monetary policy shocks. Findings reveal that both types of monetary policy operations exhibit asymmetric, nonlinear, and time-varying impacts on bond market liquidity. Quantitative monetary instruments induce deeper impulse responses, with longer-lasting effects. These conclusions offer insights for monetary policy reforms and bond market development in China.

A New Dataset of High-Frequency Monetary Policy Shocks

A New Dataset of High-Frequency Monetary Policy Shocks

Spillovers of U.S. monetary policy shocks on housing prices in nine emerging economies and their stabilizing capital controls

Spillovers of U.S. monetary policy shocks on housing prices in nine emerging economies and their stabilizing capital controls

Monetary policy and equity returns: The role of investor risk aversion

AbstractThis article examines the role of investor risk aversion in the transmission of monetary policy to stock returns based on U.S. data. Our results show that following an expansionary monetary policy shock, investor risk aversion falls, leading to a decrease in the equity risk premium and an increase in equity returns. Moreover, the returns of high‐beta stocks increase much more than those of low‐beta stocks. Finally, we investigate the mechanism through mutual fund flows. We find that high‐beta funds attract greater inflows in response to lower interest rates, and there is a positive relationship between fund returns and flows. Our findings have policy implications for financial stability.

A Bayesian vector-autoregressive application with time-varying parameters on the monetary shocks–production network nexus

ABSTRACT Transmission channels from monetary shocks might be identified by studying the features of the production network. The main aim of this paper is to provide insights about the role of production network into the propagation of monetary policy shocks in G7 economies. Time-varying Bayesian vector-autoregressions were built to compute impulse response functions of output to monetary policy shocks in these countries. Panel Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag Bound Approach based on Mean-Group estimator was used to assess the long and short-run connections between production network structure and various shocks associated to monetary policy in the period 2000–2018 and during the Great Recession (2007–2009). The results show that upstreamness is more significant than downstremness in the period 2000–2018, while the financial sector significantly contributed to the spread of various monetary shocks during the Great Recession.

Macroeconomic effects of monetary policy in Japan: an analysis using interest rate futures surprises

AbstractWe estimate the effects of monetary policy on the aggregate economy in Japan during the last three decades when the effective lower bound (ELB) on interest rates was occasionally binding. We use monetary policy surprises from the interest rate futures market as the external instrument to identify monetary policy shocks in the vector autoregressive model. We find that monetary policy has been effective in Japan during the last three decades, and the effect was more persistent in the ELB regime than in the non-ELB regime. In a simulation exercise, we further show that a New Keynesian model with forward guidance can replicate our empirical finding.

Stock market responses to unconventional monetary policy shocks

We assess the impact of forward guidance and large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) on stock market returns, finding that LSAP shocks during unconventional periods affect stock returns in a manner similar to federal funds rate (FFR) shocks during conventional periods.

Reactions of Energy Futures Market to Monetary Policies in UK

One of the principal factors influencing the direction of energy futures prices is frequently thought to be a nation’s monetary policy. Between January 1993 and December 2023, this article intends to empirically examine the energy futures market’s affiliation with monetary policy in the UK and the extent to which monetary policy shocks affected specific energy futures. As a start, monthly data on relevant macroeconomic indicators such as interest rates and the global energy price index are gathered to create a basic VAR model for identifying monetary policy shocks. Single energy futures prices are separately and independently added to the model as the last variable, and the influence of monetary policy on the energy futures market is subsequently inspected sequentially and independently. The influence of monetary policy shocks on energy futures prices is investigated using impulse response and variance decomposition analytic methods. Ultimately, the findings suggest that the prices of energy futures and monetary policy are positive correlated. Price fluctuations in energy futures are significantly and persistently influenced by monetary policy disruptions. However, it makes a minor contribution to the explanation of changes in the price of energy futures. The results offer empirical evidence that could be utilized to investigate energy futures markets through the lens of monetary policy.

Monetary policy shocks and the high-frequency network connectedness of stock markets

We study the high-frequency impact of monetary policy decisions on the structure of financial market networks, using 1-second return data for 10 industry-level equity indices in the United States. We find that FOMC meetings and policy surprises have a significant influence on network connectedness in returns, volatility, skewness, and kurtosis. The information related to policy decisions instantly shocks and is quickly dissipated throughout the financial network. Network connectedness shocks are positively impacted by the magnitude of interest rate surprises, with asymmetric effects by sign and nonlinear effects being weak. Our results have implications for monetary policy, systemic risk, and asset pricing.

Central bank information effects in Japan: the role of uncertainty channel

AbstractThis study identifies central bank information shocks and pure monetary policy shocks for Japan by combining high-frequency identification with sign restrictions. The empirical findings provide robust evidence of the central bank information effect in Japan. Specifically, the central bank’s optimistic outlook, conveyed through contractionary monetary actions, reduces economic uncertainty and leads to increases in stock prices and output. Additionally, changes in uncertainty play a significant role in the transmission of the central bank’s information effect. The overall impact of monetary policy and information shocks, as identified through our method, is found to be larger than that identified using conventional techniques such as Cholesky decomposition.

Set-Identified Structural Vector Autoregressions and the Effects of a 100 Basis Point Monetary Policy Shock

Abstract I estimate impulse responses to a 100 basis point US monetary policy shock using setidentified structural vector autoregressions. Identified sets for these responses may be unbounded when the identifying restrictions admit zero impact response of the federal funds rate following a standard-deviation shock. Such a zero response is always admissible when there are fewer sign and zero restrictions than endogenous variables. This is the case under existing restrictions on the systematic component of monetary policy, which consequently yield uninformative identified sets. Additional sign and narrative restrictions yield informative identified sets and imply smaller output responses than some previous estimates.