Monetary Policy in Real Time

35 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2005

See all articles by Domenico Giannone

Domenico Giannone

International Monetary Fund (IMF); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Lucrezia Reichlin

London Business School; Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) - European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Central Bank (ECB)

Luca Sala

University of Bocconi - Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

We analyze the panel of the Greenbook forecasts (sample 1970-1996) and a large panel of monthly variables for the US (sample 1970-2003) and show that the bulk of dynamics of both the variables and their forecasts is explained by two shocks. Moreover, a two factor model which exploits, in real time, information on many time series to extract a two dimensional signal, produces a degree of forecasting accuracy of the federal funds rate similar to that of the markets, and, for output and inflation, similar to that of the Greenbook forecasts. This leads us to conclude that the stochastic dimension of the US economy is two. We also show that dimension two is generated by a real and nominal shock, with output mainly driven by the real shock and inflation by the nominal shock. The implication is that, by tracking any forecastable measure of real activity and price dynamics, the Central Bank can track all fundamental dynamics in the economy.

Keywords: Taylor rules, real time analysis, monetary policy, forecasting, large datasets

JEL Classification: C33, C53, E52, E58

Suggested Citation

Giannone, Domenico and Reichlin, Lucrezia and Sala, Luca, Monetary Policy in Real Time (March 2005). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4981, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=771965

Domenico Giannone

International Monetary Fund (IMF) ( email )

700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20431
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Lucrezia Reichlin (Contact Author)

London Business School ( email )

Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London, London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) - European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES) ( email )

Ave. Franklin D Roosevelt, 50 - C.P. 114
Brussels, B-1050
Belgium
+32 2 650 4221 (Phone)
+32 2 650 4475 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Luca Sala

University of Bocconi - Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER) ( email )

Via Roentgen 1
Milan, 20136
Italy
+39 02 5836 3326 (Phone)