Recent empirical work suggests that small price changes are relatively common. These findings have been used to evaluate competing theories of nominal price rigidities. In this paper we use micro data from the consumer price index and a scanner data set from a national supermarket chain to reassess the importance of small price changes. We argue that the vast majority of these changes are due t...

We explore the connection between shock observability and equilibrium. When aggregate shocks are unobserved the rational expectations solutions remain unchanged if contemporaneous aggregate outcomes are observable, but their stability under adaptive learning must be reconsidered. We obtain learning stability conditions and show that, provided there is not large positive expectational feedback, ...

When the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates binds, monetary policy cannot provide appropriate stimulus. We show that in the standard New Keynesian model, tax policy can deliver such stimulus at no cost and in a time-consistent manner. There is no need to use ine¢ cient policies such as wasteful public spending or future commitments to in‡ate. We conclude that in the New Keynesian model,...

This paper studies U.S. in‡ation adjustment speed to aggregate technology shocks and to monetary policy shocks in a medium size Bayesian VAR model. According to the model estimated on the 1959-2007 sample, in‡ation adjusts much faster to aggregate technology shocks than to monetary policy shocks. These results are robust to di¤erent identi…cation assumptions and measures of aggregate prices. Ho...

We build a model in which the Fed and market disagree about future aggregate demand. The anticipates monetary policy “mistakes,” affect current demand induce to partially accommodate market’s view. expects implement its view gradually. Announcements that reveal an unexpected change Fed’s belief provide microfoundation for shocks. Tantrum shocks arise when misinterprets overreacts announcement. ...

This study reports piezoelectric properties and crystallographic microstructures of aluminium nitride (AlN, wurtzite structure) thin films on 50 μm thick stainless steel foil. The transverse piezoelectric coefficient d31,f and e31,f of 10 μm thick AlN films were estimated as -1.42 ± 0.08 pm/V and -0.48 ± 0.03 C/m 2 from a tip displacement of the piezoelectric cantilevers. Dielectric constant ε3...

This paper shows that a zero-sum redistribution of wealth within a country can have persistent aggregate effects. Motivated by the case of an unanticipated inflation episode, we consider redistribution shocks that shift resources from old to young households. Aggregate effects arise because there are asymmetries in the reaction of winners and losers to changes in wealth. We focus on two sources...

This paper does two things. First, it shows both anecdotal and cross-country evidence that indicates that countries that have experienced hyperinflation display significantly lower long-term rates of inflation than countries that lack the same experience. Secondly, it presents a model to rationalize the main empirical finding. There is more than one mechanism through which the long-term effects...

We show that the New-Keynesian (NK) model of inflation can be interpreted as a forward-looking cointegrated model. This allows us to model firms’ expectations about marginal costs in a simple VAR framework and develop relatively simple formal tests of the model which bypass the econometric problems faced by other approaches. We show that a series of Granger-causality tests can indicate whether ...

We use a state-dependent model where pricing rules are optimal to examine the costs of a money-based disinflation under various assumptions about the credibility of the policy change. Our analysis allows us to relate actual credibility and future inflation inertia to the asymmetry of the price deviation distribution. An important implication of our statedependent setting is that disinflation ca...