The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank aggressively lowered interest rates during the recent crisis. Both actions were at odds with an anti-inflationary policy stance: in August 2007, inflation expectations were high, particularly in the United States. To explain these actions, we model an economy with a leveraged and regulated financial sector. We find optional Taylor rules using simulated GMM, and find rules consistent with a pro-inflationary reaction during financial crises and a standard output-inflation mandate for the central bank. Our results support procyclical regulation not because of adequacy concerns, but instead due to the impact on monetary policy. |
Abstract
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