The seminar will be held in the Visitor Centre, at 3 pm.
Lawrence Christiano
Northwestern University and National Bureau of Economic Research
Roberto Motto
European Central Bank
Massimo Rostagno
European Central Bank
Abstract
We describe a model we have estimated using US and Euro Area data, and use it to address a recent controversy. The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates much more vigorously in the recent recession than the European Central Bank did. By comparison with the Fed, it is claimed, the ECB stood by passively as the EA economy slumped. Our estimates indicate that because there is greater inertia in the ECB’s policy rule, the policy actions of the ECB actually had a greater stabilizing effect than those of the Fed. The ECB converted what would have been a severe recession into what turned out to be only an economic slowdown, without compromising its inflation objective. Another reason policy outcomes were different in the EA and the US,
is that the two economic regions were hit by different shocks.