Are central banks' projections meaningful?

"Central banks' projections–i.e. forecasts conditional on a given interest rate path–are often criticized on the grounds that their underlying policy assumptions are inconsistent with the existence of a unique equilibrium in many forward-looking models. Here I describe three alternative ap...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Galí, Jordi
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, MA 2010
NBER
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19183484124919016669-are-central-banks-projections-.htm
Description
Summary:"Central banks' projections–i.e. forecasts conditional on a given interest rate path–are often criticized on the grounds that their underlying policy assumptions are inconsistent with the existence of a unique equilibrium in many forward-looking models. Here I describe three alternative approaches to constructing projections that are not subject to the above criticism, using two different versions of New Keynesian model as reference frameworks. Most importantly, I show how the three approaches generate different projections for inflation and output, even though they imply an identical path for the interest rate. The latter result calls into question the meaning and usefulness of such projections. "
Physical Description:21 p.
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