Working papers

Disclaimer: the view expresses here do not necessarily represent those of my employer

Abstract. We propose a consumption-based model that allows for an inverted term structure of real and nominal risk-free rates. In our framework, the agent is subject to time-varying macroeconomic risk, and interest rates at all maturities depend on her risk perception which shape saving propensities over time. In bad times, when risk is perceived to be higher in the short- than the long-term, the agent would prefer to hedge against low realizations of consumption in the near future investing in long-term securities. This entails, in equilibrium, the inversion of the yield curve. Pricing time-varying consumption volatility risk is essential to obtain the inversion of the real curve and allows to price the average level and slope of the nominal one.

Abstract. The recent debate about the falling labor share has brought the attention to the income shares' trends, but less attention has been devoted to their variability. In this paper, we analyze how their fluctuations can be insured between workers and capitalists, and the corresponding implications for financial markets. We study a neoclassical growth model with aggregate shocks that affect income shares and financial frictions that prevent firms from fully insuring idiosyncratic risk. We examine theoretically how aggregate risk sharing is distorted by the combination of idiosyncratic risk and moving shares. Accumulation of safe assets by firms and risky assets by households emerges naturally as a tool to insure income shares' risk. We calibrate the model to the U.S. economy and show that low rates, rising capital shares, and accumulation of safe assets by firms and risky assets by households can be rationalized by persistent shocks to the labor share.

Abstract. In this paper we empirically investigate the relationship between firms' inflation expectations and their willingness to invest. Using survey data on Italian firms we find that higher inflation expectations do exert a favorable effect on business investment decisions. While we document a minor role of the firm-level nominal borrowing cost, other determinants of investment expectations are significant, such as the credit markets' access conditions and the expected liquidity position of firms. Our results bear important implications for policymakers as they offer support to measures aimed at engineering higher inflation expectations in order to stimulate the economy.

Abstract. This paper studies optimal robust monetary policy when the central bank imperfectly observes potential output and has Knightian uncertainty about the intertemporal elasticity of substitution and the slope of the Phillips curve. The literature on optimal robust monetary policy has focused on either imperfect observability of some variables or on parameter uncertainty. We characterize robust monetary policy analytically under the two types of uncertainty and show that in general they call for a more aggressive reaction of monetary policy compared with the certainty case.

Abstract. We study euro-area risk-adjusted expected inflation and the inflation risk premium at different maturities, leveraging inflation swaps, inflation options and survey-based forecasts. We introduce a model that features time-varying long-term average inflation and time-varying inflation volatility and we anchor market-based risk-adjusted measures of expected inflation to survey-based inflation forecasts. The results show that medium-term risk-adjusted expected inflation was close to the ECB's aim from 2010 to mid-2014, has since fallen to a low in March 2020 and has risen significantly since the second half of 2021. The medium-term inflation risk premium was positive until 2014 and turned negative since 2015 despite a sharp rise at the end of 2021. The risk-adjusted probabilities of exceeding the ECB's inflation aim and of seeing deflation over the medium term have been low on average.

Policy Papers

Disclaimer: the view expresses here do not necessarily represent those of my employer

Abstract. In this research note, we assess – both theoretically and empirically – whether net asset purchases by the ECB can further reduce term premiums and bond yields in the euro area. Theory says that, at the effective lower bound, the duration extracted by the central bank is no longer sufficient to assess the price impact of the purchases. In fact, we show empirically that their impact is state-contingent, and is smaller the more the shadow rate is below the short-rate lower bound, and the lower the volatility of bond yields. Nevertheless, central bank asset purchases are still effective in reducing long-term term premiums and bond yields. Moreover, in the euro area, there is room to reduce the duration held by the market. Overall, asset purchases remain a viable tool at the disposal of the ECB for exerting downward pressure on yields.

Abstract. The paper describes the monetary policy strategies adopted by central banks in the main advanced economies in the past two decades. Then, using a New Keynesian model calibrated to the euro area, it assesses the effectiveness of alternative monetary policy strategies in an environment, such as the current one, characterized by a relatively high probability that the policy rate hits its effective lower bound (ELB). All central banks under review target a small and positive inflation rate (typically 2%). In most cases, they set a point target, in some a range or a point surrounded by a band. According to our simulations, under an inflation targeting regime the inflation rate remains, on average, below target when the policy rate is close to the ELB; regimes according to which monetary policy takes into account the past inflation shortfalls from the target or reacts more aggressively to disinflationary shocks are better able to achieve the target.

Abstract. The ECB’s price stability mandate has been defined by the Treaty. But the Treaty has not spelled out what price stability precisely means. To make the mandate operational, the Governing Council has provided a quantitative definition in 1998 and a clarification in 2003. The landscape has changed notably compared to the time the strategy review was originally designed. At the time, the main concern of the Governing Council was to anchor inflation at low levels in face of the inflationary history of the previous decades. Over the last decade economic conditions have changed dramatically: the persistent low-inflation environment has created the concrete risk of de-anchoring of longer-term inflation expectations. Addressing low inflation is different from addressing high inflation. The ability of the ECB (and central banks globally) to provide the necessary accommodation to maintain price stability has been tested by the lower bound on nominal interest rates in the context of the secular decline in the equilibrium real interest rate. Against this backdrop, this report analyses: the ECB’s performance as measured against its formulation of price stability; whether it is possible to identify a preferred level of steady-state inflation on the basis of optimality considerations; advantages and disadvantages of formulating the objective in terms of a focal point or a range, or having both; whether the medium-term orientation of the ECB’s policy can serve as a mechanism to cater for other considerations; how to strengthen, in the presence of the lower bound, the ECB’s leverage on private-sector expectations for inflation and the ECB’s future policy actions so that expectations can act as ‘automatic stabilisers’ and work alongside the central bank.

Abstract. This report discusses the role of the European Union’s full employment objective in the conduct of the ECB’s monetary policy. It first reviews a range of indicators of full employment, highlights the heterogeneity of labour market outcomes within different groups in the population and across countries, and documents the flatness of the Phillips curve in the euro area. In this context, it is stressed that labour market structures and trend labour market outcomes are primarily determined by national economic policies. The report then recalls that, in many circumstances, inflation and employment move together and pursuing price stability is conducive to supporting employment. However, in response to economic shocks that give rise to a temporary trade-off between employment and inflation stabilisation, the ECB’s medium-term orientation in pursuing price stability is shown to provide flexibility to contribute to the achievement of the EU’s full employment objective. Regarding the conduct of monetary policy in a low interest rate environment, model-based simulations suggest that history-dependent policy approaches − which have been proposed to overcome lasting shortfalls of inflation due to the effective lower bound on nominal interest rates by a more persistent policy response to disinflationary shocks − can help to bring employment closer to full employment, even though their effectiveness depends on the strength of the postulated expectations channels. Finally, the importance of employment income and wealth inequality in the transmission of monetary policy strengthens the case for more persistent or forceful easing policies (in pursuit of price stability) when interest rates are constrained by their lower bound.