nÃo hà / O estudo analisa a dinÃmica recente da inflaÃÃo brasileira. Considerando ambientes distintos de expectativas, procura-se observar como um possÃvel comportamento discricionÃrio da autoridade monetÃria pode interferir nas expectativas forward-looking dos agentes e de que forma essa interferÃncia pode atuar sobre a resposta da inflaÃÃo Ãs oscilaÃÃes nos ciclos econÃmicos e nas expectativas backward-looking e forward-looking no arcabouÃo da CPNK. Para tal, faz-se uso de estimaÃÃes GMM-HAC da CPNK e de sua versÃo hÃbrida. Os resultados sugerem que, em um ambiente de maior incerteza, a inflaÃÃo tanto se mostra mais sensÃvel Ãs oscilaÃÃes nos ciclos econÃmicos como tem o seu componente inercial majorado. / This work analyzes the recent dynamics of Brazilian inflation expectations considering different environments to observe how a possible discretionary behavior of the monetary authority can interfere with forward-looking expectations of agents and how this interference can act on the response of inflation to fluctuations in economic cycles and the backward-looking and forward-looking expectations of agents in the NKPC framework. To do this, estimates of GMM-HAC and the NKPC, as well as its hybrid version, are used. The results suggest that in an environment of greate run certainty, inflation is shown to be much more sensitive to swings in economic cycles, as well as it shows an increase in its inertial component.

A presente tese é constituída de três ensaios que abordam duas relevantes questões que estão intrinsecamente relacionadas em macroeconomia: política monetária e inflação. No primeiro ensaio, nós procuramos averiguar não linearidades na função de reação do Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) através da estimação de regressões quantílicas inversa, sugerido por Wolters (2012) e proposto por Chernozhukov and Hansen (2005, 2006). Este método nos possibilitou detectar não linearidades na função de reação do BCB sem a necessidade de fazer suposições específicas acerca dos fatores que determinam essas não linearidades. Em específico, nós observamos que: i) a resposta da taxa de juros ao hiato da inflação corrente e esperada foi, em geral, mais forte na parte superior da distribuição condicional da taxa de juros Selic; ii) a resposta ao hiato do produto apresentou uma tendência crescente e significativa na parte inferior da distribuição condicional da taxa Selic; iii) a resposta do BCB à taxa de câmbio real foi positiva e mais elevada na cauda superior da distribuição condicional da taxa Selic. No segundo ensaio, nós investigamos a existência de não linearidades na função de reação do Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) decorrentes de incertezas desse policymaker acerca dos efeitos do hiato do produto sobre a inflação. Teoricamente, nós seguimos Tillmann (2011) para obter uma regra de política monetária ótima não linear que é robusta às incertezas acerca do trade-off produto-inflação na curva de Phillips. Além disso, nós realizamos testes de quebra estrutural para avaliar possíveis mudanças na condução da política monetária brasileira durante o regime de metas de inflação. Os resultados indicaram que: i) as incertezas acerca da inclinação na curva Phillips implicaram em não linearidades na função de reação do BCB; ii) não se pode rejeitar a hipótese de uma quebra estrutural nos parâmetros da regra monetária ocorrendo no terceiro trimestre de 2003; iii) houve um aumento na resposta da taxa Selic ao hiato do produto e uma redução da reação ao hiato da inflação corrente no regime Meirelles- Tombini; e iv) o BCB também tem reagido à taxa de câmbio durante o regime Meirelles- Tombini. No terceiro ensaio, nós procuramos analisar os determinantes da inflação no Brasil através da estimação da Curva de Phillips Novo-Keynesiana (CPNK) proposta por Blanchard e Galí (2007) e a versão padrão proposta por Galí e Gertler (1999). Além disso, realizamos testes de quebras estruturais para avaliar possíveis mudanças na dinâmica da inflação brasileira durante o período de 2002 a 2014. Os resultados indicaram que: i) os testes de quebra estrutural apontam a existência de pelo menos uma mudança estrutural nos coeficientes da CPNK; ii) o componente forward-looking da inflação é dominante, embora sua relevância tenha sido reduzida após 2004; iii) a taxa de desemprego tem afetado negativamente a inflação, embora seja observado uma redução desse impacto nos últimos anos; iv) as mudanças na taxa de câmbio apenas tiveram efeitos sobre a inflação na primeira subamostra e tem perdido relevância no período mais recente; v) o efeito do hiato do produto sobre a inflação corrente diminuiu nos anos recentes; vi) em geral, nós rejeitamos a hipótese nula de uma curva de Phillips vertical no longo prazo a um nível de significância de 5%, mas não a 1%. / This thesis is composed of three essays to address two important issues that are intricately related in macroeconomics: monetary policy and inflation. In the first essay, we seek to investigate nonlinearities in the reaction function of the Central Bank of Brazil (CBB) by estimating inverse quantile regressions (IVQR), suggested by Wolters (2012) and proposed by Chernozhukov and Hansen (2005, 2006). This method enabled us to detect nonlinearities in the CBB’s reaction function without the need to make specific assumptions about the factors that determine these nonlinearities. In particular, we observed that: i) the response of the interest rate to the current and expected inflation was, in general, stronger in the upper tail of the conditional interest rate distribution; ii) the response to the output gap showed a growing and significant trend in the lower tail of the conditional Selic rate distribution; iii) the response of the CBB to the real exchange rate was positive and higher in the upper tail of the conditional Selic rate distribution. In the second essay, we investigate the existence of nonlinearities in the reaction function of the Central Bank of Brazil (CBB) arising from this policymaker’s uncertainties about the effects of the output gap on inflation. Theoretically, we follow Tillmann (2011) to obtain a nonlinear optimal monetary policy rule that is robust to uncertainty about the output-inflation trade-off of the Phillips Curve In addition, we perform structural break tests to assess possible changes in the conduct of the Brazilian monetary policy during the inflation-targeting regime. The results indicate that: i) the uncertainties about the slope in the Phillips curve implied nonlinearities in the CBB’s reaction function; ii) we cannot reject the hypothesis of a structural break in the monetary rule parameters occurring in the third quarter of 2003; iii) there was an increase in the response of the Selic rate to output gap and a weaker response to the current inflation gap in Meirelles Tombini’s administration; and iv) the CBB has also reacted to the exchange rate in Meirelles-Tombini’s administration. In the third essay, we proposed to analyze the determinants of inflation in Brazil through the estimation of the new Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) proposed by Blanchard and Galí (2007) and the standard version proposed by Galí and Gertler (1999). In addition, we perform structural break tests to assess possible changes in the dynamics of inflation in Brazil during the period 2002 to 2014. The results indicated that: i) structural break tests indicate the existence of at least one structural change in the coefficients of NKPC ; ii) the forward-looking component of inflation is dominant, though its importance has been reduced after 2004; iii) the unemployment rate has negatively affected inflation, although a reduction of this impact has been observed in recent years; iv) changes in the rate of exchange only had effects on inflation in the first subsample and losing relevance in the most recent period; v) the effect of the output gap on the current inflation has declined in recent years; vi) overall, we reject the null hypothesis of a vertical Phillips curve in the long term at a significance level of 5%, but not 1%.

Uma das principais preocupações da macroeconomia é a compreensão da dinâmica da inflação no curto prazo. Entender como a inflação se relaciona com a atividade econômica é decisivo para traçar estratégias de desinflação, assim como, de determinação da trajetória de política monetária. Uma questão que surge é qual a forma exata da relação inflação-produto. Ou seja, podemos caracterizar essa relação como não linear? Se sim, qual a forma dessa não linearidade? Para responder a essas perguntas, estimou-se a relação inflação-produto de forma não-paramétrica através de um local linear kernel estimator. O resultado da estimação gerou uma forma funcional a qual foi aproximada pela estimação, via GMM, de uma curva de Phillips Novo-Keynesiana Híbrida. Essa abordagem foi aplicada para o Brasil a partir de 2000. As estimações sugeriram que a dinâmica da inflação brasileira é melhor descrita quando adiciona-se um termo cúbico relativo ao hiato do produto, ou seja, a inflação brasileira mostrou-se state-dependent. / One of the most important macroeconomics’ concerns is the comprehension about sort-run inflation dynamic. To understand how inflation relates to economic activity is crucial to decision-making in disinflation strategies, as well as in monetary policy paths. A question that arises is what does real form of relation inflation-output trade-off? Could one characterize it as a non-linear relation? If does, what is the shape of this non-linear relation? To answer those questions, we estimate the inflation-output relation non-parametrically using a local linear kernel estimator. The functional form achieved was approximated by a New-Keynesian Hybrid Phillips Curve, which one was estimated by GMM. This approach was applied to Brazil since 2000. We have found evidence that Brazilian inflation dynamic is better described adding a cubic term related to output gap, in other words, the Brazilian inflation is state-dependent.

Utilizando a survey junto ao consumidor da universidade de Michigan, obtivemos dados a respeito das expectativas dos agentes não só sobre inflação, mas também sobre nível de atividade (os estudos de Roberts (1997) utilizaram apenas os dados de survey sobre expectativas inflacionárias). Verificamos, então, que grande parcela do custo das estabilizações dos EUA foi antecipado pela maior parte dos agentes, o que nos levou a rejeitar os modelos de Taylor (1979, 1980) e de Calvo (1983), mesmo em suas versões com as hipóteses de falta de credibilidade e informação homogeneamente defasada. Em seguida discutimos como um modelo com fairness, pode explicar este quebra cabeças. Finalmente, examinamos, três possíveis fatores (mutuamente compatíveis): a hipótese de que parte da população tenha expectativas inconsistentes, incerteza knightiana e o modelo com fairness. Nossos resultados empíricos penderam a favor de uma combinação de pelo menos uma das duas últimas alternativas com a primeira. / Using the Michigan Universitys consumer survey, we obtained data about agents expectations of both inflation and output (the latter had not been used in Roberts (1997) studies). With this, we were able to verify that a great part of the sacrifice ratios of the US stabilizations were anticipated by common agents, rejecting the Taylor (1979, 1980) and Calvo (1983) models and, with it, the hypothesis that the only reasons underlying them are staggered contracts, homogeneous sticky information and lack in credibility. WE, then, discuss how a model with fairness can explain this puzzle. Finally, we examine three (mutually consistent) factors: the hipothesis that part of the population have inconsistent expectatitons, Knightian uncertainty and te model with fairness. The results favored the combination of at least one of the two latter alternatives with te former.

This thesis estimates the treatment effect of inflation targeting adoption on inflation, inflation variability, output, and output variability for 25 explicit inflation targeting countries. I implement the propensity score matching methodology that takes into account the problems of non-experimental nature, such as selection bias or selection on observable, and allows me to effectively mimic properties of randomized experiment and compute unbiased treatment effect estimates. I introduce a variety of propensity score matching methods that were recently developed in the treatment effect literature, including Nearest Neighbor, Radius matching, Kernel matching, and Inverse Probability Weighting. The results indicate that both industrial and developing inflation targeting countries exhibit lower inflation levels and at the same time higher output growth than non-targeting countries. The estimates are however in most cases statistically insignificant. Moreover, it appears that both industrial and developing countries achieve combination of lower inflation variability and output variability compared to non-targeting countries. Nonetheless, majority of the estimates are again statistically insignificant. The results are to a small extent sensitive to the choice of propensity score matching method. Radius matching with tight calipers (r=0.005, r=0.001) tends to provide the most reliable estimates. Balancing properties of the models are reasonable and compared to the previous research the standardised biases are quantitatively better.

The relationship between inflation and unemployment, called the Phillips curve was used by several economies since 1960 as a key theoretical tool for the development of economic policies. The pioneering study by AW Phillips developed an empirical analysis with data on unemployment and change in wages in the UK, found a tradeoff between the variables, which enabled the economic policy makers choose between a low unemployment with high inflation and high unemployment with low inflation. However, in the 1970s, the theory of the Phillips Curve was put in check because of stagflation, the presence of high rates of inflation and unemployment. The changes in the economic scenario caused changes in the generation of socioeconomic data. Thus, the Phillips theory underwent theoretical changes over the years in order to further pursue its explanatory power. Given the above, the question arises whether the applicability of the Phillips curve is still appropriate for today's economies. This study estimated a Phillips curve for the Brazilian economy in the 2002-2013 period, using an econometric approach. The analysis consisted in the use of time series, by means of co-integration technique for data on inflation, unemployment in that period. The results, considering the variables applied, show that it was not possible to verify an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment in Brazil during the study period. It is intended in future work to add more variables to the model in order to get Phillips curve estimates for Brazil more significant. / A relação entre inflação e desemprego, denominada curva de Phillips foi utilizada por diversas economias a partir de 1960 como uma ferramenta teórica fundamental na elaboração de políticas econômicas. O estudo pioneiro de A. W. Phillips que elaborou uma análise empírica com dados sobre desemprego e variação dos salários no Reino Unido, constatou um trade off entre as variáveis, que possibilitou aos formuladores de políticas econômicas escolher entre um baixo desemprego com alta inflação ou alto desemprego com baixa inflação. Porém, na década de 1970, a teoria da Curva de Phillips foi colocada em cheque em decorrência da estagflação, presença de altas taxas de inflação e de desemprego. As mudanças no cenário econômico provocavam alterações na geração dos dados socioeconômicos. Deste modo, a teoria de Phillips passou por transformações teóricas com o passar dos anos a fim de continuar válido o seu poder explicativo. Diante do exposto, surge a questão se a aplicabilidade da curva de Phillips continua adequada para as economias atuais. O presente estudo estimou uma curva de Phillips para economia brasileira no período de 2002 a 2013, utilizando uma abordagem econométrica. A análise consistiu na utilização de séries temporais, por meio da técnica de co-integração para os dados sobre inflação e desemprego no período citado. Os resultados obtidos, considerando as variáveis aplicadas, demonstram que não foi possível verificar uma relação inversa entre inflação e desemprego no Brasil durante o período analisado. Pretende-se em trabalho futuro acrescentar mais variáveis ao modelo a fim de obter estimativas de curva de Phillips para o Brasil mais significativas.

My dissertation within monetary macroeconomics focuses on uncovering the impact of micro level heterogeneity in household wealth portfolios and firm size on aggregate macroeconomic variables. Using household- and firm-level datasets, I study these outcomes in the context of exploring the effects of monetary policy shocks. Most macroeconomic models use a representative agent framework to study the effects of monetary policy. In such models all consumers are assumed to be similar, therefore, it is only required to know the size of the monetary policy shock and its average impact to estimate the overall effect. But recent literature has emphasized the importance of agent heterogeneity for explaining observed aggregate dynamics and optimal policy design. Here, it matters which consumers get the extra income as people react differently to the shock. In a model with a realistically calibrated household balance sheet, monetary policy has redistribution effects because different agents have differential exposure to the interest rate and inflation risk born in their portfolios. For example, short-term or nominal borrowers will win from a sudden decrease in the interest rate and a sudden increase in inflation, while short-term lenders or nominal lenders will lose. In the first chapter of the dissertation, co authored with Anastasia Burya, we study the effect of heterogeneity in consumers' portfolios on the unemployment response to monetary policy. We develop a search efforts model with heterogeneous agents and then decompose the effect of the monetary policy shock on aggregate unemployment. The direction and the magnitude of the wealth effect will determine whether people search for jobs more actively after a monetary contraction. For example, if unemployed consumers are indebted, they experience a negative wealth effect after a contraction, search for jobs more actively and increase their probability of finding a job, therefore, reducing unemployment. In this framework, the sign of the overall effect of monetary policy on unemployment will depend on whether unemployed consumers are indebted and the magnitude of their debt. We test the prediction of the model in both micro and aggregate data. To test the prediction of the model in the micro data using the PSID panel dataset, we estimate the coefficient of the interaction term between various mortgage measures and Romer \& Romer monetary policy shocks while looking at five main transition probabilities that indicate a higher increase in search efforts for indebted people after a monetary contraction: dynamic transition probability of moving from non employment to employment, moving from non participation in the labor force to employment, remaining a non participant in the labor force, remaining unemployed and taking up an extra job. In the aggregate data, we use a similar estimation approach with debt to income ratio. We also subject this to a variety of checks using age and Saiz instruments for increased robustness. In the second chapter of the dissertation, co-authored with Anastasia Burya and Martsella Davitaya, we show that inflation expectations are anchored. If inflation expectations are anchored, then their sensitivity to monetary policy should be smaller than if they are de-anchored. When the Fed pursues inflation targeting, the market expectations of Fed's reaction should affect the response to current monetary policy shocks. We use daily bond yield data to show that the sensitivity of inflation expectations to monetary policy is lower if the Fed is more responsive to inflation during the previous CPI release. Intuitively, the Fed announcement leading to a rate change that is higher than expected from the CPI release indicates that the markets expect the Fed to react more aggressively in the future. Therefore, markets do not adjust inflation expectations as much (leading to anchored inflation expectations). The empirical strategy consists of two steps. First, we measure market expectations about the Fed's reaction to inflation by regressing the changes of different interest rates around the CPI release dates on the surprise change in CPI. Second, we estimate the sensitivity of inflation expectations' response to monetary policy based on the expectations about the Fed's reaction to inflation. Product markets are characterized by the significant heterogeneity of demand elasticity between large and small firms. In many cases, the ability of larger firms to dictate prices is such that they are able to charge higher markups. In the third chapter, co-authored with Anastasia Burya, we develop a simple model of firms with heterogeneous market power. We connect the recent trend of increasing market power to the flattening of the Phillips Curve through the decreasing aggregate pass-through. We explore the sufficient statistic arising from this model and then proceed to estimate it in the data. Here, we consider heterogeneity in demand elasticity and superelasticity. In the recent literature as well, papers such as Baqaee, Farhi and Sangani (2021) and Wang and Werning (2020) have brought to attention that certain parameters of demand are important for various macroeconomic dynamics such as the flattening of the Phillips Curve. It was also shown that the degree of these effects depends on the demand parameters, such as elasticity and superelasticity. We estimate these parameters in a novel format using an empirical procedure called Granular IV, which was first described in Gabaix and Koijen (2020) and makes use of the fact that in reality, unlike baseline macroeconomic models, some firms are big enough to impact the aggregates. For this estimation, we use firm-level price data from ACNielsen Retail Scanner database. Employing the novel empirical approach we estimate these relevant demand parameters. We estimate a demand elasticity of 3.23, in line with the literature. Our estimate for super elasticity is 3.74 which is in line with Marshall's second law of demand and for constant superelasticity parametrisation would signify the curvature of the demand curve between that of CES and linear demand.

The purpose of the thesis is to introduce novel measure of real marginal cost in the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) and compares its performance with conventional mea- sures such as output gap and labour share of income. Real marginal cost is derived from a flexible function whereas labour share is based on restrictive assumption of Cobb-Douglas technology. Dynamic correlations and results of NKPC indicate that real marginal cost is better than ad hoc measure of output gap and labour share. Given the heterogeneity in price setting behaviour across sectors, cost functions and NKPC are estimated for the agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors of Pakistan's economy. Real marginal cost is derived from static and dynamic cost functions. In the presence of adjustment costs, dynamic cost functions that are consistent and integrated with their static systems are required. Such dynamic translog cost functions are estimated after testing the theoretical properties and existence of long term relationships in the static functions. Cost attributes, marginal cost, total factor productivity, technological progress, demand and substitution elasticities are derived from static and dynamic functions. Three specifications of forward looking and hybrid form of the Phillips curves are estimated with real marginal cost, output gap and labour share. Results indicate that hybrid specifications perform better than the forward looking models in terms of goodness of fit and statistical significance. Further, comparison of Phillips curves estimated with real marginal cost, output gap and labour share indicate that real marginal cost performs better in explaining inflation dynamics in Pakistan. The results indicate that forward looking behaviour dominates and high level of nominal rigidities persists in Pakistan. Finally, hybrid form of the NKPC is estimated for a panel of sixteen Asian economies. With the consideration of heterogeneity and aggregation bias, the mean group, random coefficient and weighted average coefficients are derived from individual estimates. The unobserved time variant common factors cause cross correlation in the errors that may lead towards inconsistent estimates. Therefore, cross section averages of the explanatory and the dependent variables are augmented in hybrid specification to capture the effect of latent variables. Findings suggest that the discount factor is almost 0.94, the nominal rigidities are 33% and the weights of expected and past inflation are 66% and 33% respectively. Nominal rigidities of the Asian economies are lower than the estimates for US and Euro areas. The weights of expected and past inflation of the Asian economies are consistent with the US but lower than the estimates from the Euro areas.

The dissertation contains essays concerning the linkages between macroeconomy and financial market or the conduct of monetary policy via DSGE modelling. The dissertation contributes to the questions of fitting macroeconomic models to the data, and so contributes to our understanding of the driving forces of fluctuations in macroeconomic and financial variables. Chapter one offers an introduction to my thesis and outlines in detail the main results and methodologies. In Chapter two I introduce a statistical measure for model evaluation and selection based on the full information of sample second moments in data. A model is said to outperform its counterpart if it produces closer similarity in simulated data variance-covariance matrix when compared with the actual data. The "distance method" is generally feasible and simple to conduct. A flexible price two-sector open economy model is studied to match the observed puzzles of international finance data. The statistical distance approach favours a model with dominant role played by the expectational errors in foreign exchange market which breaks the international interest rate parity. Chapter three applies the distance approach to a New Keynesian model augmented with habit formation and backward-looking component of pricing behaviour. A macro-finance model of yield curve is developed to showcase the dynamics of implied forward yields. This exercise, with the distance approach, reiterate the inability of macro model in explaining yield curve dynamics. The method also reveals remarkable interconnection between real quantity and bond yield slope. In Chapter four I study a general equilibrium business cycle model with sticky prices and labour market rigidities. With costly matching on labour market, output responds in a hump-shaped and persistent manner to monetary shocks and the resulting Phillips curve seems to radically change the scope for monetary policy because (i) there are speed limit effects for policy and (ii) there is a cost channel for monetary policy. Labour reforms such as in mid-1980s UK can trigger more effective monetary policy. Research on monetary policy shall pay greater attention to output when labour market adjustments are persistent. Chapter five analyzes the link between money and financial spread, which is oft missed in specification of monetary policy making analysis. When liquidity provision by banks dominates the demand for money from the real economy, money may contain information of future output and inflation due to its impact on financial spreads. I use a sign-restriction Bayesian VAR estimation to separate the liquidity provision impact from money market equilibrium. The decomposition exercise shows supply shocks dominate the money-price nexus in the short to medium term. It also uncovers distinctive policy stance of two central banks. Finally Chapter six concludes, providing a brief summary of the research work as well as a discussion of potential limitations and possible directions for future research.

Une forte croissance économique en Chine et son rôle important dans le commerce mondial impliquent que nous devons analyser son inflation avec les pressions intérieures et extérieures. Tandis que les papiers récents ont concentrés leur travail sur les processus d'inflation en Chine en utilisant des données nationales (voir, par exemple Brandt et Zhu, 2000; Feyzioglu & Willard, 2006; Porter, 2010), très peu d'attention a été mise sur l'inflation entre les différentes juridictions Chinoises. Ainsi, la compréhension de la dynamique de l'inflation et ses interactions entre les juridictions Chinoise sont des questions importantes pour les décisions des banques centrales en matière de politique monétaire. Dans ma thèse, tout d'abord, en considérant les pressions intérieures et extérieures de l'inflation, j'analyse les dynamiques de l'inflation entre les juridictions Chinoises (Chapitre 3). Ensuite, grâce à la libre circulation des biens et les migrations intérieures en Chine, je m'intéresse aux effets d'interactions de l'inflation à travers le pays avec les pressions intérieures et extérieures (Chapitre 4). Enfin, nous conjuguons la variation provinciale dans la dynamique de l'inflation Chinoise et les caractéristiques d'économie ouverte en estimant la courbe de Phillips hybride dans l'économie ouverte pour les provinces chinoises (Chapitre 5). / China's swift economic development and share in global trade increasing rapidly imply a need to understand its inflation dynamics with internal and external pressures. While recent papers focus on inflation process analysis in the mainland of China by using a country-level data (see, e.g. Brandt & Zhu, 2000; Feyzioğlu & Willard, 2006; Porter, 2010), less attention has been paid to differences across China's jurisdictions. Thus, understanding of inflation dynamics and its interaction among the Chinese provinces are the important issues for central bank's monetary policy decisions. Firstly, considering the internal and external inflation pressures, I analyze the inflation dynamics among the CMU (Chapter 3). Secondly, because of the free flow of goods and internal migration across the country, I'm interested in analyzing the effect of inflation interaction among its provinces with internal and external pressures (Chapter 4). Finally, we combine the interest in the provincial variation in China's inflation dynamics with its characteristic of economic openness by estimating hybrid open-economy Phillips curves for the Chinese provinces(Chapter 5).