• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.141-153
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• 1991

The optimal choice of the tax rate and the inflation rate framework is extended to yield relevant interpretations for the optimal fiscal and monetary policy regime in Korea. To study the relationship between the government budget and monetary growth in different environments of policy coordination, two models assuming different degrees of fiscal dominance are developed. By modelling differing institutional arrangements of the fiscal and the monetary authority from an optimal government finance viewpoint, we find the optimal relationship among some important fiscal and monetary variables. By testing the existence of the relationship empirically, we find the characteristics of the optimal policy-mix regime in Korea. The first model-the strong from of fiscal dominance-studies the optimal collection of seigniorage in a period-by-period optimization with standard assumptions on the income velocity of money, deriving a general testable result: the optimal inflation/tax rate ratio co-vary with the marginal revenue ratio. The second model-the weak form of fiscal dominance-studies an implication of the inflationary bias of discretionary monetary policy in the presence of fiscal side distortions. This model shows that the tax rate and the inflation rate can have a positive correlation. Empirical tests of the theoretical results are done for the Korean economy for 1972-1989 period. The test results show that the macroeconomic policy regime in Korea can be characterized by the strong form of fiscal dominance, implying the importance of the government budget in explaining money growth and inflation.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.337-370
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• 2018

This paper discusses the design of monetary policy in a New Keynesian small open economy framework by introducing nominal wage rigidities and incomplete exchange rate pass-through on import prices. Three main findings are summarized. First, with the existence of an incomplete exchange rate pass-through and nominal wage rigidities, the optimal policy is to seek to minimize the output gap, the variance of domestic price and wage inflation, as well as deviations from the law of one price. Second, the CPI inflation targeting Taylor rule is welfare enhancing when there is a technological shock to the economy. The exception occurs when there is a foreign income shock, which minimizes welfare losses under the domestic inflation targeting Taylor rule. Last, two stylized Taylor rules turn out to be a bad approximation, but the modified Taylor rules that respond to the unemployment gap rather than the output gap are a closer approximation to the optimal policy.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.301-335
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• 2014

In this paper, we consider a small open economy under the New Keynesian model with unemployment of Gal$\acute{i}$ (2011a, b) to discuss the design of the monetary policy. Our findings can be summarized in three parts. First, even with the existence of unemployment, the optimal policy is to minimize variance of domestic price inflation, wage inflation, and the output gap when both domestic price and wage are sticky. Second, stabilizing unemployment rate is important in reducing the welfare loss incurred by both technology and labor supply shocks. Therefore, introducing the unemployment rate as an another argument into the Taylor-rule type interest rate rule will be welfare-enhancing. Lastly, controlling CPI inflation is the best option when the policy is not allowed to respond to unemployment rate. Once the unemployment rate is controlled, however, stabilizing power of CPI inflation-based Taylor rule is diminished.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.117-133
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• 2007

This paper evaluates the efficiency of monetary policy in Korea within the framework of interest rate feedback rules. For this, a small open macroeconomic model is constructed in a similar fashion to Ball (1999). The model is shown to capture key features of the Korean economy well. Using this estimated model, optimal instrument rules are derived for a set of different monetary policy objectives. Empirical results find that the actual monetary policy in the class of instrument rules was not very effective in stabilizing the output gap relative to inflation. However, seemingly successful inflation stabilization observed in the data are not consistent with the policy rules as the reaction of the interest rate to inflation is very low. It also appears that the central bank did not react right to movements in the real exchange rate. This paper offers some suggestions for the conduct of monetary policy in Korea.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.81-106
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• 2014

This paper compares the monetary policy problem in open economies with that in closed economies. It is found that the monetary policy problems in open and closed economies are isomorphic even in the presence of distortions in a steady state and hence the optimal monetary policies have similar properties. On the other hand, the monetary policy maker in open economies has a distorted incentive to manipulate the terms-of-trade. Because of the additional distortion in open economies, there exist gains from international monetary policy cooperation even in the case of a unit intertemporal elasticity of substitution, in contrast to the literature that abstracts from distortions in a steady state. Also, it is found that in the presence of distortions inflation bias is decreasing in openness, which is line with empirical evidence. In addition, this paper presents a simple transformation so that methods in closed-economy models are easily applicable to open-economy models.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.49-67
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• 2008

In this paper, we address the problem of optimal monetary policy rule in the presence of abrupt shifts in the structure of the economy. To do so, we first estimate a Markov switching model for the US housing price inflation, and find evidence supporting the presence of two distinct regimes for the US housing price inflation. One of the two regimes identified appears 'usual', in that housing price inflation negatively responds to higher real interest rate. The other regime is 'unusual', in that the housing price inflation is positively related with real interest rate. We then solve an optimal control problem of the FRB under the presence of the two regimes thus identified. The optimal policy is 'asymmetric' in that the optimal responses in the 'usual' regime require the FRB to lean against the wind to inflationary pressure, while the FRB is recommended to accommodate it in the unusual regime. It is also found that the optimal degree of responses is more conservative when the FRB acknowledges the uncertainty about future regime.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.91-102
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• 2020

The study investigates the relationship between the inflation rate and economic growth to find out the optimal inflation threshold for economic growth. Therefore, this study applied an ordinary least square model (OLS) and the ordinal regression model, and collected the time-series data from 1996 to 2017 to test the relationship between inflation and economic growth in the short-term and long-term. The sample fits the model and is statistically significant. The study showed that 96.6% of correlation between inflation rate and economic growth are close and 4.5% of optimal inflation threshold is appropriate for economic growth. It finds that the optimal inflation threshold is base to perform economic growth, besides the inflation rate is positively related to economic growth. The results support the monetary policy appropriately. This study identifies issues for Government to consider: have a comprehensive solution among macroeconomic policies, monetary policy, fiscal policy and other policies to control and maintain the inflation and stimulate growth; have appropriate policies to regulate inflation to stimulate economic growth over the long term; set a priority goal for sustainable economic growth; not pursue economic growth by maintaining the inflation rate in the long term, but take appropriate measures to stabilize the inflation at the optimal inflation threshold.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.19-40
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• 2017

This paper analyzes the interaction between monetary and macroprudential policies mainly in the context of the non-cooperation among policy authorities. Each policy authority's optimal response is to tighten its policy measures when other authorities' policy measures are loosened. This indicates that the two policies are substitutes for each other. This result still holds when an additional financial stability mandate is assigned to the central bank. The condition for the response functions to converge to a Nash equilibrium state is analyzed along with the speed of convergence, showing that they depend on the authorities' preferences and the number of mandates assigned to policy authorities. If the financial supervisory authority (FSA) assigns greater importance to the output gap or a stronger financial stability mandate is assigned to the central bank (CB), the probability of non-convergence increases and the speed of convergence declines even when the condition of convergence is satisfied. Meanwhile, if the CB considers output stability as an important task, the probability of convergence and the speed of converging to a state of equilibrium are high. Finally, when a single mandate or small number of mandates is/are assigned to each authority, stability is more quickly restored as compared to when many mandates are assigned.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-53
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• 2019

This paper examines monetary policy quantitatively in a two-agent and small-scale New-Keynesian economy with debt-constrained households that cannot smooth their consumption intertemporally and frictionlessly since highly indebted households are not allowed to borrow above a certain debt ceiling in incomplete financial markets without additional risk premiums due to information asymmetry between savers and borrowers. We find that, in the event of cost shocks, the asymmetric responses of borrowing households without, and saving households with, dividend incomes lead to different labor supplies and consumptions over heterogeneous households, and eventually to an extension of the monetary policy transmission channels. The income effect and low elasticity of the labor supply play key roles in such asymmetric responses over heterogeneous households. We also find that the social welfare in a flexible inflation targeting (FIT) monetary policy, in which both the inflation gap and the output gap are considered in an integrated manner when policy-making, is similar to that of the Ramsey optimal monetary policy (ROP), in which the shares of debt-constrained households, as well as all economic states, including both the inflation gap and output gap, are considered comprehensively for policy-making, and that it is greater than that of simple inflation targeting (SIT) monetary policy, in which only the inflation gap is considered mechanically for policy-making. Such social welfare implies that a FIT policy may still work even in an economy with a sizable number of debt-constrained households. Further, the responses of cost shocks to consumption and labor supply are dying out more slowly under FIT and ROP policies than under an SIT policy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.219-228
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• 2020

The study investigates the impact of inflation rate on economic growth to find the best-fit model for economic growth in Vietnam. The study applied Vector Autoregressive (VAR), cointegration models, and unit root test for the time-series data from 1996 to 2018 to test the inflation impact on the economic growth in the short and long term. The study showed that the two variables are stationary at lag first difference I(1) with 1%, 5% and 10%; trace test indicates two cointegrating equations at the 0.05 level, the INF does not granger cause GDP, the optimal lag I(1) and the variables are closely related as R2 is 72%. It finds that the VAR model's results are the basis to perform economic growth; besides, the inflation rate is positively related to economic growth. The results support the monetary policy. This study identifies issues for Government to consider: have a comprehensive solution among macroeconomic policies, monetary policy, fiscal policy and other policies to control and maintain the inflation and stimulate growth; set a priority goal for sustainable economic growth; not pursue economic growth by maintaining the inflation rate in the long term, but take appropriate measures to stabilize the inflation at the best-fitted VAR forecast model.