By Leif Brubakk, Saskia ter Ellen, Ørjan Robstad and Hong Xu, Norges Bank.
Modern monetary policy is all about communication – and mostly about the future. Many central banks now engage in guiding the public on the future policy stance, so called forward guidance. A finding in both theoretical and empirical models is that a surprise increase in the current policy rate will lead to an economic contraction and a drop in inflation, at least after some time. But what about forward guidance? In simple textbook models, forward guidance is very powerful, even in the short run. These models also carry the puzzling prediction, coined the “the forward guidance puzzle”, that the macroeconomic effects today are larger the more forward the guidance.¹ For example, announcing a temporary increase in the policy rate in five years would have a stronger impact on inflation today than a similar change in the current policy rate. Continue reading