Staff Working Paper No. 1,007
By Vania Esady
How do varying degrees of information frictions affect the transmission mechanism of monetary policy? Using non‑linear methods, I empirically find that during heightened disagreement, monetary policy has a smaller effect on inflation, yet more influence over output. As a proxy for information frictions, I use real GDP nowcast disagreement across professional forecasters. Significant nowcast disagreement indicates when it is difficult to observe the current economic state, or a period of high information rigidities. I develop a tractable theoretical model that shows rationally inattentive price‑setters produce this result. Improved central bank communication that reduces disagreement among economic agents can mitigate output losses when implementing disinflationary monetary policies.
Real and nominal effects of monetary shocks under time-varying disagreement
