Discussion paper

DP15740 The Puzzling Change in the International Transmission of U.S. Macroeconomic Policy Shocks

We demonstrate a dramatic change over time in the international transmission of US monetary policy shocks. International spillovers from US interest rate policy have had a different nature since the 1990s than they did in post-Bretton Woods period. Our analysis is based on the a panel of 21 high income and emerging market economies. Prior to the 1990s, the US dollar appreciated, and ex-US industrial production declined, in response to increases in the US Federal Funds Rate, as predicted by textbook open economy models. The past decades have seen a shift, whereby increases in US interest rates depreciate the US dollar but stimulate the rest of the world economy. Results are robust to several identification methods. We sketch a simple theory of exchange rate determination in face of interest-elastic risk aversion that rationalizes these findings.

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Citation

Ilzetzki, E and K Jin (2021), ‘DP15740 The Puzzling Change in the International Transmission of U.S. Macroeconomic Policy Shocks‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 15740. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp15740