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Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 118 No. 2 2003

Measuring The Reaction of Monetary Policy to the Stock Market

R. Rigobon; B. Sack1,2

1 Federal Reserve · 2 Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Abstract

Movements in the stock market can have a significant impact on the macroeconomy and are therefore likely to be an important factor in the determination of monetary policy. However, little is known about the magnitude of the Federal Reserve's reaction to the stock market, in part because the simultaneous response of equity prices to interest rates makes it difficult to estimate. This paper uses an identification technique based on the heteroskedasticity of stock market returns to measure the reaction of monetary policy to the stock market. We find a significant policy response, with a 5 percent rise (fall) in the S&P 500 index increasing the likelihood of a 25 basis point tightening (easing) by about a half.

DOI
10.1162/003355303321675473
Volume
118
Issue
2
Pages
639-669
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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