29.01.2015 Views

1fAWAwx

1fAWAwx

1fAWAwx

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

price inflation and a measure of economic slack. Estimating this model<br />

through 2007, then simulating it using the actual unemployment rate<br />

post-2007, but not using prices during that period (a method referred to<br />

as a dynamic simulation), permits judging whether the actual inflation<br />

path accords with what would have been predicted based on historical<br />

experience. As the Figure below shows, when the dynamic simulation<br />

is conducted using the total unemployment rate, the historical relationship<br />

would have predicted substantially more disinflation than actually<br />

occurred. In contrast, there is no missing disinflation when the measure<br />

of economic slack is the short-term unemployment rate. The wage-price<br />

Phillips curve in the figure above, and the dynamic price Phillips curve<br />

forecasts in the figure below, suggest that the short-term unemployment<br />

rate might be a better measure of effective economic slack than the longterm<br />

unemployment rate.<br />

Core Consumer Price Inflation: Actual vs. Predicted, 2006‒2013<br />

4-quarter change<br />

3.0<br />

2013:Q4<br />

2.5<br />

2.0<br />

Predicted using short-term<br />

unemployment rate<br />

1.5<br />

Actual<br />

1.0<br />

0.5<br />

Predicted using official<br />

unemployment rate<br />

0.0<br />

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013<br />

Note: Dynamic simulation of price-price Phillips Curve. Core consumer price inflation is measured by<br />

the price index for consumer spending excluding food and energy in the National Income Accounts.<br />

Shading denotes recession.<br />

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey; Bureau of Economic Analysis, National<br />

Income and Product Accounts; CEA calculations.<br />

who have been unemployed for more than six months. While the relationship<br />

between the overall unemployment rate and inflation in recent years is<br />

puzzling, the relationship between short-term unemployment and inflation<br />

is less so, as discussed in Box 2-4.<br />

The Year In Review And The Years Ahead | 83

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!