Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Financial economists have long debated whether monetary policy is neutral. This article addresses this question by examining how stock return data respond to monetary policy shocks. Monetary policy is measured by innovations in the federal funds rate and nonborrowed reserves, by narrative indicators, and by an event study of Federal Reserve policy changes. In every case the evidence indicates that expansionary policy increases ex post stock returns. Results from estimating a multifactor model also indicate that exposure to monetary policy increases an asset's ex ante return. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.