Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2018
Volume: 108
Issue: 9
Pages: 2477-2512

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

How does the economy respond to news about future policies or future fundamentals? Standard practice assumes that agents have common knowledge of such news and face no uncertainty about how others will respond. Relaxing this assumption attenuates the general-equilibrium effects of news and rationalizes a form of myopia at the aggregate level. We establish these insights within a class of games which nests, but is not limited to, the New Keynesian model. Our results help resolve the forward-guidance puzzle, offer a rationale for the front-loading of fiscal stimuli, and illustrate more broadly the fragility of predictions that rest on long series of forward-looking feedback loops.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:108:y:2018:i:9:p:2477-2512
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24