Monetary Policy, Doubts And Asset Prices

Asset prices and the equity premium might reflect doubts and pessimism. First, following productivity shocks, optimal policy in this model is more accommodating than in a standard New-Keynesian model, and may even inflate the equity premium. Second, asset-price movements improve the inflation-output trade-off so that average output can rise without increasing much average inflation. Finally, a strict inflation-targeting policy may result in lower average welfare than a more flexible inflation-targeting policy, which instead increases the co movements between inflation, asset prices and output growth.