Asymmetric Effects of Divisia Monetary Aggregates on Inflation in Iran: An Application of Markov Switching Method

Keynesian economists has focused on three types of asymmetric effects of monetary policy: (a) asymmetry related to the direction of the monetary policy action (positive and negative), (b) asymmetry related to the size of the monetary policy action (large and small); and (c) asymmetry related to the phase of business cycle in place at the time at which this policy was adopted. This study based on third group, examines the asymmetric effects of monetary gap on inflation in high and low inflation employing a Markov switching regime and P-star model to explain the behavior of inflation in Iran during 1990Q2- 2011Q3. Also, due to the role of money in measuring money stock and monetary gap, simple sum and Divisia monetary aggregates have been used. The results show that the effects of monetary gaps in inflation regimes are not same and investigated asymmetric. Also, these effects in high inflation regimes are weaker than low inflation regimes that it is opposite with conventional view. This matter could be have the reasons as the interruptions of the monetary policy effects, the instability of money demand and more importantly, reduction in velocity of money due to the stagnation in Iran's economy and increase in speculative activities. It is suggested that the Central Bank design the appropriate policies with these regimes. Also, results show that Divisia compared simple sum monetary aggregates is more efficiently. Thus, it seems that Divisia monetary aggregates is a better proxy for examination of the role of money in macroeconomic policies.