Chapter 25ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS1.Despite very low interest rates as a result of monetary easing, expenditures on consumer durables wereweak at this period of time, indicating that the interest rate channel, as it affected consumer durables, was not very healthy. As a result, the government instituted such programs in order to more directly stimulate spending in these areas.尽管由于货币宽松政策利率非常低，但在这段时间内，消费者耐用品支出疲软，这表明利率渠道，因为它影响了耐用消费品，并不是很健康。

因此，政府制定了这样的计划，以便更直接地刺激这些领域的支出。

2.Uncertain. Although consumption is the largest part of overall U.S. GDP, and there is no doubt that thesechannels can be important to monetary policy effectiveness, some may disagree with this statement. For instance, even though investment is closer to 15% of U.S. GDP, investment fluctuations are much more pronounced over the business cycle than changes in consumption, leading to the possibility that interest rate effects on investment could be potentially more important. In addition, proponents of the credit view believe that credit market effects are much more important than interest rate effects, and since the credit view primarily impacts investment, credit effects on investment could be potentially more powerful than consumption effects from monetary policy changes.不确定的。

尽管消费是整个美国GDP的最大组成部分，但毫无疑问，这些渠道对货币政策的有效性很重要，有些人可能不同意这种说法。

例如，即使投资接近美国GDP的15%，投资波动在商业周期中比消费变化更明显，这就导致了利率对投资的影响可能更重要。

此外，信用观点的支持者认为，信贷市场效应比利率效应更重要，而且由于信贷观点主要影响投资，信贷对投资的影响可能比货币政策变化带来的消费效应更强大。

3.If the central bank commits to a higher inflation policy while maintaining low nominal interest rates, thiswill raise inflation expectations and therefore lower real interest rates, even if the nominal interest rate is zero. In addition, the central bank can commit to keeping short-term interest rates low for a long time, which can have the effect of lowering longer-term nominal interest rates, which also reduces reallonger-term interest rates.如果央行在维持低名义利率的同时承诺提高通胀政策，这将提高通胀预期，从而降低实际利率，即使名义利率为零。

此外，央行还可以承诺长期保持低短期利率，从而降低长期名义利率，这也会降低实际较长期利率。

4.Part of the problem with deflation is that lower (negative) inflation raises the real interest rate, whichraises the cost of capital and lowers investment and consumption through the interest-rate channel,creating further deflationary pressure. In addition, short-term nominal interest rates reach the zero lower bound, meaning traditional monetary policy is rendered ineffective. Thus, by being “responsiblyirresponsible,” central banks can commit to creating strong but temporary inflationary policies that are designed to raise inflation expectations (and hence lower real interest rates) enough to create stimulus through the interest-rate channel and expand aggregate demand safely and surely to get out of adeflationary spiral.通缩问题的部分原因在于，较低的(负面)通胀率提高了实际利率，从而提高了资本成本，通过利率渠道降低了投资和消费，从而产生了进一步的通缩压力。

此外，短期名义利率达到零下限，意味着传统货币政策失效。

因此,通过“负责任的不负责任”,央行可以致力于创造强大但暂时性的通货膨胀政策,旨在提高通货膨胀的预期(因此低实际利率)足以创造刺激通过利率渠道和扩大总需求肯定安全的通缩螺旋。

5.An advantage to monetary policy having so many channels through which it can impact the economy isthat if policy is rendered ineffective through any one particular channel, it doesn’t mean the policy is entirely ineffective, as there are other channels and other sectors of the economy in which the same policy can still impact the economy. On the other hand, having so many different channels through which monetary policy operates can increase uncertainty over the effects of any given policy.货币政策拥有很多渠道影响经济，如果政策呈现无效的通过任何一个特定的渠道，这并不意味着政策完全是无效的，因为有其他渠道和其他经济部门的相同的政策仍然可以影响经济。

另一方面，有这么多不同的渠道，货币政策的运作可以增加任何既定政策的不确定性。

6.True. When countries fix their exchange rate, they must use monetary policy to affect the interest rate inorder to maintain the exchange rate. In other words, the central bank must change the real interest rate to maintain the exchange rate, which means net exports and aggregate demand will be unaffected as long as the exchange rate peg is maintained.正确。

当国家调整汇率时，他们必须使用货币政策来影响利率，以维持汇率。

换句话说，央行必须改变实际利率来维持汇率，这意味着只要保持汇率挂钩，净出口和总需求就不会受到影响。

7.There are four main mechanisms through which the decline in stock prices could have reduced aggregatedemand and contributed to the severity of the recession. First, the decline in stock prices lowered Tobin’s q and might have reduced investment spending. Second, the decline in financial wealth, as a result of the stock price decline, could have caused a drop in consumption because consumers’ lifetime resources were reduced. Third, the decline in stock prices lowered the value of financial assets, which increased the public’s probability of financial distress, and so they cut back on their purchases of consumer durables and housing. Fourth, the decline in stock prices lowers the net worth of business firms, which increases adverse selection and moral hazard problems in lending and might have resulted in a reduction in lending and less investment spending.有四种主要机制，即股票价格下跌可以减少总需求，并导致经济衰退的严重程度。