The Effectiveness of Monetary Policy during Business Cycles Using Components of Producer and Consumer Price Indices

This paper investigates the effectiveness of monetary policy in recession and expansion periods of business cycles in Iran. It uses the distribution of price changes over time using micro-data of producer and consumer price indices from March 2004 to March 2007 and March 1990 to March 2017. Results show that the observed distribution price changes at the producer and consumer levels change significantly over time. Whereas price flexibility (or, similarly, price stickiness) is closely related to the impact of monetary policy, the variable distribution of price changes over time suggests that the effectiveness of monetary policy should also change over time. We estimated the related parameters using the Ss model and the observed facts from the distribution of price changes, the price flexibility index, which shows how prices react to a monetary policy shock. The correlation coefficient and regression analysis results showed that the price flexibility index is counter-cyclical; this means that during periods of economic recession, the index of price flexibility increases. Therefore, the impact of monetary policy on real output decreases. However, during periods of economic expansion, the impact of monetary policy increases.