Optimal monetary policy rules : the role of the discount window

Swedish financial markets, in particular the money market, have developed very rapidly during the 1980s. Concurrently, there has been an equally drastic change in the conduct of monetary policy and a shift away from the previous reliance on regulatory policy instruments. This deregulation of markets and policy is the starting point for this dissertation, which discusses various aspects of the behavior of the money market and how interest rates and other financial variables are affected by monetary policy. A major topic in the dissertation is the question of international interest rate dependence, i.e., the extent to which independent control of domestic monetary variables is possible. This problem, which is important both for monetary policy and for the understanding of the money market in general, is analyzed theoretically using models of international asset pricing. The discussion emphasizes the role of the foreign exchange risk premium in the relation between domestic and foreign interest rates. A detailed study is also made of a currency basket system and its implications for the risk premium and the interest rate dependence. Another important topic is the relation between interest rates on assets with different times to maturity, i.e., the term structure of interest rates. The behavior of the term structure in the Swedish money market is studied with special emphasis on the role of interest rate expectations. Among the problems addressed is also the role of discount window policies, i.e., the conditions under which banks are allowed to borrow reserves from the central bank. The analysis focuses on what these rules imply for the behavior of interest rates and the effects of various policy instruments, and on how discount window policies should be designed to improve monetary control.