Real and nominal effects of central bank monetary policy

We examine the impact of monetary policy using Israeli data on nominal and indexed bonds, which allow us to decompose nominal interest rates into inflation expectations and ex ante real interest rates. We find that a monetary policy shock, introduced by raising the overnight rate the Bank of Israel charges member banks, raises real interest rates but lowers inflation expectations. Long-term real interest rates are less impacted than short-term rates. Lastly, monetary shocks affect the exchange rate between the Israeli currency and the US dollar. Our estimates are robust to numerous modifications to the basic VAR model. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.