Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?

The failure of the Federal Reserve Bank to control inflation within its target range has raised concerns about potential misunderstandings in US monetary policy dynamics. The debate revolves around the Fisher effect, a traditional theory, and the NeoFisher effect, a recently proposed alternative the...

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Main Author: Andrew Phiri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Cogent Economics & Finance
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23322039.2025.2460070
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author Andrew Phiri
author_facet Andrew Phiri
author_sort Andrew Phiri
collection DOAJ
description The failure of the Federal Reserve Bank to control inflation within its target range has raised concerns about potential misunderstandings in US monetary policy dynamics. The debate revolves around the Fisher effect, a traditional theory, and the NeoFisher effect, a recently proposed alternative theory, in relation to their applicability in the United States. Using wavelet tools and a monthly dataset from 2007:01 to 2023:04, we analyze the Fisher and NeoFisher effects in time-frequency space. Our findings indicate that policy choices significantly influence the behavior of individual time series, with unconventional monetary policy leading to greater variability and traditional policy resulting in weaker variability. Moreover, before the 2013–2014 taper tantrum, significant Fisher (NeoFisher) effects were observed at higher (lower) frequency synchronizations. However, afterward, NeoFisher effects dominate at both lower and higher frequency co-movements. Our results, which are consistent across different measures of nominal interest rates and inflation, bridge the gap between the NeoFisherian theory and empirical evidence, have ramifications for the Federal Reserve Bank’s credibility among economic agents and for Central Banks emulating US monetary policy.
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spelling doaj-art-1b9422d023c24da69da45edc0ecbe3182025-02-05T06:18:02ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Economics & Finance2332-20392025-12-0113110.1080/23322039.2025.2460070Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?Andrew Phiri0Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economic Studies, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South AfricaThe failure of the Federal Reserve Bank to control inflation within its target range has raised concerns about potential misunderstandings in US monetary policy dynamics. The debate revolves around the Fisher effect, a traditional theory, and the NeoFisher effect, a recently proposed alternative theory, in relation to their applicability in the United States. Using wavelet tools and a monthly dataset from 2007:01 to 2023:04, we analyze the Fisher and NeoFisher effects in time-frequency space. Our findings indicate that policy choices significantly influence the behavior of individual time series, with unconventional monetary policy leading to greater variability and traditional policy resulting in weaker variability. Moreover, before the 2013–2014 taper tantrum, significant Fisher (NeoFisher) effects were observed at higher (lower) frequency synchronizations. However, afterward, NeoFisher effects dominate at both lower and higher frequency co-movements. Our results, which are consistent across different measures of nominal interest rates and inflation, bridge the gap between the NeoFisherian theory and empirical evidence, have ramifications for the Federal Reserve Bank’s credibility among economic agents and for Central Banks emulating US monetary policy.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23322039.2025.2460070Fisher effectNeoFisher effectFederal Reserve Bank (FRB)unconventional monetary policy (UMP)Morlet waveletsEconomics
spellingShingle Andrew Phiri
Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
Cogent Economics & Finance
Fisher effect
NeoFisher effect
Federal Reserve Bank (FRB)
unconventional monetary policy (UMP)
Morlet wavelets
Economics
title Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
title_full Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
title_fullStr Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
title_full_unstemmed Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
title_short Unconventional monetary policy and the (Neo)Fisher effect: has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy?
title_sort unconventional monetary policy and the neo fisher effect has the federal reserve misunderstood monetary policy
topic Fisher effect
NeoFisher effect
Federal Reserve Bank (FRB)
unconventional monetary policy (UMP)
Morlet wavelets
Economics
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23322039.2025.2460070
work_keys_str_mv AT andrewphiri unconventionalmonetarypolicyandtheneofishereffecthasthefederalreservemisunderstoodmonetarypolicy