Macroeconomic effects of quantitative and qualitative monetary easing measures

We estimate a structural vector autoregressive model with an effective lower bound of nominal interest rates (ELB) using Japanese macroeconomic and financial data from the mid-1990s to the end of 2016. The estimated results show that the Bank of Japan's quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) policy increased output via “pure” quantitative easing when the first-year's QQE level effect was controlled, complemented by qualitative easing. Our nonlinear counter-factual analyses show that raising the ELB or lowering an inflation threshold in forward guidance is not necessarily contractionary.