Debortoli, DavideGalí, Jordi, 1961-Gambetti, LucaUniversitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament d'Economia i Empresa2020-05-252020-05-252018-01-02NBER Macroeconomics Annual, volume 34, 2019http://hdl.handle.net/10230/33875We evaluate the hypothesis that the zero lower bound (ZLB) constraint was, in practice, irrelevant during the recent ZLB episode experienced by the U.S. economy (2009Q1-2015Q4). We focus on two dimensions of economic performance that were ex-ante likely to have been affected by a binding ZLB: (i) the volatility of macro variables and (ii) the economy s response to shocks. Using a variety of empirical methods, we find little evidence against the irrelevance hypothesis, with our estimates suggesting that the responses of output, inflation and the long-term interest rate were hardly affected by the binding ZLB constraint. We show how a shadow interest rate rule (which we take as a proxy for forward guidance) can reconcile our empirical findings with the predictions of a simple New Keynesian model with a ZLB constraint.application/pdfengL'accés als continguts d'aquest document queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons