Education: A Better Tomorrow

Student Loan Tips for Continuing Education

Continuing education is sought after by a number of people. Generally speaking, continuing education programs can be divided into two classes. The first is general adult education, including courses taught beyond regular postsecondary education like an undergraduate degree. Adult education can include subjects like English as a Second Language, literacy, vocational training, GED preparation, and other forms of non-traditional education. Continuing education programs in this category may or may not be taught at an accredited higher education institution; some may be taught at vocational schools or local community centers, while others may be at an accredited community college.

The second class of continuing education is intended for licensed professionals to maintain or upgrade licensure. Doctors, lawyers, technology specialists, and any other field in which professional certification is granted often have continuing education requirements. Courses are credit-granting, and a number of them are generally required to meet licensing requirements. These types of continuing education courses are often taught in degree and certificate-granting institutions, sometimes remotely via distance learning.

Monetary policy and the term structure of interest rates in Japan.

This paper is investigates the relationship between the Japanese yield curve and monetary policy. In the 1980s and 1990s average bond yields have risen from 5% to 8% and then fallen to 2% and the slope of the yield curve has swung from positive to negative to positive. We are interested in understanding the contribution of monetary policy to these movements in the yield curve.

One motivation for our interest is Japan’s recent experience. In spite of massive increases in monetary base and a zero nominal interest rate, economic growth has remained low and deflationary pressure has not abated. These events are raising new questions about the effectiveness of monetary policy under a zero nominal interest rate policy. Eggertson and Woodford (2003) argue that a monetary authority can still influence economic activity when nominal interest rates are zero by taking actions that affect market expectations about the future time path of variables such as interest rates, inflation or exchange rates. One way to assess the ability of a central bank to affect expectations is to look retrospectively and ascertain the extent to which previous monetary policy surprises have affected bond yields of different maturities. If monetary policy is indeed a potent tool for altering expectations then this should show up in the responses and variance decompositions of medium and long-term bonds yields to suitably identified shocks to monetary policy.

International monetary policy: a global Taylor rule

Abstract

John Taylor’s rule for setting interest rates provides a framework for studying the global monetary policy generated by individual countries pursing their own policy goals. The study reflects the global nature of monetary policy by modeling an aggregate short-term interest rate as a function of measures of worldwide inflation and the GDP gap. Multiple specifications are estimated to correspond to past studies of the U.S. relationships between these variables. The authors find that Taylor rule is a useful tool for characterizing the global monetary environment as his equation provides a good fit to the data in every specification explored by the authors. However, the international response to inflation is slightly less robust despite claims of inflation targeting by the bulk of the larger economies in the sample. (JEL F33)

Introduction

Education: A Better Tomorrow

Student Loan Tips for Continuing Education

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Monetary policy and the term structure of interest rates in Japan.

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International monetary policy: a global Taylor rule

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