The slope of the Phillips Curve: evidence from US States
Jonathon Hazell, Juan Herreno, Emi Nakamura and Jon Steinsson
We estimate the slope of the Phillips curve in the cross section of U.S. states using newly constructed state-level price indices for nontradeable goods back to 1978. Our estimates indicate that the slope of the Phillips curve is small and was small even during the early 1980s. We estimate only a modest decline in the slope of the Phillips curve since the 1980s. We use a multiregion model to infer the slope of the aggregate Phillips curve from our regional estimates. Applying our estimates to recent unemployment dynamics yields essentially no missing disinflation or missing reinflation over the past few business cycles. Our results imply that the sharp drop in core inflation in the early 1980s was mostly due to shifting expectations about long-run monetary policy as opposed to a steep Phillips curve, and the greater stability of inflation between 1990 and 2020 is mostly due to long-run inflation expectations becoming more firmly anchored.
3 August 2022
The Quarterly Journal of Economics 137(3) , pp.1299-1344, 2022
https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/137/3/1299/6529257
This Journal article is published under the centre's Labour programme.