OPINIONS | April 27, 2026What Households Think Monetary Policy DoesStandard New Keynesian models tell a clean story about how changes in interest rates affect households. Higher rates raise the real interest rate, leading households to postpone consumption, and slow economic activity enough to soften wage growth and employment, reinforcing the contraction through an income channel. In a recent paper, we use a survey of more than 25,000 U.S. households, combined with randomized information experiments, to ask how Americans believe monetary policy affects them. Read more Empirical Macro Working Group Meeting 2026 October 30, 2026The Empirical Macroeconomics Policy Center of Texas (EMPCT) at the University of Texas at Austin will host the 2026 Empirical Macro Working Group Meeting on October 30, 2026. Organized by Emi Nakamura and Jón Steinsson, with local EMPCT affiliate organizers Nitya Pandalai-Nayar and Christoph Boehm, the meeting will bring together early-career scholars in empirical macroeconomics and related fields from top research institutions for an in-person gathering. The format is designed to maximize discussion of frontier research and to strengthen connections across the empirical macro community. Learn more | Program PDF Join a faculty-led project examining historical economic shocks in Texas and their implications for today. Your work will contribute directly to a book-length study — and you’ll gain hands-on experience with archival and quantitative research. Learn more Learn More RESEARCH Learn More OPINIONS Learn More JOB MARKET STUDENTS PARTNER WITH EMPCT When you make a gift to support EMPCT, you help us contribute to the advancement of macroeconomic understanding and policy design. Find out more. Give Now > CONNECT WITH EMPCT Would you like to connect? Please click on the link below. CONTACT US
