Our Team

Alexander L. Wolman

Alex Wolman is vice president for monetary and macroeconomic research in the Research Department. Wolman has published articles in several economics journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economic Studies. He has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and he has been a visiting instructor at the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond.

Wolman joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond as an economist in 1996 after earning his doctorate from the University of Virginia. His research has focused on applied monetary economics.

Academic Publications

Investigating Non-neutrality in a State-Dependent Pricing Model with Firm-level Productivity Shocks

International Economic Review, Vol. 61, February 2020: 159–188

Michael Dotsey and Alexander L. Wolman

Discretionary Monetary Policy in the Calvo Model

Quantitative Economics, Vol. 10, January 2019: 387–418

Willem Van Zandweghe and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, June 2011, No. 11-03R

Payment Choice and Currency Use: Insights from Two Billion Retail Transactions

Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 84, December 2016: 94-115

Zhu Wang and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, April 2014, No. 14-09R

Discussion of 'Inflation Targeting: A Victim of Its Own Success'

International Journal of Central Banking, Vol. 11, September 2015: 289-293

Alexander L. Wolman

Large Excess Reserves in the U.S.: A View from the Cross-Section of Banks

International Journal of Central Banking, Vol. 11, January 2015: 251-289

Huberto M. Ennis and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, August 2012, No. 12-05

The Optimal Rate of Inflation with Trending Relative Prices

Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 43, March-April 2011: 355-384

Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, March 2009, No. 09-2

Fiscal Policy and Regional Inflation in a Currency Union

Journal of International Economics, Vol. 74, March 2008: 384-401

Margarida Duarte and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, August 2003, No. 03-11

Steady State Equilibrium with State-Dependent Pricing

Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 55, March 2008: 383-405

A. Andrew John and Alexander L. Wolman

The Frequency and Costs of Individual Price Adjustment

Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol. 28, September 2007: 531-552

Alexander L. Wolman

Comment on ‘Reconsidering the Natural Rate Hypothesis in a New Keynesian Framework,' by Andrew Levin and Tack Yun

Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 54, July 2007: 1366-1371

Alexander L. Wolman

The Zero Bound and the Term Structure in a Nonlinear Economic Model

Seoul Journal of Economics, Vol. 19, Spring 2006: 147-170

Alexander L. Wolman

Real Implications of the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates

Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 37, April 2005: 273-296

Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, December 2003, No. 03-15

Monetary Discretion, Pricing Complementarity and Dynamic Multiple Equilibria

Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 119, November 2004: 1513-1553

Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, June 2004, No. 04-5

Optimal Monetary Policy

Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 70, October 2003: 825-860

Aubhik Khan, Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, October 2000, No. 00-10

State-Dependent Pricing and the General Equilibrium Dynamics of Money and Output

Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 114, May 1999: 655-690

Michael Dotsey, Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

Previous Version: Working Paper, February 1997, No. 97-2

Inflation Targeting in a St. Louis Model of the 21st Century

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, Vol. 78, May/June 1996: 83-107

Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman
Books and Book Chapters

"What Should the Monetary Authority Do When Prices Are Sticky?" (with Robert G. King) in Monetary Policy Rules, edited by John B. Taylor, University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Working Papers

December 2024, No. 24-15

The Relationship Between Inflation and the Distribution of Relative Price Changes

The authors show that there has been a more general relationship between inflation and the distribution of relative price changes during the extended period of inflation stability in the U.S.

Andreas Hornstein, Francisco Ruge-Murcia and Alexander L. Wolman

June 2022, No. 22-07R

Relative Price Shocks and Inflation (Revised March 2024)

Decomposing the 2012-2019 inflation shortfall, and its surge starting in 2021, we find that sectoral shocks were major contributors to the inflation deviations from target.

Francisco Ruge-Murcia and Alexander L. Wolman

April 2014, No. 14-09R

Payment Choice and Currency Use: Insights from Two Billion Retail Transactions (Revised September 2016)

Using three years of transactions data from a discount retailer with thousands of stores, we study payment variation along three dimensions: transaction size and location; weekly and monthly frequencies; and longer time horizons.

Zhu Wang and Alexander L. Wolman

August 2012, No. 12-05

Large Excess Reserves in the U.S.: A View from the Cross-Section of Banks

Huberto M. Ennis and Alexander L. Wolman

June 2011, No. 11-03R

Discretionary Monetary Policy in the Calvo Model (Revised March 2017)

Willem Van Zandweghe and Alexander L. Wolman

March 2009, No. 09-2

The Optimal Rate of Inflation with Trending Relative Prices

Alexander L. Wolman

June 2004, No. 04-5

Monetary Discretion, Pricing Complementarity, and Dynamic Multiple Equilibria

Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

April 2004, No. 04-4

An Inquiry into the Existence and Uniqueness of Equilibrium with State-Dependent Pricing

A. Andrew John and Alexander L. Wolman

December 2003, No. 03-15

Real Implications of the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates

Alexander L. Wolman

August 2003, No. 03-11

Fiscal Policy and Regional Inflation in a Currency Union

This paper investigates the ability of a region participating in a currency union to affect its inflation differential with respect to the union through fiscal policy.

Margarida Duarte and Alexander L. Wolman

October 2001, No. 01-8

The Pitfalls of Monetary Discretion

Aubhik Khan, Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

October 2000, No. 00-10

Optimal Monetary Policy

Aubhik Khan, Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman

August 1999, No. 99-5

Does State-Dependent Pricing Imply Coordination Failure?

A. Andrew John and Alexander L. Wolman

February 1997, No. 97-2

State Dependent Pricing and Dynamics of Business Cycles

Michael Dotsey, Robert G. King and Alexander L. Wolman
Bank Publications

Economic Brief, April 2025, No. 25-14

How Seasonality in Inflation Variance Affects Estimates of Underlying Inflation

For estimating underlying inflation, it is important to control for seasonality in volatility.

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, September 2024, No. 24-30

A Model-Based Perspective on Inflation and the Distribution of Relative Price Changes

According to a multisector DSGE model, heterogeneity in shock variances across sectors is critical for matching the empirical relationship between inflation and the distribution of relative price changes.

Alexander L. Wolman and Francisco Ruge-Murcia

Economic Brief, March 2024, No. 24-09

Inflation and Relative Price Changes Since the Onset of the Pandemic

High inflation starting in 2021 has coincided with a more dispersed distribution of relative price changes.

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, September 2023, No. 23-30

A Small Contribution to Measuring the Lags in Monetary Policy Transmission

What is the typical lag between market interest rate increases and increases in CD and MMMF balances? Is the recent increase unusually large, or is more in store?

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, April 2023, No. 23-11

Detecting Inflation Instability

Do relative price changes account for the behavior of inflation in the pandemic and post-pandemic eras?

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, September 2022, No. 22-37

Anticipated FOMC Policy, Inflation and Credibility

One can argue whether the FOMC's response to inflation has been strong enough, but financial markets and surveys suggest that the Fed retains credibility for low inflation in the long run.

Alexander L. Wolman

Honoring Marvin Goodfriend, May 2022

Interest Rate Smoothing

The concept of interest rate smoothing behavior by central banks is now standard, but it was not in the early 1980s when Marvin Goodfriend made the concept into a distinct phenomenon to be explained.

Michael Dotsey, Andreas Hornstein and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, March 2022, No. 22-10

Relative Price Changes Are Unlikely to Account for Recent High Inflation

The recent high inflation had been due to price changes in a small group of expenditures, but that changed a few months ago.

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, September 2021, No. 21-30

How Broad-Based Is the Recent High Inflation?

The annualized PCE inflation rate over the period March through July is 6.5 percent, the highest five-month rate since November 1981.

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, July 2021, No. 21-22

What Does the FOMC's Shift in Fed Funds Rate Target Language Mean?

The new language — which has been in each FOMC statement since September — represents a significant shift in the committee's thinking.

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, December 2018, No. 18-12

Have Yield Curve Inversions Become More Likely?

The recent flattening of the yield curve has raised concerns that a recession is around the corner. Such concerns stem partly from the fact that yield curve inversions have preceded each of the past seven recessions.

Renee Haltom, Elaine Wissuchek and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Second Quarter 2018

The Decline in Currency Use at a National Retail Chain

Zhu Wang and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, April 2017, No. 17-04

What Two Billion Retail Transactions Reveal about Consumers’ Choice of Payments

Research at the Richmond Fed has exploited a large dataset of cash, check, credit card, and debit card transactions at a nationwide retail chain to examine consumer payment choice based on transaction size and location, day-of-week and day-of-month cycles, and longer-term trends.

David A. Price, Zhu Wang and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, September 2016, No. 16-09

How Did Short-Term Market Rates React to Liftoff?

Renee Haltom and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, First Quarter 2016

Consumer Payment Choice in the Fifth District: Learning from a Retail Chain

Zhu Wang and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2015

Relative Price Changes and the Optimal Inflation Rate

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Second Quarter 2013

Federal Reserve Interdistrict Settlement

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, December 2012, No. 12-12

A Citizen's Guide to Unconventional Monetary Policy

Renee Haltom and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2011

K-Core Inflation

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, First Quarter 2011

Housing and the Great Recession: A VAR Accounting Exercise

Samuel E. Henly and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2010

Monetary Policy and Global Equilibria in a Production Economy

Tim Hursey and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Brief, March 2010, No. 10-03

Excess Reserves and the New Challenges for Monetary Policy

Huberto M. Ennis and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Summer 2008

Nominal Frictions, Relative Price Adjustment, and the Limits to Monetary Policy

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2007

Currency Quality and Changes in the Behavior of Depository Institutions

Hubert P. Janicki, Nashat F. Moin, Andrea L. Waddle and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2006

Bond Price Premiums

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2005

Trend Inflation, Firm-Specific Capital, and Sticky Prices

Andreas Hornstein and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2005

Inflation and Changing Expenditure Shares

Alexander L. Wolman and Fan Ding

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2003

Boom and Bust in Telecommunications

Elise A. Couper, John P. Hejkal and Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Winter 2003

Potential Consequences of Linear Approximation in Economics

Alexander L. Wolman and Elise A. Couper

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2001

A Primer on Optimal Monetary Policy with Staggered Price-Setting

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 2000

The Frequency and Costs of Individual Price Adjustment

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1999

Sticky Prices, Marginal Cost, and the Behavior of Inflation

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1998

Staggered Price Setting and the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates

Alexander L. Wolman

Economic Quarterly, Fall 1997

Zero Inflation and the Friedman Rule: A Welfare Comparison

Alexander L. Wolman
Blog Posts

December 19, 2023

Probing the Pattern of Price Changes: An Update

Inflation is still above the Fed's target, but the recent deviations from target have been close to what one would expect when the Fed has effectively stabilized inflation around its target.

Alexander L. Wolman

August 29, 2023

Is PCE Inflation Back on Track?

In three of the last four months, inflation has been within the prediction interval based on data from the pre-pandemic era, when inflation was stable near the Fed's 2 percent target.

Alexander L. Wolman

August 23, 2022

The 2021 Rise in U.S. Inflation: A Cross-Country Perspective

Inflation has hit most other advanced economies in addition to the United States. What can we learn from their experiences?

Thomas A. Lubik and Alexander L. Wolman
Other Work

Computer programs for "Monetary Policy and Global Equilibria in a Production Economy" (with Tim Hursey). Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly 96, no. 4 (Fourth Quarter 2010): 317-337.
"The Calvo Model without Local Approximation" (with Andreas Hornstein). Unpublished manuscript, April 2007.
"Synchronization and Staggering in a Model of State-Dependent Pricing" (with A. Andrew John). Unpublished manuscript, June 2005.
"The Optimal Rate of Inflation with Trending Relative Prices." Unpublished manuscript, May 2005.
"Heterogeneous Frequency of Price Adjustment" (with A. Andrew John). Unpublished manuscript, September 2003.
Media Mentions

"The Fed's Inflation Target," Speaking of the Economy, May 22, 2024.
"The Legacy of Marvin Goodfriend," Speaking of the Economy, May 18, 2022.
"The Impact of Relative Price Changes on Recent Inflation," Speaking of the Economy, March 23, 2022.

Alexander L. Wolman