Monetary policy rules have been considered as fundamental protection against inflation. However, empirical evidence for a correlation between monetary commitment to rules and price stability is relatively weak. We discuss likely causes for this weak link and argue that monetary commitment is not...

The Kydland-Prescott, Barro-Gordon inflation bias result relies on the presumption that policymakers aim at achieving a level of employment above potential. Both academics and policymakers have recently questioned this presumption on the ground of realism. We show that even if policymakers are...

This paper examines whether government ideology has influenced monetary policy in OECD countries. We use quarterly data in the 1980.1–2005.4 period and exclude EMU countries. Our Taylor-rule specification focuses on the interactions of a new time-variant index of central bank independence with...

This paper studies the responses of residential property and equity prices, inflation and economic activity to monetary policy shocks in 17 countries, using data spanning 1986-2006. We estimate VARs for individual economies and panel VARs in which we distinguish between groups of countries on...

This Paper suggests a formal interpretation of the ECB’s two-pillar framework for monetary policy. I decompose inflation in the euro area into high- and low-frequency (or short-run and medium/long-run) components, which are correlated with monetary growth and the output gap, respectively. I...

This Paper explores the relationship between the Kydland-Prescott Barro-Gordon model and models with asymmetric policy preferences. While both yield an inflation bias, recession aversion dampens the output effects of contractionary supply shocks. Some inflation may therefore reflect policy...

Following the Asian financial crisis in 1997–1998, a number of regional central banks adopted inflation targeting. While it is possible for the average inflation rate to be close to target, deviations of inflation could nevertheless be large and protracted. We therefore explore how successful...

Following the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, a number of Asian central banks adopted inflation targeting. We explore how successful this framework has been by looking at the persistence of inflation, as measured by the sum of the coefficients in an autoregressive model for inflation, using a...

We assess the significance of global shocks for the world economy and national central banks and governments. More specifically, we investigate whether monetary policy has become less effective in the wake of financial globalization. We also analyze whether there is increasing uncertainty for...

A high natural rate of unemployment has been identified by the time inconsistency literature as the root cause of an inflation bias. Thus, a reduction of equilibrium unemployment and of the inflation bias requires fundamental reforms of labour market institutions. However, there has been little...