This paper advances the hypothesis that the transition from there-is-little-central-banks-can-do-to-control-inflation … to inflation targeting occurred because central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, demonstrated that central banks … can control inflation rather than a consequence of marked improvement in the professions understanding of how monetary …

of inflation targeting in 1992 or central bank independence in 1997), we instead take a longer perspective, which … alter the monetary base; and the adherence by policymakers in the 1960s and 1970s to nonmonetary views of the inflation …