This paper analyses how the output or unemployment cost of achieving a sustainable reduction in the rate of inflation depends on the structure of the wage-price process and how the "sacrifice ratio" can be minimized. In models where the natural rate is invariant under the anti-inflationary...

In a previous attempt to articulate the costs of inflation (Leigh-Pemberton (1992)), the Bank of England outlined the following costs of a fully-anticipated inflation: - the cost of economising on real money balances -- so-called shoe-leather' effects; - the costs of operating a...

We empirically investigate the costs and benefits of going from low inflation to price stability in the case of Germany. Recent empirical evidence on the sacrifice ratio suggests that the break-even point at which the permanent benefits of reducing the trend rate of inflation by 2 percentage...

This paper evaluates the welfare gain from achieving price stability and compares it to the cost of the transition. In calculating the gain from price stability, the paper emphasizes the distortions caused by the interaction of inflation and capital income taxes. Because inflation exacerbates...

Much of the current discussion promoting apprenticeship programs in the U.S. proceeds as if it is simply a matter of historical accident or lack of imagination which has hindered human capital investment by U.S. firms. However, the cause may be rooted more deeply in our labor market...

"Leaning against the wind" (LAW), that is, tighter monetary policy for financial-stability purposes, has costs in terms of a weaker economy with higher unemployment and lower inflation and possible benefits from a lower probability or magnitude of a (financial) crisis. A first obvious cost is a...