We look at the implications of uncertain monetary policy preferences for the targeting and contracting approach to monetary stability. It turns out that in presence of uncertain preferences a linear incentive contract in the sense of Walsh (1995) performs better in terms of social welfare than...

This paper analyzes the effect of monetary uncertainty on the inflationary bias and the variance of output and inflation. Monetary policy uncertainty is modeled as a shock to the central banker’s preference for inflation stabilization relative to output stabilization that cannot be observed by...

This paper develops a theory of central bank accountability. Two aspects of accountability are considered. The first one is transparency of actual monetary policy, the second aspect is the question of who bears final responsibility for monetary policy. Monetary policy is transparent if there is...

This paper introduces a parameter for central bank independence in a monetary policy game with a conservative central banker.It tries to explain the optimal degree of central bank independence and conservativeness by four economic and political determinants, both theoretically and...

Using a graphical method, a new way of determining the optimal degree of central bank conservativeness is developed in this paper. Unlike Lohmann (1992) and Rogoff (1985a), we are able to express the upper and lower bounds of the interval containing the optimal degree of conservativeness in...

In this paper we incorporate the term structure of interest rates in a standard inflation forecast targeting framework.We find that under flexible inflation targeting and uncertainty in the degree of persistence in the economy, allowing for active learning possibilities has e®ects on the...

This paper examines the implications of the expectations theory of the term structure for the implementation of inflation targeting. We show that the term structure weakens the transmission of short term interest rates to ultimate policy objectives. Therefore, short term interest rates in the...

Using a graphical method, a new way of determining the optimal degree of central bank conservativeness is developed in this paper. Unlike Lohmann (1992) and Rogoff (1985), we are able to express the upper and lower bounds of the interval containing the optimal degree of conservativeness in terms...