This paper explores the issue of whether rates of interest should and do tend to exceed rates of growth, a key determinant of debt sustainability. It goes on to consider the argument for debt renegotiation in circumstances where sustainability is in grave doubt.

This paper poses, and then attempts to answer, eleven questions about the principles and practice of inflation targeting under contemporary conditions.

Policy interest rates do not have to be short. The means by which monetary authorities influence prices and quantities can differ, but the obstacles to altering one rather than the other are not insuperable. Inflation is sluggish, and expectations of future interest rates—long and short,...