Search Results for: inflation target

Before the financial crisis, a standard assumption [I subscribed to] was that the Southern peripheral countries were on a path converging their income per capita to Northern levels, and as such, through Balassa-Samuelson effects, experiencing faster inflation.  The Balassa-Samuelson effect … Continue reading →

The polls are tightening, and it’s estimated now that there is a 30 % chance of the UK voting to leave the EU.  The Bank of England somehow has to produce an Inflation Report and a policy decision that reflects … Continue reading →

Strangely, for many people, that title qualifies as clickbait. It’s actually the title used by this paper, and has attracted quite a bit of attention in the popular econ media, eg on Twitter, appearing in my timeline several times.  Partly … Continue reading →

I think the ‘price level shock’ fallacy is related to another fallacy that we can divine the causes and future of inflation by adding up individual price series. The price/level/inflation shock categorizer like Ian McCafferty thinks to himself: ‘oil prices … Continue reading →

A few stream of consciousness points coming out of Thu Feb 12’s Inflation Report Press Conference. The MPC are determined to ‘look through’ the effects of commodity price falls, and describe balancing risks either side of their effects.  I don’t … Continue reading →

That’s what George Osborne’s twitter feed would have you believe.  And it was echoed by Andrew Sentance.  Statements like these are at odds with modern monetary macro, and they are pretty irresponsible. Why irresponsible?  Well, the Chancellor told the Bank … Continue reading →

Simon’s defence of NGDP targeting makes many good points – in contrast to what he calls the ‘faith-based’ argumentation of the market monetarists – and this blog responds to some of them. He rightly challenges the emphasis I place on … Continue reading →

And a post post post script. The case against NGDP targeting is actually even stronger theoretically than I let on in that post.  I organised the last post around the simplest possible sticky price model, with no saving, capital, only … Continue reading →

A thought-provoking post from Toby Nangle on this topic raises some difficult questions that go to the heart of monetary economics and policy, and take in important practical questions like what are official statistics for. In his post, Toby recaps … Continue reading →

This morning the Treasury Committee, the cross-party Parliamentary body charged with scrutinising the activities of the Bank, held a hearing on the Bank of England’s November Inflation Report.  It seemed like an anti-climax.  Lots to talk and grill the BoE about, … Continue reading →