IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jecsur/v23y2009i5p974-997.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price‐Level Targeting And Stabilisation Policy: A Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Steve Ambler

Abstract

This paper surveys recent articles on the costs and benefits of price‐level targeting, focusing its use as a tool for stabilisation policy. It discusses how price‐level targeting can affect the short‐run trade‐off between output and inflation variability by influencing inflation expectations. It reviews how assigning an explicit price‐level target to a central bank that is unable to commit to its future policies can improve economic performance. It surveys other potential benefits and costs. Among the costs, it underlines the importance of perfectly rational expectations for the optimality of price‐level targeting, and an exacerbation of the time inconsistency problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Ambler, 2009. "Price‐Level Targeting And Stabilisation Policy: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 974-997, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jecsur:v:23:y:2009:i:5:p:974-997
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6419.2009.00601.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6419.2009.00601.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6419.2009.00601.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Rogoff, 1985. "The Optimal Degree of Commitment to an Intermediate Monetary Target," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(4), pages 1169-1189.
    2. Smets, Frank & Vestin, David & Gaspar, Ví­tor, 2007. "Is time ripe for price level path stability?," Working Paper Series 818, European Central Bank.
    3. James B. Bullard, 2006. "The learnability criterion and monetary policy," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(May), pages 203-217.
    4. Robert King & Alexander L. Wolman, 1999. "What Should the Monetary Authority Do When Prices Are Sticky?," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy Rules, pages 349-404, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Jeff Fuhrer & George Moore, 1995. "Inflation Persistence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 110(1), pages 127-159.
    6. Andrew P. Blake & Tatiana Kirsanova, 2012. "Discretionary Policy and Multiple Equilibria in LQ RE Models," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 79(4), pages 1309-1339.
    7. Min Wei & Stefania D'Amico & Don H. Kim, 2005. "TIPS: Taking Inflation Premium Seriously," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 363, Society for Computational Economics.
    8. Marvin Goodfriend, 2004. "Monetary policy in the new neoclassical synthesis : a primer," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 90(Sum), pages 21-45.
    9. Ball, Laurence & Gregory Mankiw, N. & Reis, Ricardo, 2005. "Monetary policy for inattentive economies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 703-725, May.
    10. Serge Coulombe, 1998. "A Non-Paradoxical Interpretation of the Gibson Paradox," Staff Working Papers 98-22, Bank of Canada.
    11. Fuhrer, Jeffrey C., 2010. "Inflation Persistence," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 9, pages 423-486, Elsevier.
    12. repec:fip:fedgsq:y:2005:i:feb11 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Steve Ambler, 2007. "The Costs of Inflation in New Keynesian Models," Bank of Canada Review, Bank of Canada, vol. 2007(Winter), pages 7-16.
    14. Galí, Jordi & Gertler, Mark, 1999. "Inflation Dynamics: A Structural Economic Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 2246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Wolman, Alexander L, 2005. "Real Implications of the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 273-296, April.
    16. Matthias Doepke & Martin Schneider, 2006. "Inflation and the Redistribution of Nominal Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(6), pages 1069-1097, December.
    17. Stephen G. Cecchetti & Guy Debelle, 2006. "Has the inflation process changed? [‘Did the underlying behaviour of inflation change in the 1980s? A study of 22 countries,’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 21(46), pages 312-352.
    18. Luca Benati, 2008. "Investigating Inflation Persistence Across Monetary Regimes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1005-1060.
    19. Marvin Goodfriend, 2004. "Monetary policy in the new neoclassical synthesis : a primer," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 90(Sum), pages 21-45.
    20. Michael Woodford, 1999. "Optimal Monetary Policy Inertia," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 67(s1), pages 1-35.
    21. Nessen, Marianne & Vestin, David, 2005. "Average Inflation Targeting," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(5), pages 837-863, October.
    22. William Chan & Li Hao & Wing Suen, 2007. "A Signaling Theory Of Grade Inflation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(3), pages 1065-1090, August.
    23. Meh, Césaire A. & Ríos-Rull, José-Víctor & Terajima, Yaz, 2010. "Aggregate and welfare effects of redistribution of wealth under inflation and price-level targeting," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 637-652, September.
    24. Steinsson, Jon, 2003. "Optimal monetary policy in an economy with inflation persistence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(7), pages 1425-1456, October.
    25. Michael Dotsey, 2006. "A review of inflation targeting in developed countries," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Q3, pages 10-20.
    26. Ben S. Bernanke, 2005. "Inflation in Latin America: a new era?," Speech 88, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    27. Gauti B. Eggertsson & Michael Woodford, 2003. "The Zero Bound on Interest Rates and Optimal Monetary Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 34(1), pages 139-235.
    28. Erceg, Christopher J. & Henderson, Dale W. & Levin, Andrew T., 2000. "Optimal monetary policy with staggered wage and price contracts," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 281-313, October.
    29. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    30. Gali, Jordi & Gertler, Mark, 1999. "Inflation dynamics: A structural econometric analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 195-222, October.
    31. Alcino Câmara & Matias Vernengo, 2005. "Allied, German and Latin Perspectives on Inflation," Chapters, in: L. Randall Wray & Mathew Forstater (ed.), Contemporary Post Keynesian Analysis, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    32. Patrick Minford, 2004. "The A W Phillips memorial lecture to the New Zealand Association of Economists: Monetary Policy – should it move onto a price level target?," Macroeconomics 0409020, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    33. Svensson, Lars E O, 1999. "Price-Level Targeting versus Inflation Targeting: A Free Lunch?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 31(3), pages 277-295, August.
    34. Patrick Minford & Eric Nowell & Bruce Webb, 2003. "Nominal Contracting and Monetary Targets -- Drifting into Indexation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(484), pages 65-100, January.
    35. John B. Taylor, 1999. "Monetary Policy Rules," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number tayl99-1, March.
    36. Eva Ortega & Nooman Rebei, 2006. "The Welfare Implications of Inflation versus Price-Level Targeting in a Two-Sector, Small Open Economy," Staff Working Papers 06-12, Bank of Canada.
    37. Aoki, Kosuke, 2001. "Optimal monetary policy responses to relative-price changes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 55-80, August.
    38. David E. Lebow & John M. Roberts & David J. Stockton, 1992. "Economic performance under price stability," Working Paper Series / Economic Activity Section 125, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    39. Otmar Issing, 2005. "Why did the Great Inflation not happen in Germany?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 87(Mar), pages 329-336.
    40. David Laidler, 2007. "Better Late Than Never: Towards a Systematic Review of Canada's Monetary Policy Regime," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 252, July.
    41. Vestin, David, 2006. "Price-level versus inflation targeting," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1361-1376, October.
    42. Patrick Minford & David Peel, 2003. "Optimal monetary policy: is price‐level targeting the next step?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(5), pages 650-667, November.
    43. James Peery Cover & Paul Pecorino, 2005. "Price and Output Stability under Price‐Level Targeting," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(1), pages 152-166, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hatcher, Michael C., 2011. "Comparing inflation and price-level targeting: A comprehensive review of the literature," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2011/22, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    2. Dennis, Richard & Soderstrom, Ulf, 2006. "How Important Is Precommitment for Monetary Policy?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(4), pages 847-872, June.
    3. Mash, Richard, 2002. "New Keynesian Microfoundations Revisited: A Generalised Calvo-Taylor Model and the Desirability of Inflation vs. Price Level Targeting," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 138, Royal Economic Society.
    4. Michael Hatcher & Patrick Minford, 2016. "Stabilisation Policy, Rational Expectations And Price-Level Versus Inflation Targeting: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 327-355, April.
    5. Thorvardur Tjörvi Ólafsson, 2006. "The New Keynesian Phillips Curve: In Search of Improvements and Adaptation to the Open Economy," Economics wp31_tjorvi, Department of Economics, Central bank of Iceland.
    6. Jiri Bohm & Jan Filacek, 2012. "Price-Level Targeting–A Real Alternative to Inflation Targeting?," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 62(1), pages 2-26, February.
    7. Benchimol, Jonathan & Bounader, Lahcen, 2023. "Optimal monetary policy under bounded rationality," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Bokor, László, 2007. "Optimality criteria of hybrid inflation-price level targeting," MPRA Paper 10278, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2008.
    9. Richard Mash, 2003. "New Keynesian Microfoundations Revisited: A Calvo-Taylor-Rule-of-Thumb Model and Optimal Monetary Policy Delegation," Economics Series Working Papers 174, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Kimura, Takeshi & Kurozumi, Takushi, 2004. "Effectiveness of history-dependent monetary policy," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 330-361, September.
    11. Gregory E. Givens, 2012. "Estimating Central Bank Preferences under Commitment and Discretion," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(6), pages 1033-1061, September.
    12. Jarkko P. Jääskelä, 2005. "Inflation, Price Level and Hybrid Rules under Inflation Uncertainty," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(1), pages 141-156, March.
    13. Brad E. Strum, 2009. "Monetary Policy in a Forward‐Looking Input–Output Economy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(4), pages 619-650, June.
    14. Givens, Gregory E. & Salemi, Michael K., 2008. "Generalized method of moments and inverse control," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 3113-3147, October.
    15. Steve Ambler, 2009. "Is It Time For Price‐Level Targeting?," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 35-39, September.
    16. SGB Henry & Mathan Satchi & David Vines, 2006. "The Effect of Discounting on Policy Choices in Inflation Targeting Regimes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(508), pages 266-282, January.
    17. Coenen, Gunter & Wieland, Volker, 2005. "A small estimated euro area model with rational expectations and nominal rigidities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1081-1104, July.
    18. Teruyoshi Kobayashi, 2004. "On the Relationship Between Short‐ and Long‐term Interest Rates," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 261-286, July.
    19. Benigno, Pierpaolo & Lopez-Salido, J. David, 2006. "Inflation Persistence and Optimal Monetary Policy in the Euro Area," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(3), pages 587-614, April.
    20. Henrik Jensen, 2002. "Targeting Nominal Income Growth or Inflation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 928-956, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jecsur:v:23:y:2009:i:5:p:974-997. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0950-0804 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.