IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ecb/ecbrbu/20250130.html

Why monetary policy should crack down harder during high inflation

Author

Listed:
  • Karadi, Peter
  • Nakov, Anton
  • Nuño, Galo
  • Pasten, Ernesto
  • Thaler, Dominik

Abstract

The recent surge in inflation has led to a significant increase in the frequency of price changes, making prices more flexible. Conventional models assume a constant price change frequency, but in state-dependent models the frequency varies with economic conditions. Price flexibility has an impact on the effectiveness of monetary policy. In high inflation periods, frequent price changes make monetary policy more effective in reducing inflation with less impact on economic activity. Therefore, monetary policy should be more aggressive during such periods to stabilise prices efficiently. This approach allows central banks to achieve a “soft landing” with less impact on activity. Overall, central banks should adjust their strategies based on the inflation environment to optimise economic outcomes. JEL Classification: E31, E32

Suggested Citation

  • Karadi, Peter & Nakov, Anton & Nuño, Galo & Pasten, Ernesto & Thaler, Dominik, 2025. "Why monetary policy should crack down harder during high inflation," Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, vol. 130.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbrbu:2025:0130:
    Note: 1871516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//press/research-publications/resbull/2025/html/ecb.rb250429~6f9636652d.en.html
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//press/research-publications/resbull/2025/html/ecb.rb250429~6f9636652d.en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2010. "Monetary Non-neutrality in a Multisector Menu Cost Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 961-1013.
    2. Mikhail Golosov & Robert E. Lucas Jr., 2007. "Menu Costs and Phillips Curves," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(2), pages 171-199.
    3. Hugh Montag & Daniel Villar Vallenas, 2023. "Price-Setting During the Covid Era," FEDS Notes 2023-08-29, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Karadi, Peter & Nakov, Anton & Nuño, Galo & Pasten, Ernesto & Thaler, Dominik, 2024. "Strike while the Iron is Hot: Optimal Monetary Policy with a Nonlinear Phillips Curve," CEPR Discussion Papers 19339, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Alberto Cavallo & Francesco Lippi & Ken Miyahara, 2024. "Large Shocks Travel Fast," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 558-574, December.
    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. Eduardo Gutiérrez & Alari Paulus & Alex Grimaud & Daniel Enderle & Erwan Gautier & Cristina Conflitti & Ludmila Fadejeva & Valentin Jouvanceau & Jean-Oliver Menz & Pavlo Petroulas, 2026. "Consumer Price Stickiness in the Euro Area During an Inflation Surge," Working Papers 1559, Barcelona School of Economics.
    2. Petrella, Ivan & Santoro, Emiliano & Winkelmann, Yannik, 2025. "Inflation and price flexibility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
      • Petrella Ivan & Santoro Emiliano & Winkelmann Yannik, 2025. "Inflation and Price Flexibility," Working papers 099, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    3. Pablo Cuba-Borda & Jean-Paul L'Huillier, 2025. "Inflation is a Supply Phenomenon," Working Papers 137, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    4. Stefano Neri & Cristina Conflitti & Alessandro Lin, 2026. "The awakening of inflation and the return of the Phillips curve in the euro area," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1525, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Mishel Ghassibe & Anton Nakov, 2025. "Business Cycles with Pricing Cascades," Working Papers 1525, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Hobijn, Bart & Nechio, Fernanda & Shapiro, Adam Hale, 2021. "Using Brexit to identify the nature of price rigidities," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Ko Munakata & Takeshi Shinohara & Shigenori Shiratsuka & Nao Sudo & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2023. "On the Source of Seasonality in Price Changes: The Role of Seasonality in Menu Costs," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2023-016, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    8. Abdelraouf, Nadine & Noureldin, Diaa, 2022. "The impact of the exchange rate regime on the dispersion of the price-change distribution: Evidence from a large panel of countries," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Guido Ascari & Timo Haber, 2019. "Sticky prices and the transmission mechanism of monetary policy: A minimal test of New Keynesian models," Economics Series Working Papers 869, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Klenow, Peter J. & Malin, Benjamin A., 2010. "Microeconomic Evidence on Price-Setting," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 6, pages 231-284, Elsevier.
    11. Schenkelberg, Heike, 2011. "Why are Prices Sticky? Evidence from Business Survey Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 12158, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    12. Berka, Martin & Devereux, Michael B. & Rudolph, Thomas, 2011. "Price setting in a leading Swiss online supermarket," Working Paper Series 18597, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    13. Luo, Shaowen & Villar, Daniel, 2021. "The price adjustment hazard function: Evidence from high inflation periods," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    14. Gautier, Erwan & Karadi, Peter & Conflitti, Cristina & Fabo, Brian & Fadejeva, Ludmila & Fuss, Catherine & Kosma, Theodora & Jouvanceau, Valentin & Martins, Fernando & Menz, Jan-Oliver & Messner, Tere, 2023. "Price adjustment in the euro area in the low-inflation period: evidence from consumer and producer micro price data," Occasional Paper Series 319, European Central Bank.
    15. Kehoe, Patrick & Midrigan, Virgiliu, 2015. "Prices are sticky after all," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 35-53.
    16. Hugh Montag & Daniel Villar Vallenas, 2025. "Post-Pandemic Price Flexibility in the U.S.: Evidence and Implications for Price Setting Models," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2025-024, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    17. Rebelo, Sergio & Santana, Miguel & Teles, Pedro, 2025. "Behavioral sticky prices," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(S).
    18. Emmanuel De Veirman, 2022. "How Does the Phillips Curve Slope Vary with Repricing Rates?," Working Papers 735, DNB.
    19. Isaac Baley & Andrés Blanco, 2021. "Aggregate Dynamics in Lumpy Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 1235-1264, May.
    20. Lena Anayi & Nicholas Bloom & Philip Bunn & Paul Mizen & Gregory Thwaites & Ivan Yotzov, 2022. "Firming up price inflation," POID Working Papers 058, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

    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:ecb:ecbrbu:2025:0130:. 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: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.html .

    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.