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Inflation Targeting, Recursive Inattentiveness, and Heterogeneous Beliefs

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  • ANNA AGLIARI
  • DOMENICO MASSARO
  • NICOLÒ PECORA
  • ALESSANDRO SPELTA

Abstract

We consider a monetary authority that provides an explicit inflation target in order to align expectations with the policy objective. However, biased perceptions of the target may arise due to imperfect information flows. We allow agents to revise expectations over time and we model their recursive choice among prediction strategies as an optimization problem under rational inattention. We then investigate whether a simple policy rule can steer the economy toward the targeted equilibrium. Our findings suggest that determinacy under rational expectations may not be sufficient to reach the target. Instead, monetary policy should be fine‐tuned to correct agents' biased beliefs.

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  • Anna Agliari & Domenico Massaro & Nicolò Pecora & Alessandro Spelta, 2017. "Inflation Targeting, Recursive Inattentiveness, and Heterogeneous Beliefs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(7), pages 1587-1619, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:49:y:2017:i:7:p:1587-1619
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12425
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    Cited by:

    1. Berardi, Michele, 2022. "Beliefs asymmetry and price stability in a cobweb model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 401-415.
    2. Hommes, C.H. & Lustenhouwer, J., 2016. "Managing Heterogeneous and Unanchored Expectations: A Monetary Policy Analysis," CeNDEF Working Papers 16-01, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance.
    3. Guerini, Mattia & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2018. "No man is an Island: The impact of heterogeneity and local interactions on macroeconomic dynamics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 82-95.
    4. Marcus Giamattei, 2022. "Can Cold Turkey Reduce Inflation Inertia? Evidence on Disinflation and Level‐k Thinking from a Laboratory Experiment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(8), pages 2477-2517, December.
    5. Mikhail Anufriev & Davide Radi & Fabio Tramontana, 2018. "Some reflections on past and future of nonlinear dynamics in economics and finance," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 41(2), pages 91-118, November.
    6. Cavalli, Fausto & Naimzada, Ahmad & Pecora, Nicolò & Pireddu, Marina, 2018. "Market sentiment and heterogeneous fundamentalists in an evolutive financial market mode," MPRA Paper 90289, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Pecora, Nicolò & Spelta, Alessandro, 2017. "Managing monetary policy in a New Keynesian model with many beliefs types," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 53-58.
    8. Michele Berardi, 2021. "Discrete beliefs space and equilibrium: a cautionary note," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 505-532, April.
    9. Stefano Marzioni & Guido Traficante, 2020. "Heterogeneous Expectations and Uncertain Inflation Target," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 601-621, October.
    10. De Grauwe, Paul & Ji, Yuemei, 2020. "Structural reforms, animal spirits, and monetary policies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    11. Hommes, Cars & Lustenhouwer, Joep, 2019. "Managing unanchored, heterogeneous expectations and liquidity traps," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-16.

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