Monetary policy under natural disaster shocks

With climate change increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, how should central banks respond to these catastrophic events? Looking at IMF reports for 34 disaster-years, which occurred in 16 disaster-prone countries from 1999 to 2017, what emerges is a non-negligible heterogeneity in central banks' responses to climate-related disasters. Using a standard small-open-economy New-Keynesian model with disaster shocks, we show that, consistently with textbook theory, inflation targeting remains the welfare-optimal regime. The best strategy for monetary authorities is to resist the impulse to accommodate in the face of catastrophic natural disasters, and rather to continue to focus on price stability.