The Monetary Policy Strategy of the ECB Reconsidered

The Monetary Policy Strategy of the ECB Reconsidered

Author: Jordi Galí

Publisher: Centre for Economic Policy Research

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 1898128731

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As one of the world's key central banks, the European Central Bank comes under intense public scrutiny. Yet, its constituency is diverse, with different national traditions of central banking and varied views about the conduct of monetary policy. The ECB acts on behalf of all the members of EMU, but belongs to no particular member state. It is accountable to the European Parliament, which has only a very recent tradition of oversight of monetary policy. For these reasons, there is a need for a regular, rigorous, non-partisan and pan-European analysis of the options facing the ECB and the policies it pursues. Monitoring the European Central Bank addresses this need. Written by a team of distinguished academic economists known internationally for their work on macroeconomics and monetary policy, MECB produces a full report and an Update each year. The full report describes the issues faced by the ECB during the preceding year; assesses the policy choices that were made; and sets out the issues likely to arise during the coming year. The Update offers a follow-up to the main report, and is written in the light of the Bank's own annual report. 'Duisenberg record' and the recent review by the ECB of its monetary policy strategy. It finds that the ECB has failed to achieve its stated key objective of avoiding inflation in excess of 2 per cent. Tough rhetoric without delivery has been a strategic mistake. Actual inflation appears to be adrift due to inattentive policy. This could lead to a dangerous and costly-to-correct climb in the inflation rates, unless sufficient attention is paid soon to this issue by the ECB. The ECB should have used its review of the monetary policy strategy to admit this failure and to adjust its inflation target range upwards, bringing words in line with actual policy. It did not, and stresses continuity instead. Money still continues to play too prominent a role in the ECB's stated strategy. The report examines several of the arguments often given for a prominent role of money, and finds none of them convincing. Inflation at present and in the future should be the central focus of the ECB's analysis, not money growth rates. Deflation is a risk that is always present when inflation is low. The ECB should admit this rather than avoi


The ECB Strategy Review

The ECB Strategy Review

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789268017531

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This paper investigates two important elements of the ECB's 2021 monetary policy strategy review in an estimated structural open-economy macro model of the euro area: (a) explicit symmetry of the 2% inflation target, which can be expected to lower the risk of hitting the effective lower bound (ELB) on short-term interest rates by raising average inflation towards the target, and (b) commitment to forceful or persistent monetary accommodation in a low interest rate environment, here interpreted as low-for-longer response in the recovery from the ELB. We simulate the model with draws from the estimated distribution of shocks. Both elements increase average inflation and reduce the average output gap. Stabilisation gains are modest in quantitative terms, however, for the given illustrative policy rules, and they are more pronounced when the economy operates at the ELB. Important in the current context, the low-for-longer policy in the model does not jeopardise inflation stabilisation in the event of (inflationary) negative supply shocks at the exit from the ELB. With private sector 'myopia' instead of fully rational expectations, the low-for-longer rule still yields stabilisation gains at the ELB, but they shrink in quantitative terms.


Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

Author: Otmar Issing

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-07-26

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780521788885

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A non-technical analysis of the monetary policy strategy, institutions and operational procedures of the Eurosystem, first published in 2001.


The ECB’s Monetary Analysis Revisited

The ECB’s Monetary Analysis Revisited

Author: Helge Berger

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2008-07

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13:

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Monetary aggregates continue to play an important role in the ECB's policy strategy. This paper revisits the case for money, surveying the ongoing theoretical and empirical debate. The key conclusion is that an exclusive focus on non-monetary factors alone may leave the ECB with an incomplete picture of the economy. However, treating monetary factors as a separate matter is a second-best solution. Instead, a general-equilibrium inspired analytical framework that merges the economic and monetary "pillars" of the ECB's policy strategy appears the most promising way forward. The role played by monetary aggregates in such unified framework may be rather limited. However, an integrated framework would facilitate the presentation of policy decisions by providing a clearer narrative of the relative role of money in the interaction with other economic and financial sector variables, including asset prices, and their impact on consumer prices.


Monetary Policy Strategy

Monetary Policy Strategy

Author: Frederic S. Mishkin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2009-08-21

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 0262513374

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A leading academic authority and policymaker discusses monetary policy strategy from the perspectives of both scholar and practitioner, offering theory, econometric evidence, and extensive case studies. This book by a leading authority on monetary policy offers a unique view of the subject from the perspectives of both scholar and practitioner. Frederic Mishkin is not only an academic expert in the field but also a high-level policymaker. He is especially well positioned to discuss the changes in the conduct of monetary policy in recent years, in particular the turn to inflation targeting. Monetary Policy Strategy describes his work over the last ten years, offering published papers, new introductory material, and a summing up, “Everything You Wanted to Know about Monetary Policy Strategy, But Were Afraid to Ask,” which reflects on what we have learned about monetary policy over the last thirty years. Mishkin blends theory, econometric evidence, and extensive case studies of monetary policy in advanced and emerging market and transition economies. Throughout, his focus is on these key areas: the importance of price stability and a nominal anchor; fiscal and financial preconditions for achieving price stability; central bank independence as an additional precondition; central bank accountability; the rationale for inflation targeting; the optimal inflation target; central bank transparency and communication; and the role of asset prices in monetary policy.


Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis

Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis

Author: Massimo Rostagno

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0192895915

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The first twenty years of the European Central Bank offer a unique insight into how a central bank can navigate macroeconomic insecurity and crisis. This volume examines the structures and decision-making processes behind the complex measures taken by the ECB to tackle some of the toughest economic challenges in the history of modern Europe.


Inflation Expectations

Inflation Expectations

Author: Peter J. N. Sinclair

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-12-16

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1135179778

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Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.