Central bank independence remains important for core inflation containment in the current age of political populism.

Jonah Whanau

2019-04-21 10:07:54 Sun ET

Central bank independence remains important for core inflation containment in the current age of political populism. In accordance with the dual mandate of both price stability and maximum sustainable employment, most central banks seek to solve the dynamic consistency problem on the basis of a key desire to insulate monetary policy decisions from political influence.

A landmark empirical study of cross-country comparisons by Alberto Alesina and Lawrence Summers confirms that countries with better central bank independence experience lower inflation without suffering any real economic output or labor force penalty. An independent central bank can enhance fiscal discipline by reducing the relative likelihood of fiscal dominance and monetization of perennial budget deficits.

Historical experience and economic theory teach us an informative lesson. When monetary policy is subject to political control, people expect dovish expansionary interest rate adjustments and so anticipate higher wages and prices in response. The undesirable economic outcome is stagflation (or the worst-case scenario of both high inflation and high unemployment). It can cost prohibitive welfare losses for the central bank to bring down inflation with subsequent interest rate hikes. Key credible apolitical monetary policy decisions would thus promote price stability with minimal real impact on economic growth, employment, and capital investment.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet, talk, and shake hands in the historic U.S.-North-Korean peace summit in Singapore.

Daphne Basel

2018-06-06 09:39:00 Wednesday ET

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet, talk, and shake hands in the historic U.S.-North-Korean peace summit in Singapore.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet, talk, and shake hands in the historic peace summit between America and North Korea in Singapore. At the start of the bila

+See More

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) have been the motor of the S&P 500 stock market index.

Dan Rochefort

2018-06-11 07:44:00 Monday ET

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) have been the motor of the S&P 500 stock market index.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) have been the motor of the S&P 500 stock market index. Several economic media commentators contend

+See More

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear.

Joseph Corr

2019-02-28 12:39:00 Thursday ET

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear.

New York Fed CEO John Williams sees no need to raise the interest rate unless economic growth or inflation rises to a high gear. After raising the interest

+See More

Fed Chair Janet Yellen says the current high stock market valuation does not mean overvaluation.

Jonah Whanau

2017-12-11 08:42:00 Monday ET

 Fed Chair Janet Yellen says the current high stock market valuation does not mean overvaluation.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen says the current high stock market valuation does not mean overvaluation. A stock market quick fire sale would pose minimal risk to t

+See More

Persistent post-Roman European fragmentation leads to modern economic growth and development.

Jacob Miramar

2023-10-21 11:32:00 Saturday ET

Persistent post-Roman European fragmentation leads to modern economic growth and development.

Walter Scheidel indicates that persistent European fragmentation after the collapse of the Roman Empire leads to modern economic growth and development.

+See More

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggests that 5G remains a U.S. top technology priority in light of the Sprint-T-Mobile telecom merger.

Amy Hamilton

2018-05-04 06:29:00 Friday ET

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggests that 5G remains a U.S. top technology priority in light of the Sprint-T-Mobile telecom merger.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggests that 5G remains a U.S. top technology priority in light of the telecom merger proposal between Sprint and T-Mobile a

+See More