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

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019.

Laura Hermes

2019-03-09 12:43:00 Saturday ET

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019.

Pinterest files a $12 billion IPO due in mid-2019. This tech unicorn allows users to pin-and-browse images through its social media app and website. Pintere

+See More

Federal Reserve confirms that all of the 34 major banks pass their annual CCAR macro stress tests.

Apple Boston

2017-05-31 06:36:00 Wednesday ET

Federal Reserve confirms that all of the 34 major banks pass their annual CCAR macro stress tests.

The Federal Reserve rubber-stamps the positive conclusion that all of the 34 major banks pass their annual CCAR macro stress tests for the first time since

+See More

The Trump administration postpones increasing 25% to 30% tariffs on $250 billion Chinese imports after China extends an olive branch to de-escalate Sino-American tariff tension.

Jacob Miramar

2019-10-01 11:33:00 Tuesday ET

The Trump administration postpones increasing 25% to 30% tariffs on $250 billion Chinese imports after China extends an olive branch to de-escalate Sino-American tariff tension.

The Trump administration postpones increasing 25% to 30% tariffs on $250 billion Chinese imports after China extends an olive branch to de-escalate Sino-Ame

+See More

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal.

Charlene Vos

2019-01-27 12:39:00 Sunday ET

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal. British Parliament rejects the M

+See More

Fed Chair Jay Powell suggests that the recent surge in U.S. business debt poses moderate risks to the economy.

Laura Hermes

2019-06-05 10:34:00 Wednesday ET

Fed Chair Jay Powell suggests that the recent surge in U.S. business debt poses moderate risks to the economy.

Fed Chair Jay Powell suggests that the recent surge in U.S. business debt poses moderate risks to the economy. Many corporate treasuries now carry about 40%

+See More

Apple shakes up senior leadership to initiate a new transition from iPhone revenue reliance to media and software services.

John Fourier

2019-02-21 12:37:00 Thursday ET

Apple shakes up senior leadership to initiate a new transition from iPhone revenue reliance to media and software services.

Apple shakes up senior leadership to initiate a new transition from iPhone revenue reliance to media and software services. These changes include the key pr

+See More