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

U.S. Treasury's proposal for financial deregulation aims to remove key aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Rose Prince

2017-08-25 13:36:00 Friday ET

U.S. Treasury's proposal for financial deregulation aims to remove key aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The U.S. Treasury's June 2017 grand proposal for financial deregulation aims to remove several aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act 2010 such as annual macro s

+See More

President Trump warns Google, Facebook, and Twitter that these tech titans now tread on troublesome territory.

Daphne Basel

2018-08-25 12:33:00 Saturday ET

President Trump warns Google, Facebook, and Twitter that these tech titans now tread on troublesome territory.

President Trump warns Google, Facebook, and Twitter that these tech titans now tread on troublesome territory. Specifically, Trump accuses Google of rigging

+See More

Federal Reserve reduces the interest rate by another quarter point to the target range of 1.75%-2% in September 2019.

John Fourier

2019-10-07 12:35:00 Monday ET

Federal Reserve reduces the interest rate by another quarter point to the target range of 1.75%-2% in September 2019.

Federal Reserve reduces the interest rate by another key quarter point to the target range of 1.75%-2% in September 2019. In accordance with the Federal Res

+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

Michael Bloomberg helps Democrats flip the House in the midterm elections and then gears up his presidential bid.

Charlene Vos

2018-11-11 13:42:00 Sunday ET

Michael Bloomberg helps Democrats flip the House in the midterm elections and then gears up his presidential bid.

Michael Bloomberg provides $80 million as campaign finance for Democrats to flip the House of Representatives in the November 2018 midterm elections, gears

+See More

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress.

John Fourier

2023-11-07 11:31:00 Tuesday ET

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress.

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress. Joel Mokyr (2018)   A culture

+See More