Inflation Variability and Gradualist Monetary Policy

S-Tier
Journal: Review of Economic Studies
Year: 1994
Volume: 61
Issue: 4
Pages: 721-738

Authors (2)

Ronald J. Balvers (McMaster University) Thomas F. Cosimano (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper considers the optimal approach to reducing inflation when the cost of inflation is its conditional variability. Inflation is stochastically related to money growth, with unobservable time-varying autonomous and induced components. A sharp reduction in money growth provides information about the responsiveness of inflation to money, but also induces variability as the economy heads into unknown territory. Gradual policy is always optimal and the model explains why moderate-inflation countries adopt a much more gradual money growth reduction than high-inflation countries. Additionally, the analysis sheds light on the more general problem of learning with two unobservable parameters.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:restud:v:61:y:1994:i:4:p:721-738.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24