Price fighter

What is the perfect rate of inflation? It is the kind of odd question that economists like to ask each other for fun, but which central bankers have to decide for real.

You might think that the answer was, obviously, zero, but nobody has told the central banks. The Bank of England has an inflation target of 2 per cent, the European Central Bank aims to keep inflation below, but close to, 2 per cent, and the Federal Reserve has a “comfort zone” of between 1 and 2 per cent. Japan’s inflation rate is about zero – but when I visited Tokyo in May, one senior official told me: “We envy you your inflation.”...more>>

Greg Mankiw's Blog: Frank on Economics Education

Greg Mankiw's Blog: Frank on Economics Education

An Overview of Research in Monetary Economics

The subject matter of monetary economics encompasses a large part of macroeconomics. Most obviously, monetary economics is concerned with the conduct, effects, institutions, and history of monetary policy. But it extends far beyond that. The sources of aggregate fluctuations, the channels through which changes in monetary policy and other developments are transmitted to the macroeconomy, and households' and firms' decisions about consumption, investment, prices, and other variables that are critical to aggregate fluctuations are all important subjects in monetary economics...more>>